Today we drove down to pick up the Taurus from my mechanic, who’s had it at his shop for a month. Ordinarily that would be a problem, but because we were in the middle of moving hell that entire period, it really worked out for the best. When last we left our heroes, it had broke down on the side of the road on our way down to swap it with the Saturn. At that time, the steering was pulsing at any effort to turn the wheel, the left rear tire had a slow leak, the car was stalling at idle, and the engine was overheating. I drove it home this afternoon and it felt like a new car. The steering is tight and stable, the alignment is straight, and the engine seems to have found a happy operating temperature.

Last night we had our friends Matt and Emily over for dinner and to show them the house (and to give them their wedding present, two years overdue. Bad Bill.) We went to our favorite Thai restaurant and had a few Singhas and then returned home to have a few vodka tonics. This morning I remembered why malt beer and vodka do not mix—it was a slow morning for me.

Meanwhile, we started patching the plaster on the walls in the Anxious room, and Jen cleaned the cut glass light fixture (let’s face it, its not big enough to be a chandelier). The fixture looks completely different now that it’s clean, and it throws beautiful patterns of light when it has a 100 watt bulb. Unfortunately the 80-year-old wall switch broke in the “on” position while we were testing it, so we’ll have to wait until the BG&E guys come back to mark the panel before we fix that.