Things that make us go, "hmmm."

(Zeke's first birthday, just for fun. Hard to believe he was born here 1 year ago.)

So here are some things that have made us go "hmmm" in the past few weeks...

Chef Bai used red wine, rather than white wine, in the recipe I gave him for chicken breasts, giving them a sickly, raw look. Good thing we didn't have any guests (unless you count my parents who are visiting from home.)

The toilet in one of our bathrooms didn't work well. It would run and run until we would, yes, shake the handle. We had it repaired by the maintenance crew in our compound many times since we moved in 2 1/2 years ago. The problem was that the chain would get kinked and the flap would not return to it's resting position. Eventually, after much shaking of the handle, the chain would break. Finally, Tom had reached the end of his rope, which you will see is ironic when you read what happened. He went up to the clubhouse of our compound to talk directly with management to complain. He explained that we have had the problem "fixed" 3o times since we moved in and now he wanted it done right. He was kind but firm and later that day a worker came to make the repair. When the work was complete, Tom asked the man if it was done well, and of course he was told it was. When Tom took a look at the workmanship he found that the chain had been replaced with a piece of twine!!!

You can imagine Tom's reaction, I am sure. I can tell you he was not pleased. He calmly explained to the worker that the fix was not acceptable and he told the man to tell his boss he wanted it fixed right. A manager came to our house and we were told that the toilet had not been fixed 30 times this year, only 9. (This does not include last year or the year before, of course.) After much discussion, the problem was solved when the inner workings were replaced with new parts. So far, so good!