Out Cold

Well, it's done.  My old fridge kicked the bucket, if you will.

It had been coming for a long time.  I first mentioned The Leak in this post.  That was almost three years ago.

Then I wrote a letter to my fridge here.  Apparently it couldn't read.

Really, my fridge should have been ashamed a bit, having to use a bed pan to catch its leaks.

This fine tupperware sat in the back of my fridge and caught all the water coming down from my freezer.

I must say, I won't miss hacking out the layers of ice that would build up on the inside of my freezer, either.  Sure, it was a great way to get out aggression, but having ice fly around by my eyes as I chop away at it may not be the best hobby out there.
So, out with the old, in with the new!  Thus:

It's...just so pretty! *sniff*

My mom and my sister both have the freezer-on-the-bottom fridges, and I'm a fan.  Plus, I don't have to bend clear over when I want to get cheese or veggies out any more.

It's bigger than my old one.  And the door holds a full gallon of milk.  It's awesome.

The only downside: buying the fridge has cut significantly into my laser eye surgery fund.  I blame my old fridge for being selfish.

Angry Letters

Dear Local Overpriced Store,

While in the midst of my roadshow preparations, I learned that I would be needing some paint.  I was told, dear store, that you were the only place I could buy temper paint.  I was completely wrong.  After purchasing said paint, I saw temper paint at a national craft store.  Not only was the bottle at the other store bigger, they carried more colors, and it was cheaper.  So, each of your small bottles: $2.99.  Their big bottle of the same stuff: $1.99.  Good job, overpriced store.

a good illustration of the small bottles and large bottles

I changed my mind about using temper paint, though, and got something else.  I tried to return the paint to your store the very next day.  That's when you informed me of your store policy: no refunds, only exchanges.  I'm pretty sure you're one of the few stores left in America that has this as part of your policy.  And even though there are other stores with this kind of policy, the cashiers tell the customer as they are purchasing their wares so the customer is not caught off guard, much like I was.  I had no time that day to look around for an exchange, so I took my paint back home.

I ended up using some of the temper paint.  Which, as a side note, does not work very well on cardboard.  And it comes off onto your hands when you have to grab the cardboard.

About a month later, after the roadshow, I went back the hopes of exchanging the paint not used.  The unused paint, by the way, had been sealed up; I hadn't broken the seal, so it was obviously unused.  I went in, and that's when I was informed about your other return policy, of no exchanges after 30 days.  Um, it had been, like, 34 days.  Really, store?  Again, you couldn't have told me at the time of the initial purchase?

To your credit, you have your return policy up on the wall, about 15 feet behind the purchasing counter, on the side so customers have to crane their necks to see it.  It is on a homemade sign, and small enough that I had to squint at it to read it.  Good job, overpriced store.  Needless to say, you need to work on your communication skills and visual aids, and I need to work on my observation skills, or perhaps need to bring binoculars with me.  Also needless to say, I will not be returning to your store.  Thank you for wasting my time and my money.

From,
Disgruntled Paint Purchaser



Dear Expensive Jeans Store,

I used to love your jeans.  They were the only jeans that fit my body well.  They were expensive, but I put up with that because of the fit.  But you've lost your touch, Jeans Store.

When I last bought some of your jeans, I noticed the legs were way too long.  They are also way too thin.  This is Idaho, not Texas-our jeans need to be thicker!  And I think they were so long so you could wear high heels with them.  Again, Jeans Store, know your audience-IDAHO.  We're in snow boots half the year.

I had to hem up the bottoms of the pants.  Also, after I wear them once, they sag in the butt and fall down, so I'm hitching them up constantly.  I guess I should wash them after one wear to keep them from stretching too far, but because they are so expensive I only have 2 of them.  And, it's not like I don't have enough laundry to do.  I should be able to wear them at least twice before washing.

not my butt, but this is what it feels like

Jeans Store, I just don't think the price you charge is worth the "quality" I get any more.  I'm going to have to deal with these pants for a while, until they wear out.  Which, actually, should be soon, because they're so thin-there will be holes in the knees in no time.  After that, I'm going to have to shop elsewhere.

Sincerely,
Cold, Saggy-Bummed Lady



Dear Mean Chiropractor,

I'd like to write and tell you how much your belittling me has meant to me.  My back had been hurting for quite some time.  I had been to your office before, but had been treated by your co-worker, who is quite nice.  I thought maybe you'd be the same, but I was sorely mistaken.

