Breathing in and out, just not too deeply. *g*

I smelled a gas leak in the house, night before last, just in the front entry. However, no one else did -- including friends who came to visit. Hm. However, N, being the good supportive guy he is, suggested I call the Gas Co. to get it checked out, "better safe than sorry."

After much testing with a little tool that goes "whirrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRRR!" when it detects gas, I was finally vindicated. Oven was leaking, and apparently, natural gas is lighter than air, so it will waft around the house in pockets, pushed by us moving around etc. Glad I gots the supersmeller.

The "fun" part is that the shutoff valve for the oven is buried behind the cabinet (who knew?!) and so the whole oven has to be removed to make the house safe. Which meant that the gas guy had to shut down the entire house. I thought, "eh, no biggie, so the stove and heater don't work." Then he reminded me that also the hot water heater would not work. NOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Ahem. Yes.

My dad also came to visit last night -- was working undercover in the area -- and was lucky enough to snag the last warm shower. All of 3 minutes long, but hey. My shower this morning was, invigorating, to say the least.

So, the repair folks just left-- the issue seems to be a former repair at the couplings. Former repair person had used a lubricant instead of a sealant. Jesus, even I know better, and I don't do that kind of work. Our repair folks tried to turn the gas back on for us, to no avail, so now I wait for another GasCo person to come and take care of the rest.

Ok, now he is here...Rick is the name. Same dude from the other day. Good guy. Tells me the leak is still there. *sigh!* I called the repair shop, and had Rick speak with them about the issues therein. Because of their "repair," the ignitor is now toast, and the place where the actual leak is wasn't touched. Oy vey.

Rick and I pulled the oven out, shut off the line to the oven, and he turned on the gas and pilot lights to the rest of the appliances. Yay for heaters and hot water.

Apparently, I'm not going anywhere today.

So mundane, this life.

On other, mundane, but happy life notes:

1. Had dinner with two new sets of friends this weekend -- action-packed social life, suddenly. And neither couple is from N's work, but from yoga class instead. Beauty of this is (beyond normal conversations) we now know some new places to eat. And, we like the friends.

2. Had a good meeting yesterday with a woman in Ojai who runs a family resource non-profit there. She and I have really clicked, and she wanted to discuss a couple of grants she's applying for, and how they may play out at the center. Aaaaand, she wanted to see how interested I'd be in part-time work there, creating some programs and teaching, should the money come thru. Yes, yes, and yes! We had discussed classes for pregnant teens and their support system previously, so we continued on that theme. Now it is a matter of applying and getting the monies, but she's quite good at it, so we shall see. Would prolly come to fruition closer to fall, I reckon, if at all. Just putting out good ju-ju and hoping this will be a good thing for all involved.

3. Also followed up on a connection with the local high school -- seems the woman who is in charge of the teen program there is also taking on the yearbook classes next year. Could be a 'nother lovely part-time possibility. My contact there also knows good people to talk to at other high schools, so she offered to introduce me around if that seemed like a good idea to me. It does.

4. Birds are nestin'. Love that. One place may be on our front porch. Stay tuned.