As I start this, I haven't thought of one

I've pretty much ignored politics today. It's getting so every time a campaign ad comes on, I mute the TV or change radio channels. So far the phone calls haven't started, but it won't be long.

N had me called from the school's clinic as soon as he got to school. He was throwing up in the background when I was on the phone with the school nurse. K and I had to get him. Because he said he had chest pain, trouble breathing when barfing, and dizziness, I took him to the doctor's. They were great and got me an appointment only an hour from my call. I had quite a wait, though, because they ran out of rooms. They did a strep check (negative) and concluded it was just a stomach virus. Hopefully no one else will get it.

I had a plumber come this afternoon to fix the leaky drain pipe in our kitchen sink. I found it this weekend when I was looking at my bottle of bleach and found it damp, sitting in a little pile of sludge. Fortunately, it was a slow leak so I never had to change the bucket we put under the pipe (barely any water in it even today), but that means we've had this leak for a very long time.

J had a Daisy meeting last night. She had a good time for once. I think it helped that this time she had a uniform (I finally got around to getting it for her) like the other girls, and a friend who used to go to her school last year joined the troop. She had to join a troop at another school because there weren't any parents willing to be leaders at her school. Her friend switched to a private school, and they didn't have a troop there, either.

I think N is going with a friend and his dad to a Cub Scout camp out Saturday. We're not going. Mr. K is too busy, and I'm just not up to taking all the kids camping by myself. I think the pack will do another campout in the spring, and if it is at the same place, I'm planning to do that again, and I hope Mr. K will go, but if he won't, I'll work on finding the ambition to do it by myself.

If anyone is curious about what a plumber costs here, I spent $98 for the first 30 minutes, $28 for the next 15 minutes, and $27.11 on parts, for a total of $153.11 to fix a very small leak. It darned well better leak again. Unfortunately, a lot of my piping needed to be replaced or moved because I had to get rid of a chrome pipe thing that was in among the PVC. My dishwasher drain connection ended up moved. I ended up getting a $7.66 discount from that price because I paid the plumber on the spot.

The reason my plumber is so expensive is that I used a plumbing company that actually shows up when they say the will or they call to reschedule. I sometimes use a guy who retired, and his prices are excellent, but he shows up when he gets good and ready. We're glad someone actually does what they say because when you have rentals, you don't want to make your tenants wait around for undependable people. We use this company for plumbing, electric, and heating/cooling. They don't come cheaply.

I've tried two other "real" plumbing companies in the past, and they also came when they said. Each time they had assistants in training, and the plumber was very rude and mean to his assistant. We don't treat people like that in my house, so we've never used those companies again.