“If I had an hour to solve a problem I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.” ― Albert Einstein

Welcome back to our continuing series which began back in 2007. It is Monday, July 19, 2019, and Lord willing, the lady of the house will be coming home tomorrow, late afternoon. When she left last Tuesday we were still in the midst of dealing with a serious plumbing issue. Thanks to our eldest Chris and middle Jimmy, we finally resolved it last Wednesday evening. We had one last fix to try and then we were set to call in the professional plumbers. Our boys came through again. I don't know if they lost any weight from being up in the attic with the temps over 100, but, they will not need to go to the sauna for a while. We had a similar drain related issued back in 1990. I was a department head at the big company, but, I took off from work to fix it. Why not? Turned out to be many reasons why I shouldn't have. I actually removed a portion of the ceiling in the downstairs bathroom. I actually cut the pipe that was leaking and repaired it. One problem. That was not the problem. It had to do with the vent drain being stopped up, not a broken pipe. I cut a perfectly good pipe. I worked all day to exhaustion on that project but ended up having to call out the professional emergency plumbing crew and they worked until after midnight to fix the "right" problem. We learned from that episode. We knew the current issue because it was very similar to the one from nearly 20 years ago. That should remind us all of the importance of doing our best to identify the right problem before we try and repair it. Duh! At any rate, she was elated when, last Wednesday evening, I texted her the outcome of our work. Like I said before, this house was built in the early 1970s, we purchased it in 1984. Do the math. Things happen.

As a coffee person, I find it interesting how the financial gurus are targeting the coffee drinking habits of younger people. Young people are obsessed with the crippling impact of student loans and their inability to buy a home, however, they rarely even think about the thousands of dollars spent each year on exotic coffee brewed and served up at the specialty coffee place or picked up at the drive-through window. There's a reason Starbucks has grown from 500 locations in 1994 to over 14,000 stores today. Dave Ramsey and other financial advisors decry the monies spent when coffee could be made for a fraction of the cost at home. On the other side, progressive psychologists say these younger folks need these treats to help them cope with life. Like I say, I am an interested observer here. Sure, many laugh at my devotion to Louisiana Community Coffee. It is a premium brew, but, when purchased on sale, I can enjoy a cup for around 50 cents. And, while I know the coffee house provided specialty blends are a cultural matter, kids rejecting their parents Folgers, the bottom line is still the cost. Even if someone doctored up their home-brewed coffee with all the concoctions one can imagine, a cup should still cost under one dollar. This is the point made by those who specialize in helping people manage their money. To them, it's simple. Pay $1 or less versus up to $7 or more. And, yes, I am drinking my Community even as I write this paragraph. Just so you know.

I will not list all the things I've had to do while 'you know who' has been away. I did send her a message indicating I needed The Coordinator in Chief on the premises as soon as possible. Yeah. I already know what she has to say about it. "Good. Now you have a small taste of what I have to deal with every day." Obviously, we've had this conversation before. If I recall, we do every time she leaves. I need to make sure she has a full understanding of the word 'cleave' as given to the first husband and wife from Genesis 2:24 "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." The word cleave used here is defined as a verb, meaning: to stick, adhere, cohere, cling, cleave mean to become closely attached. stick implies attachment by affixing or by being glued together. When she is in the shadow of Niagra Falls and I am down here deep in the heart of Texas, there's not a whole lot of cleaving going on. Okay. Already. Don't write to me. It's only a joke. Hopefully, everyone is laughing, or at least, you know who. Have a great rest of the day Monday, and may God bless each one. Amen. ....More later.