The first time I went in to you, you fixed me up.  My back finally had some relief.  We scheduled a follow-up for the following week.  And this is when you lost me as a customer.

right where my back has been hurting

I had the first appointment after your lunch break.  It was scheduled for an hour before I had to get my son again from preschool, so I thought I had plenty of time.  After waiting 45 MINUTES for you to get back from your lunch break, I had about 2 minutes until needing to leave to get my son.  It's not like I was waiting for you to finish with another patient.  If you don't want to be back on time from lunch, then don't schedule people for that time period.

I informed you that I had to leave soon.  And that's when you started to make snide comments to me about how stat-at-home moms are soooooo busy, as in busy eating bon-bons

I did not appreciate your attitude toward my job as a homemaker and mother.  Maybe your wife (bless her heart) has a maid, and a cook, and a nanny, and a chauffeur, and a dry cleaner, but I don't-I do all of that on my own.  So excuse me for needing you to be prompt for my appointments.  I wasn't late, and you shouldn't be, either.  Common courtesy, man.

Also, could you tell your receptionist to not pull out condescending remarks as well?  After my awful appointment with you, where I got billed $40 for 2 minutes of your oh-so-precious time where you pushed my back right into the original "out" position (causing further appointments/money with a new chiropractor), I received a bill, informing me that I was "late" on my payment.  So I called, and asked if your business had sent a claim to my insurance.  Your receptionist decided to tell me all about my deductible, as if I didn't know.  When in fact, she didn't have the right information.  I don't like to be talked to as if I am a two-year-old.

So, dear chiropractor, if I ever see you again it will be too soon.  And I will never frequent your office again.  This town has about 50 million chiropractors; you'd think that you would be trying your hardest to keep the clients you have.  But apparently that is not your focus; instead it's on 2 hour lunch breaks and belittling housewives.

Always,
"Just" a homemaker



Dear Fridge,

Is it too much to ask of you to work properly?  You are a fridge, and only 6 years old at that.  A few years ago, you started leaking water from the freezer into the fridge portion of your body.  The water would freeze in the back, and drip down onto the bottom of your insides.  I got you fixed.  And then a few months later, I fixed you again.  And again.  And again.

By now, fridge, I could have bought your twin with all the repair cost I have put into you.  Is that what you want, fridge?  To be replaced so easily?

Right now, I'm trying to save up for laser eye surgery.  The last thing I want to do is spend money on either fixing you (again) or replacing you.  So for now, I have to put plastic containers in the back of you to catch your water overflow (which comes from who-knows-where) and emptying it out every other day.

And sometimes, fridge, you have decided to also do the leaky thing in the freezer part of yourself.  Which then makes an ice layer that freezes around all the goods I have in there.  Chipping food out of my freezer isn't the best use of my time, nor would I like it to become a new hobby.  Couldn't you just...work?  Like a normal fridge?  I'm all about quirks and individuality, but I draw a line when you're a menace to my kitchen.

So, fridge, I'll stick it out with you, for now.  But once my eyes are all lasered, it's on.  You're next, pal.

With love,
Annoyed Owner

Memory Monday: Appliance Gratitude

This last week, our microwave decided to die on us.  (This isn't the "memory" part of my post.  This is just the setup of what brought back this particular memory, or memories, if you will.)  One minute it was working, the next minute there was absolutely no heat emitting from its...micro waves. 

The appliance fixer guy came out and said a piece wasn't working.  I keep wanting to call it the Megatron.  The...Magnavox?  The...MAGNATRON!  Yes!  I remembered!  (Seriously, my brain goes to Megatron first.  I must have boys in my house.)  Anyway, that's the thing that makes the microwave work.  We could either replace the part, or get a new one for the same exact cost.  I went with a new one, because why not?

While I was looking around the store, I saw some really fancy appliances.  It's only been 5-ish years since I've done some appliance shopping, though at the time we had Budget X to work with because that's what our home builders told us we had.  Of course we could have gone over Budget X to get fancier things, but we didn't have more money with which to spend on the fancy, so Plain Jane is what we ended up getting.

But now?  There are microwaves that have grills inside of them.  Crazy, huh?  And there are ovens that have a smaller oven door, which totally fits a 9x13 pan, but you only have to heat up the smaller one (and then there's a full-size oven underneath), so it's more energy efficient and all that jazz.  (Here's a picture of one.  Awesome, huh?)

