Some days you're the windshield...

...some days you're the bug.

We've had a few very bug-like days lately. Man!

So first, some updates. The furnace.

Yes, we now have heat. Thank gawd! But what a road it was to get here!

Hubs and his buddy Andrew came to the house on Friday to look at our furnace. It took the wonderful and talented Andrew a mere three minutes to fix the problem, and heat was returned to the house.

Hubs called me at work to let me know all was well and I can't even begin to tell you how unbelievably relieved I was. The trip was once again within reach, and it hadn't cost us anything. Thank all the stars in the heavens.

The job Hubs was working on was going to keep him out late, so I took the bus home from the GO station. No big whoop - it wasn't that cold. I stopped at the mailbox and made my way to the house. Soooooo excited to walk into my nice warm house.

Damn me and my high expectations.

I walked in the door, took off my coat, and realized this all feels ridiculously similar to last night. And that's cause it was - the furnace went down again. It was 58 degrees in my house.

I almost started bawling right there and then. Probably would have too, if I wasn't afraid the tears would freeze right to my flippin face. I got on the phone, called Hubs, and he and Andrew send me downstairs to do some furnace diagnostics. Fun! Friday nigh hijinks!

I picked things up pretty quickly, but I gave up after I had to blow into one of the plastic pipes. That was curtains for me....I didn't want to play anymore. I did learn a lot about the blasted things and what pieces are where though. I like that techie stuff, but I like it more when someone else is doing it.

I decided to have a bath to warm up, escape from my freezing cold house. I turned on the water but didn't want it to be too hot 'cause my wee toes were frozen and water that's too hot just stings too much. I got in, all was well. After a moment to acclimatize, I turned on the hot water to make it, well, warmer. As the water rushed in, I realized with much shock and chagrin, that the temperature was not increasing but actually going down! The hot water was all gone, and I was pumping freezing cold water into my now barely lukewarm bath.

I was not meant to be warm on Friday.

Hubs finally made it back with Andrew - at 1am. Poor guy, I just felt terrible for him. Super long day, he didn't really eat, and since he was working on a boiler he was in the cold all day too. He was supposed to pick up DeeDee but couldn't with everything going on, so he had to contend with her calling every 10 minutes to see when he'd be there. So he picked her up Saturday morning instead - at 8:30, 'cause Sludge had to work. Sigh. What a crap way to start the weekend.

But at least we had heat. :)

Saturday got better from there. I was, of course, keeping my eye on the cost of the trip. Mid day I realized that the Friday departure was sold out, Saturday had increased in price, and Sunday was still there, at the same price. Now that the furnace was working fine we decided this change on the holiday landscape meant it was time to book.

So we're booked! All inclusive in Varadero leaving February 10. Yee freakin haw!!!

And what's even better - there was some sort of promotion where the taxes were cut in half, so we saved $100 per person. Not too shabby! I of course promptly went to Shoppers and spent pretty much our entire 'saving' on the necessities for the trip, but hey. It was money I would have had to spend anyway!

Later that night I went to a friend's place and had my first encounter with Guitar Hero. And of course, I am now addicted. But due to our trip there will be no Guitar Hero in my immediate future. That's okay though - I'll take a beach in Cuba over some Guitar Hero any day. Besides, my brother in law has it, so I kinda get the best of both worlds.

Sunday we did breakfast with my sister and her family, then headed out to see 27 Dresses. Super cute movie...awwww. Nice and fluffy, nothing too mentally taxing or thought provoking. The perfect flick for a Sunday afternoon.

So here we are at Monday. Back to work, all that jazz. Had some meetings this morning, then I talk to Hubs late in the day. He just got home, and told me that there was a puddle of water on our kitchen floor.

Our faucet was leaking into the cupboard beneath and onto the floor.

You have got to be fucking kidding me. I mean really - does our house hate us? Is it mad that we're talking about leaving for a week, so it keeps doing bad things to stop us from going? Seriously, at a certain point, this is where my thoughts drift! Argh.

Fortunately, our next door neighbour is a plumber. Yes, we are quite lucky to have people in the trades come to our aid with increasing frequency.

So I ring the doorbell and extract the poor guy from his nice warm comfy home. He comes over, assesses the situation, and tells us he has an extra one of our faucets in his garage.

Sure enough, an hour goes by and everything's fixed. Again. For free. Well, it cost us a bottle of wine, but it was booze well spent if you ask me.

So now I just wonder what else the universe can throw our way in the next two weeks before we head out. Needless to say we'll leave my wonderful sister in law a long list of phone numbers of people who can fix things should the place crumble around her while we're gone. Sheesh.

Let's just hope this is all there is. I like to think that the universe is throwing all of these things our way to a) get them done and taken care of before we go so my sister in law doesn't have to deal with them all, and b) so that we appreciate the trip itself that much more, having been through all this crap in the weeks leading up to our voyage south.

'Cause come hell or low lying kitchen floor water, I sure plan on enjoying every freakin second of that trip. I'm even excited to do the laundry required to pack for the trip. And when else have you ever heard me say I was excited for laundry?

And that's your daily dash. How's your diva doin'?