Lucky Monday

Two good things happened Monday. The first was that our dog Spot ran away, which is bad, of course, but he was picked up by the animal control officers, rather than run over by a car, and we were able to spring him from jail for a mere $50.00. First I had to buy him a license, which was only $5. Then it was $25 boarding fee for the first day at the Humane Society and $20 for each subsequent day. He was there less than 24 hours, so I thought it would be only $25, but I was not in a position to argue that point. He had been gone overnight, leading to lots of tears on the part of J. Luckily, his appearance is very distinctive, white with brown speckles on his ears, a brown spot around one eye, which is blue and the other eye is brown, so it was easy for them to tell me over the phone that he was there. They are a 30 minute drive away so it turned into a lengthy errand. We were not subjected to any lectures from what we affectionately term "dog people" that work at the Humane Society, which was also good. Spot is a very cute and affectionate dog, which also worried me, that someone might just keep him. He had on a collar but no tags, just a box for the invisible fence, which works great when it is on but apparently there is a break in the wire. So I put his dog license tag on his collar and bought him a name tag for his collar with our phone number on it. I also had to buy a new leash--we own 2, but both are lost.

The second good thing was that the oven repairman came. We were having a problem with the oven. Whenever I turn it on, it wouldn't light right away, and when it did light, you could hear POOF! and the door would fly open a little due to accumulated gas. This seemed dangerous, and when the oven repairman visited 2 weeks ago, he said it was. He discovered the igniter was not putting out enough amps, and also noted that the oven was putting out a lot of soot. He said that the company had put out a soot kit to address this problem, and depending on the age of the oven (3.5 years) it might be warranteed. He called them and after a lot of talking, convinced them to warranty the repair. The soot kit contains a new igniter. Unfortunately the part was not in stock, so I had to wait 2 weeks, during which time he advised me not to use the oven as blowing the door off was a risk. When he returned he completed an expensive and extensive repair, and it cost me nothing! Now, if I can just get around to buying some oven cleaner, I'll be able to see in my oven window since it won't get covered with soot again.

I made a nice Valentine dinner, beef caesar salad with homemade croutons and homemade dressing, crusty bread dipped in olive oil, and chocolate cake truffle squares (Trader Joes) for dessert. I even bought the kids some sparkling grape juice (dubbed "kid wine" by my family). Unfortunately D. was not able to get home until 9pm, at which point I was exhausted, after rescuing the dog, having kids all home all day (it was an ice day) and making the nice dinner. I laid down with A. while he was eating his dinner, and put his valentine on his pillow. I was asleep when he came in the bedroom, but woke for a moment when he read it. 3 haikus about love, marriage and making love.