Only in Ruleville....

So, today was like my pseudo-snow day. Being that I have strep and am banned from the school...okay, okay, it is completely justified...I planned on sleeping in. I guess I should have passed that memo onto my landlord who called me at 6:04 a.m. Sorry Mr. Free, I am in no mood to talk to you that early in the morning!

Anyway, let me tell you about my day...because it's kind of funny. I got up at 9...after attempting to call Sara Vargason/Lawrence to tell her Happy Birthday although she ignored my phone call...I sat on my porch swing eating breakfast. This might see mundane, but it was quite amazing because for the first time this week I was able to eat solid food like cereal! WAHOO!! That shot in the butt really did wonders!

I'm not going to give you the complete details, but I was REALLY freaking productive today. I walked to the post office, got a bunch of phone calls in, cleaned the kitchen, unpacked the rest of my stuff, then I baked chocolate chip cookies, choc chip muffins, banana nut muffins and brownies. Have no fear, everything I made was from a box or a package. I put together 4 plates for people who helped Lois and I get through our first week. Joe for showing us the house we ended up renting, Marie's house for "hosting" us for several weeks until we finally had our own house, Ballard & Mariam for helping us survive our first week as teachers and answering the phone each night when we called with a million questions, and my assistant Mrs. Beamon who rocks my face off and really saved me this week when I was sick.

While doing all of that I washed two loads of laundry (trust me, this is where the story gets interesting). For whatever reason, all of the water drained into my bathtub, toilet and sink. And then refused to drain out. So, I went next door to Mrs. Free's house to get the number for the plumber that was here recently. I called them...they said they would be over shortly. In the meantime, Mrs. Free came over just to "see what it looked like." Have I mentioned that she is kind of batty...or just nosey. But I keep reminding myself that if someone were robbing our house she would be the first one over there with a bat, or a shotgun. Anyway, she made a few phone calls of her own...

Soon, some man shows up to check out the plumbing. I assumed he was the plumber, nope, he was from city hall. Mrs. Free called him. He asks where I teach and all of that stuff (everyone assumes you're a teacher if you're under the age of 40 and just moving to town). Then he tells me he saw me walking up town this morning. Mind you I only walked two blocks to the post office and back, whatev. Everyone knows your business, that's for certain!

Finally, the plumbers come over, they looked familiar, maybe because I just saw them last week....anyway, they poke around outside and all of a sudden water comes gushing out of a hole they drilled. Found part of the problem, I'd say. Mrs. Free comes over to keep them company, surprise, surprise. Soon, the head-honcho shows up and wants to check out the bathroom to make sure everything is now draining properly. They had it fixed already! I offer him some cookies since I was in the middle of making them; I filled a ziplock for the plumbers. He goes back outside and 5 minutes later knocks on the door and asks if I would like any cantaloupe or watermelon. He had just picked some from his farm and they were in the back of his truck. Well, sure I love cantaloupe! (Just so you know grandpa, I didn't take watermelon because I knew I couldn't eat it before it went bad!) So, I take two from this pile of at least 20 in his truck and then he pawns a 3rd one off on me that I could eat right away! I went walking in the house with my arms full of cantaloupes thinking, "only in Ruleville do you get cantaloupe from your plumber...."