Life returns somewhat to normal

Oh, how I hesitate to make that statement! Not superstitious ordinarily, but I simply hate to let my guard down. Right now I am torturing myself by running the dishwasher which, this soon after a leak, will give me pause every time it changes cycles. Much like the washing machine did to me yesterday!

I got freaked out when Jeff, my downstairs neighbor, called me on Tuesday. He said the midst of all the other confusion we had on Monday with the leaks and such, he had a sewer back-up in the shower and a toilet. Oh no! This has to be storm related, right? But then, why so selective? Rose, on the 4th floor further toward the north, reported the same issue so thought since I am on 3rd floor, in between, I might have troubles, too. I was running bathroom to bathroom, checking the situation. Oh, believe me, I would have called if I did!!!!  

He said he heard a glug glug sound and then swoosh, down it went. Just to be sure, though, he called the Roto-Rooter people to come clean out the P-traps on the exterior of the building, on each end of The Palace. On Monday I had made the comment about what Jeff's wife says when we have leaks here, "at least it's clean water..." but now, that might no longer be true. Jeff told me he took an hour to clean their shower after the back-up. Good thing he was home when that happened, since he is a pilot for Fed Ex.

Connie had told me some of the bulkhead had broken loose so I tried to see it from my patio doors. While I could not see down there, I did see next door to me that they must not have been home for the storm. The patio, an exposed one, was a huge mess---broken flower pots, tattered grille cover, tipped over chairs. I only hope nothing glass was broken on the house, like their doors! I should let Connie know what I saw, in case someone needs to go in there and check for damage. These folks, Ed and Karen, also have a home in Charleston, and are likely up there at the time. What a welcome home they will have!

Justin's workweek, besides being a holiday one, is messed up from the storm. He worked part of the day on Tuesday and part of the day on Wednesday this week. The ground is soaked, the mowers sink in and the grooming parts of the job---edging and hedging, can wait until things dry up. Sure will help with growing though, all the rain we had!

Tuesday, after he cleaned up and got dry again (worked in the pouring rain!), Justin and I went to lunch and then to Publix to restock the larder. He ate everything from my fridge and cupboards except the dishes. Well, that's not accurate, he did eat a couple dishes...No, he did leave some stuff behind because of having no eggs or meat, or other ingredients to make a meal from it. He said he would just come home after work, get cleaned up, and collapse, having no desire to go back out to the store. Justin did confess to ordering from Ming Moon at least once!

Since he got home early yesterday, which I did not expect, I pressed him into service. My bedclothes were being washed and I wanted his help with turning my mattress. Because I spend so much time lying on my bed with the laptop, my butt leaves indentations in the pillow top (NO! Really???). I like to rotate the mattress periodically to  spread the destruction around some. All he told me to was "Don't let it fall on you!" as we worked it around, avoiding the fan, and got it re-positioned. We did have to fix the dust ruffle under the mattress which was tricky but got everything put back into place. He also helped me dress the bed again, and then he laid down on it!

Before he got too comfortable, I asked him to please get my iTunes back on my computer which was lost when in the shop before my trip. Also, he got the Avast! security started up again, which had a cramp in it since coming home from the shop. I did not allow him to get cross with me, I simply stepped away from the machinery!

Another thing I was working on before he came home was trying to research my data usage on AT&T because I am exceeding my limits almost every month. Several times now I have gotten 'warnings' that I have exceeded them, and after a certain point, I will be charged $10 for 50 GB extra a month. Justin has offered to pay the extra, which we figure is because of his usage with movie and game downloads, etc. 

Finding the information about my account was like digging in quick sand, though, NOT a user-friendly site at all! Eventually, between us, we found a chart which showed the history of the account and when the usage increased off the charts, as it were. It does coincide with his moving back in, however, it also coincides with my obtaining the Roku device. Hmmmm....We won't know for sure until he moves out again, but he is fairly confident my package will be sufficient when he is not using it. 

                                  

Even with the larder restocked, the temptation to go out to eat dinner was great but instead, we ate at home. Rather than have leftovers, I made Cheeseburger Hamburger Helper and added cheese curds for interest. Oh, man, that was good! Justin said he loved the 'surprise' of biting into a squishy curd as he ate. Tuesday night I made us ribs with sliced potatoes plus whole kernel corn. Two nights in a row eating at home. No, make that three, since Monday night we had Ming Moon delivered!!!