Bah! Home ownership is fraught with pitfalls and repairs. First, it was the tub where the water only came out of the spigot at the base and not through the showerhead above. When TP tried to fix it, a gush of scalding hot water erupted out of the hot water faucet handle and could have done some major damage if he hadn't raced down to the basement to shut off the main water pipes. All this while guests from NY were arriving. "Welcome to DC! We have no water." Luckily, our friends are easy-going and laughed it off. "It's like being in Pakistan! Sort of like load-shedding but with water!"

Next, it was garbage disposal which somehow got a tiny hole in the plastic housing and was leaking water into the cabinet below. After several phone calls to the warranty people and convincing them that we are covered, they finally sent a technician to repair it. Upon further examination, the tech decided it was more trouble that it was worth to fix it and insead just installed a new one.

Then, stupid Verizon, whose service we use for the phone and whose DSL service our neighbors - whose house is attached to ours - uses, insisted that WE could not receive DSL service. For some reason, our house had two lines running through it. After a month of mixed messages, repair guys appearing and tinkering around but not fixing anything, and a final "no," we just got Comcast cable modem yesterday - which is pretty pricey if you don't also subscribe to their cable tv service - which we can't because we already signed an 18 month contract with Dish Network - which goes bonkers any time it is rainy outside. Speaking of rain . . .

Latest: The deluge of stormy weather that has hit DC has caused buckets o' water to collect on our roof and now it is starting to seep through the ceiling. I woke up the other day to get a snacky snack at 2am and found a puddle of water on the landing at the top of the stairs. With near-constant rain coming down, the wet spot on the ceiling is getting wider and worse. We need to get that repaired beofre the roof caves in on us.

So, what's up next?! (interrodread!)