Whew!

I am so happy the weekend is over.  Have you ever had a weekend go so awfully wrong that you wonder what was the point of getting out of bed in the morning? For me, it happened this weekend. 

By now, everyone has heard of the crazy ants that are invading Texas.  My house has been overrun.  I'm not sure if this is the species that has invaded, but wanting to take no chances, I called an exterminator.  This is after spraying myself and not finding their point of entry.

I discovered one of my bathroom cleaner killed them on contact.  Extermination and housecleaning in one fell swoop...multitasking rocks!
Regrettably, my cat's food bowl did not survive the onslaught, so it was given a distinguished funeral; its final resting place, a ninety-six gallon trash can. 

I decided to dedicate Friday night to my latest Dragon Age 2 runthrough.  Unfortunately, gaming nirvana was unattainable to me, given that the monster crack that appeared in the bathroom linoleum had expanded to rival the San Andreas fault line. 

Damn! I pulled out my phone book and searched for a handyman.  I looked for licensed and bonded and in my area in the phone book.

Josh from Phoenix Renovations came to my rescue; we agreed on a price and he started work the next day.  He was incredibly efficient and he and his assistant cleaned up all the mess from their work.  They are grouting the floor today.

My next major issue was that the stove has been malfunctioning for a while.  Usually, resetting the circuit breaker and jiggling the cord works.  Not on Friday.  When I went to jiggle the cord, it shocked me.  I stopped shaking and went to the fuse box and cut the power to the range. 

Armed again with my phonebook, I called Mr. Electric.  The receptionist said having someone come out on an emergency call would be prohibitively expensive.  Enter Mike Harris, who called me and gave me his price and said he'd be at my house in an hour.  The guy is my hero.  Ten minutes after he got here, he found the problem: a loose wire connected to a stripped screw on the control panel of the stove. 

Later Friday night, T calls to inform me he had been pulled over for having a broken brake light.  My heart sank, as I wondered how much this repair was going to cost.  T said he checked the fuses and bulbs and couldn't figure out why the light was not working.

He told me his only options for repair are Pep Boys and Midas, both companies we have had bad experiences with in the past.  By this time, the potential cost has me panicked.

He said Pep Boys would charge us fifty dollars to start looking for the problem, but that they said that if it was electrical in nature, that charge could increase exponentially.

This is why I am so happy this weekend is behind me!