Our weekends just fly by. Yesterday I worked at the co-op in the morning and we all headed to the library when I got home. We needed to go to the library to check on C's art exhibit (he has photos and drawings up for the whole month- check 'em out!) and to attend a "Christmas Around the World" extravaganza, which had displays and, most important to C, COOKIES from a dozen or so countries. (I don't know where they found all the people to put together group- based on their accents, virtually all of them were manned by people actually FROM the respective countries.)

We ran into yet another set of college classmates- the third we've encountered by chance in the last six months. Post-graduation benefits of going to a small school include (a) you recognize many of your former campus-mates even if you didn't really know each other, and (b) you have more of a sense of comraderie than I assume SUNY Albany graduates share.

Today Dan played the try-to-fix-the-sink-and-break-it-more-and-buy-more-parts-that-don't-fit game, which was even less fun than it was when he began the game about a month ago. (We sooo wish the previous owners had installed the plumbing in at least a sort-of standard way.) Then it was time to go to the orchestra and find that our exit ramp was closed AFTER it was too late to avoid crossing the river and doing a circle back into Albany and not remember exactly how to get to the Palace or where to park and all that. Luckily there were still balcony seats open when we got there.

We all enjoyed the program except for A; originally she was content as long as they were playing, but eventually Dan had to take her into the back and let her roam around to keep her from screaming as loudly. Other than the inevitable interminable selection from the Nutcracker, the music was great. (I can not listen to the Nutcracker without falling asleep. When I was maybe 8, I went with my Girl Scout troop to see the ballet at the Egg. It was a late night and we all drifted off at some point during Act III. I don't know if that imprinted a permanent sleep association on my brain or if Tchaikovsky just isn't for me. When I try to listen to the music objectively, it's not especially lulling, but I just.. cant.. keep.. my.. eyes.. open.) There were ballerinas dancing today, which C loved, but he said he's not interested in taking ballet classes. (He said that maybe he would when he was a grown-up and moved out of our house. Maybe he figures he'll have more time on his hands then.)

When we arrived home, a Putrid Stench greeted us at the door along with Paco. While we initially suspected him, it turned out that poor Paco was not the cause of the Horrendous Stench- it was coming from the raw sewage flowing into our basement. We called the town, because they're in charge of our sewers, but we didn't expect much; a neighbor with the same problem called them out two weeks ago and they claimed the sewers were clear. Well, this time they must have actually checked, because they found several "root balls" (which I originally assumed to be a euphemism for something REALLY disgusting, but it does in fact apparently mean a ball of roots- hurray for the sewer lines having so many cracks that roots can invade!) They cleared them out, pushing more sewer gas and effluent into our basement, but apparently we got off easy- our next door neighbor's toilet flew open and shot sewage down their hall while the work was being done.

We think our lives are kind of pitiful because tonight, instead of being saddened by the sewage we need to clean in our basement, we're happy that we don't have to spend thousands of dollars replacing a sewer pipe.