Thursday, April 05, 2007

I get by with a little help from my friends

This has been a frustrating week. When Verizon was here they drilled through two electrical wires. We had no idea what they were. We were told by one neighbor they were to our water meeter. I called the water company and they came today and told me it had nothing to do with them and left. They suggested I call the electric company and I did. They sent out a repairman who assured me that he had never seen what he was looking at before and if it was INSIDE it was not their problem. He did tell me I would not be charged the $85 fee that they sometimes charge to tell you it's not their problem. Thank you kind sir. At this point I figured I might have to call an electrician. We have a wonderful neighbor, Kenny. He is a plumber by trade but more of a jack of all trades. When he came over Rob asked him to pop over for a look see. I baked cookies for him. He took a quick look and told us that it was a small transformer to our DOOR BELL! I then realized that I had not heard my doorbell ring all week. He told Rob that IF Rob could fish out the wires that had been severed he could splice a new wire onto the old ones.
Rob cut the sheetrock and found the missing wires. Kenny came back with wire and spliced them. I now have a doorbell again and Kenny has a belly full of bunny shaped sugar cookies.
The thing that puzzles me is that neither the water guy or electric company guy knew what a doorbell transformer looked like. I know that I will never forget what one looks like. So now, finally my mystery is solved, my doorbell is working again and ONCE Verizon lays the cable in the ground (I mean it's only been laying on the ground for over four days!) I will be all set. Whew. Have I ever mentioned how much I love my neighbors? I love my neighborhood, it's such a melting pot of people and everyone is treated the same......unless they are mean. We like nice people and the vast majority are great people.

My sister-in-law had her surgery. She was in intensive care over night but is doing better.
They were only able to remove 2/3 of her tumor and she will need another surgery in the near future. There is nerve damage and she will have great difficulty swallowing, if she can at all which is questionable. She will most likely need the feeding tube permanently. She already is asking questions which I think is a good sign. Her Mom snapped a photo with her phone to show her little daughter. She seemed to be most interested in the bandage around her mother's head. I scored a great gift to take her today, well actually for the patient AND her daughter. The patient will be getting the most adorable ceramic purse that is a bank and her daughter will be getting a beautiful little bear dressed for her communion and holding a book that says "My first holy communion." How sweet is that? Take my word for it, it's just adorable.

I have done little office work this week but I have been entering all the information for my clients and fellow realtors I know into my OFFICE program. I have imported my work email into the OUTLOOK and that will make things run smoother. At some point I may get a lap top to help me also. I have learned when preparing contracts at work a jump drive can be a great tool. Just do whatever load it up on that and bring it home and load it into my home computer.

It looks like I will be cooking Easter dinner, a spiral ham. My sister is coming from Albany and her two daughters will be here. Probably my parents and us and my son. I'm not going crazy with a ton of side dishes. I want to have a nice meal but then clear away things and enjoy everyone's company. We have some great games we can play.

I wish all of you a Happy Easter. If you don't celebrate Easter, I hope you had a wonderful Passover. It's cold here today, we had a snow shower. So funny to see snow falling on my daffodils that were blooming. Then the sunshine came. Today I was reminded of just how wonderful a little help from a friend/neighbor can be. A little help goes a long way. It lifted my spirits so much. Thank you Kenny for one more ounce of kindness at a time when it meant so much.

1 comment:

Cynthia said...

Good neighbors are a real blessing. Have a happy Easter!