And then there's the fancy, roomy dishwasher. *sigh*  Of all my appliances, I would want my dishwasher to break.  It's short, and small, and the utensil holder is in the bottom instead of on the door so it takes up a ton of room, and then it has that spindle thing in the middle of the bottom and top that shoots water up, so you have to work around it.  And because my dishwasher is short, if I use a normal-sized skillet, I have to lean it over, so it takes up more than half of the bottom of the dishwasher to clean it.

I was coveting, my friends.

However.  This experience brings me to my Memory Monday.  And because it's late, I'm sure I'll forget all sorts of descriptive details about it.  Though, I think for Memory Monday's sake, I'm going to just stick to the appliance section of this time in my life.

The year span was 2002-2005.  Pete and I got married in June of 2002, and we moved into married student housing on campus at Utah State.  I think these beauties were built in, like, the 1940s or something.  There were plenty of things wrong with the Aggie Village apartments, but for two really poor college students, they were just fine.  Here's a pic of one of the buildings:

Sweet, sweet cinder block walls with no air conditioning.  Very cold in the winter, warm like unto an oven in the summer.  (And then being SUPER pregnant during one of those summers!  Yikes.  Bikes.)  They were cheap, but a great deal because our water, cable, internet, phone, garbage, sewer, and electricity were all included in the price.  The downside: no appliances to be had.

Laundry machines?  We were lucky enough to have the laundry building right next door to our building.  Microwave?  Pete's siblings all pitched in to get us one for our wedding gift.  It sat on an old desk that Pete had had in his single days.  Dishwasher?  I called my dishwasher my hands, my sink, soap, and a towel.  We had a dinky little gas oven in which only one of my cookie sheets would fit all the way.

Our cabinets had sliding fake wood doors.  Our "pantry" was maybe a foot wide and maybe two feet deep (I'm being generous on the measurements).

One day in Sunday School during church (which was basically our whole ward, because there were, like, 5 kids old enough to be in nursery while the rest were all brand new babies, and that was the entirety of our primary), someone made a comment about our fake wood sliding cabinet doors, and our lack of counter space.  And I think every woman in the room started fantasizing about real wood cabinets, and appliances that were younger than she was.  And our teacher (I can't remember his name, but he had red hair, if I'm remembering right) made this comment:

If we can always remember our fake wood cabinets during this time in our lives, we will always be grateful for what we have.

That really hit me.  I think he was trying to say a few things-or, I interpreted it a few different ways.  One, that someday we'll look back and realize how poor we were in college, and that hopefully we'll be better off in the future, but we need to be grateful for how far we've come.  Two, that aren't we lucky to even be in college, and that we even have cabinets in which to house our food and dishes.  And three, all we need are the basics, and our happiness doesn't come from material goods.

So yes, I coveted a new dishwasher last week.  But then I remembered what life was like without one, and I realized how great I have it.  I am so blessed, and not just with appliances.

Amazing, Awesome, and Addicting

1. Last week it snowed.  A bunch.  Then the snow decided to drift all over the place, meaning, my driveway.  And I was out shoveling Wednesday morning while pies were cooking in my oven.  I'd have to shovel one little area about three times, because I couldn't lift a 2 1/2-foot layer of snow with the shovel in one fell swoop.  Then, to my utter surprise and delight, a big huge blue tractor drives up.  At first, it looked like my neighbor, but then it kind of didn't.  He asked if he could clear the snow for me.  In less than two minutes, he had cleared my entire driveway.  Like I said, I couldn't tell who it was for sure, because he was all bundled up, and I had my glasses on that were getting all foggy with tears of frustration, then tears of relief because he came to help me.  So, if anyone knows who this kind fellow is, please let me know so I can thank him (I gave him a thank-you wave, but that doesn't seem sufficient enough), or let him know that I'm so grateful.

2. I've seen two terrific movies and a play this last week.  Movie one: Harry Potter.  A-MAZ-ING.  I heart Harry Potter.  End of story.  Movie two: Tangled.  I just about bawled during one of the scenes, when the two main characters are on a lake.  It was just... so beautiful!  I had to keep swallowing really hard to stop myself from crying.  WONDERFUL movie.  The play: the people from Playmill put on "White Christmas" at a local theater here.  They did a great job.

3. We had Thanksgiving Wednesday night because my sister and her fiance had to jet out of town unexpectedly Thursday.  It was actually really nice to have Thanksgiving dinner the night before.  And then we went to the movie Thursday and had leftovers afterwards, so it's like we still had Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving.

4.  These little Heath bars are like crack!  I should just buy the big bar of Heath, because I think I would consume fewer calories that way.  These bad boys are so addicting, and I could probably eat 20 or so of them without batting an eyelash.

