It must be my turn this week. Bring it on, world!

I wish you could have heard my snarl of frustration or my sigh of resignation last night.

I was actually in a pretty good mood. A long conversation with Gym Rat resulted in me feeling downright positive, not just non-negative.

Then I got home.

I tried turning on my grill because I had defrosted some ground beef patties for burgers. Hmm, it didn't light. Oh well, I'll see if I need to clean it tomorrow, when I have more time before the sun goes down. At least I could fry them.

Or not.

My stove didn't work either.

Aha! I would check with the neighbor remodeling his condo. Oh no, he couldn't possibly be the cause. He said that he has had the gas off for two or three months so it can't be him because, even though all units are fed from one meter, there are shutoff valves for each condo. However, he also stated in the same conversation that the guy working on his condo (and he never used the words "licensed plumber") did something to the gas line that afternoon, so he'd ask him when the guy gets back -- at 2:30 p.m. today.

Well, a fat lot of good that would do me as far as dinner, since I couldn't grill, fry, or boil anything (I settled on two frozen pretzels heated in my toaster oven), and who knows if I'd be able to heat any water for my oatmeal in the morning. Note: the stove still does not work, so I took a blueberry muffin out of the freezer (Thanks, Mom!), and it's defrosting on my desk. The next logical step would be to listen to my gas water heater after my shower and hear if it reheats or not. Of course, I didn't think of it because all I wanted last night was to go to bed after my shower.

The neighbor is a nice guy, but he's going on the cheap for his remodeling. The last clue, which you might have picked up on, is that he'd rather let me go without eating than call the guy back and say he might have broken something because, if the guy isn't actually at fault, then he'd have to pay overtime for the impromptu visit. The first clue (which I don't think I have blogged about) was when the remodelers committed an oops and had to shut off the water for the entire complex. (One of the joys of communal living is a single water meter and shut-off valve for all eight condos.) The second time they shut off the water was deliberate, and they had actually alerted us in advance. The third time (insert another sigh here) I don't know if it was intentional or not, but he called to say the water would be off again -- ten minutes after I had discovered that I couldn't flush the toilet or wash my hands. The really big, red, flashing light and alarm klaxon is that the remodeling has been going on for how many months and isn't finshed yet????

Oh well, at least my electricity works. (Uh-oh! Did I say that out loud?)