Good morning,

This past few days have been so fabulous and glamorous I just have to share! (Yes, that IS Sarcasm).
First, my husband's car went back to the shop for repair.  I called in Roto Rooter in a panic the day before Thanksgiving to have the sewer lines cleaned out, The plumbing was making horrific gurgling sounds- and I know what that means- that clean out service cost me over 200 bucks. I tried to be a good sport about it, after all it needed to be done.

My daughter and I  were baking gingerbread while the plumbers were here, and they were blown away by the yummy smells in the kitchen. As I signed the check the plumber looked at me and said he had not smelled anything like that since he was a little boy.  I calculated his age mid 50's and he was such a nice guy that I ended up sending he and his partner home with a bag of gingerbread cookies still warm from the oven.

Then to add to the fun of Mercury Retrograde, next  the computer needed an overhaul (that one really cost me) and then... our internet started acting up.  I called the SBC Global Internet hotline so many times in the past weeks, it wasn't even funny. If I ever hear the phrase... "Most problems can be solved by turning off your  modem and then restarting the modem and computer...." it will be too soon.

First my internet connection slowed down, then it disappeared, and came back on.  Then we would loose connection for no rhyme or reason. Then it would come back- for a few moments- then disappear again. Thursday (Thanksgiving) morning I was working online when "pop" no internet. But a message saying that there was no broadband source.

So I called the SBC Global hotline again, and the young man named "Bob" with an Indian accent politely asked me if we had been experiencing any static on our home phone lines. We had been for weeks, and on cue the static became very loud. "Bob" promptly informed me that it was probably a line issue and transferred me over to the repair center.  I spoke to another person who got me scheduled for Friday, the very next day, to have a lineman come out.

I crossed my fingers and hoped that it was an exterior equipment or a line problem as those are not repairs that we would be charged for. The lineman showed up early and got to work. I was so nervous I watched out the kitchen windows while I did the dishes. I heard him climb down his ladder, from the side of the house, saw him squint up at the phone lines and shake his head. Then I watched him walk along the side of the house and dive into his truck. He started tossing tool belts and huge boxes on the ground, and I literally cheered and  ran down the hall to wake up the Hubs, pestering him with excited questions.

"Hey! the lineman is here and he's tossing lots of stuff off his truck! Do you think we lucked out and its an exterior problem?" I asked as I bounced up and down.
My husband sat up in bed and tried to focus on me while I shot off rapid fire questions. Finally when I wound down he looked at me and said, "Ellen he's not going to replace anything unless it really needs it. What is he doing exactly?"
Which sent me scrambling back to the kitchen to watch. (It also probably also bought my husband 5 more minutes of peace.)

The lineman ended up replacing the phone lines from our house and then two telephone poles over. He even had to turn off the neighbors phones while he worked. After he was finished he came to the door and asked how long we had lived here- (29 years) informing us that the lines were over 25 years old and corrupted- in other words they were so brittle and old that we probably never had a decent internet connection.

So NOW I have a computer in proper running order and a better internet connection than ever.And since it was exterior work there was NO CHARGE for us! Hooray!

All we gotta do is hang in there until the 26th of November and then Mercury goes direct. And we are on the downward slide now. So hang on kids, we are almost through this!

Catch you on the other side of Mercury Retrograde!
Ellen