Desert Magnolia

There are things in the world that should be wet. Water. Aquariums. Showers. The inside of washing machines when they're washing. Gentle spring rain. Not the ceiling above your kitchen sink.  The morning after the plumbers came back to 'correct' some work they'd done that the city inspector didn't like. Now, in all fairness, the acts may be unrelated. But the evidence points to someone NOT CHECKING THEIR FUCKING SEALS BEFORE THEY LEFT FOR THE NIGHT. Goddamnit. Just when it felt like we were about to have a relatively normal New Year's Eve, someone's oversight mistake ensures yet another day of hanging out while large men invade our home, ascend into the attic to troubleshoot the newly laid piping, and then talk a lot about how 'these things happen, we don't spend too much time worrying about them, we just make them right.' Alrighty, then. Knock yourselves out, boys, and know that this menopausal, COVID exhausted woman on the edge is watching and

We live in a house we bought when our children were young. We scoped out good schools, drove around many neighborhoods, even made an offer on a house down the street (which we backed out of when they countered for a $1500 increase in the asking price - we'd found this one and fallen in.love with it and were happy to have a legal and graceful way out of the other deal), and finally chose the one we're in now.  It's a home. We've celebrated many many family occasions here - a full 23 years of them. We've been here 24, but COVID. Anyway, it was built in 1976. Our city was growing quickly, and demand outpaced supply of single family homes. Subdivisions sprouted where there was land. Our house is on the north side of the city, in a nice, middle class (albeit rather uninspiring, architecturally) neighborhood. The contractor was busy. And from what we've discovered, first hand and often to the tune of thousands of dollars each discovery, he cut corners. Wherever he