I telecommuted today--always a pleasure, though I miss my origami calendar already. I made a lovely South Beach-friendly salad for lunch. Baby spinach leaves, thinly sliced cucumber, sliced chicken breast left over from last night, and some great little fresh mozzarella balls in herbed olive oil. I dressed it with some of the oil from the cheese and some white wine vinegar, salt and freshly ground pepper, of course. Delish, as Rachael Ray would say. After lunch I used the downstairs powder room. After flushing and washing my hands, I puttered in the kitchen a bit before going back upstairs to my office to resume work. I noticed the toilet in the powder room was still running. I jiggled the handle. No help. I lifted off the tank lid to investigate and was sprayed by an out-of-control filler hose flailing all over. I quickly popped the lid back on and turned off the valve at the base of the inlet pipe.

Well, after fiddling with it, it appears the float mechanism is broken. Not a big repair job, but I never do my own plumbing--too afraid of leaks. We've been wanting to replace all the commodes in the house (3, count 'em, 3) eventually, so rather than pay the plumber to replace the valve, we might as well replace the john. I'm thinking of of those long ones for maximum comfort of our variously-sized guests. So when rootbeer1 gets home, it's off to Homo Depot to pick out a new potty.

We also still have to get the roof checked out--Steve went up the other day after the big rain and checked the roof drain, but it seemed clear. He swept all the standing water off, and we didn't have a problem two nights ago during the drizzly-rain. But the roof has to be fixed.

We also need other stuff done, like a doorbell that can be heard from the second floor (almost missed UPS today), the dry rot fixed around the front door, the front door itself replaced, master bath retiled, etc., etc. I get stressed out by this stuff. I just want it all done so I can lay back and eat bonbons (OK, fresh mozzarella balls) and watch my stories.

It'll get done. It's the downside of home ownership--you actually have to put energy into the system to keep entropy from taking over and the house dissociating into molecules, atoms, quarks and strings. Eeeeek!