5. Another thing I'm addicted to: these amazing pants!  I wish I could give a pair to everyone I know.  And then we could start a fashion trend of soft cozy fleece pants, and then I wouldn't have to change out of them to go places to look acceptable-ish.  They are $9, at Walmart.  You will not be sorry if you run out and grab some!  I have pink, and purple, and polka-dot now.  They can get a little static cling in them, which usually I hate, but with these I feel like it's an extra warm hug for my legs.

6. And if that wasn't enough, I'm addicted to another thing: the Hunger Games books.  I CANNOT put them down.  I read nonstop Saturday and Sunday, and finished today.  And now I'm having withdrawals.  LOVE them.  Read them!

7. Monday I finally got my snowblower to run!  I hate that things like lawn mowers and other outside machinery have a pull-string starter thingy.  I have to pull the string with all my might to get these items started.  I had tried two or three times (at like, a hundred pulls each) before yesterday, without success.  Then Pete suggested I bring it in the house, thinking that getting the machine warm would help it.  So I hauled it into my kitchen, cleaned it off with baby wipes (seriously, who knew those things could be so handy in wiping things other than baby bottoms?), and then a couple of hours later took it out.  It started after about 5 pulls, which is amazing for me.  Once it was going, I wasn't about to stop until my whole driveway was cleared again.  I even got all fancy and cleared my sidewalk.

What has been amazing, awesome, or addicting in your life lately?

Photographic Evidence

Hey, look what I got!


So now I can take a lot more pictures like this:

And like this:

We've been having an awesome, way too short summer. I can't believe school starts in a little over a week! Yikes!

But, it's been fun. The boys did swim lessons. Jakob swam like a spaz, like he always has.

Brock, taking it so seriously. He improved a ton-he would actually put his face in the water by the end of lessons.

And Troy, who always managed to find me up above the swimming pool, and smiled his huge grin at me the whole time.

We took the kids to a drive-in movie, too. Pigging out is the best!

Idaho summer nights can't be beat! We have too few left...

Reluctantly Plodding into the 21st Century

Well, I've officially become "normal". (At least in the tech-y area of my life; other areas...different post for a different day.)

Behold, a cell phone. That happens to be mine. That took over my land line number. That I now have to carry on my person. (*Sigh* about that one.)

I didn't think that I needed a cell phone, but Pete did. Remember that time when Ivy cut her lip and needed stitches? Yeah, I was at the church when it happened, and Pete had no way of reaching me, so he had to leave our bleeding child at home with three other freaked out kids to come and get me and the minivan.

And that is exactly why Pete got me a cell phone for Christmas. For injured children. For when I've been gone running errands for 3 hours and he has no idea when I'm planning to come home. That kind of thing.

Thus far, I haven't had to use it, because our land line was still working. Until today, when my mom tried calling me about 80 times, and the phone was in my purse, or on vibrate, or something, and I didn't hear it. And my voice mail wasn't set up so I couldn't receive messages. When she came banging on my door wondering if I was still alive, I figured I should set up my voice mail, etc. And then the battery died on me. (I haven't been using it, remember? So, it's been sitting in my purse-turned on, because I didn't know how to turn it off. I'm cool that way.)

So if you try calling me, and I don't answer, it's not because I don't love you. It's because I'll be trying to find and/or figure out how to answer the dang thing. But NOW you could leave a message, and I may or may not be able to get that, either.

New

The Nat Pack been facing a lot of changes lately, some of which have been awesome, and some maybe not so much. But as Sheryl Crow says, "A Change Would Do You Good".

Last night I got a new booster seat for Troy-boy. (By the way, there are some booster seats on sale at Walmart for $13.50.) He saw it this morning and is so excited. He just thinks he's all sorts of grown up. I wish it would translate into the potty training realm, though. We've been trying to potty train him, but that's very hit and miss. He'll try to change his own diaper, and I keep wondering why he can't just figure out the whole potty-undies correlation, but whatever. I wish my kids were the types that just take charge of that. I know kids like that exist; well, I think kids like that exist-but maybe only in a galaxy far far away. This morning he pulled out his red Bumblebee shirt (he also owns a yellow one and a blue one), and told me, "Mom, my tummy feels yucky, but this Bumblebee shirt will make it feel better."





I got a new computer, because our other one died. It's very little, and very cute. Now maybe I'll find the energy to start working on my online scrapbooking again.

Ivy's had the most changes. Her new trick is climbing up things. It's been kind of a blessing in disguise, because she's been able to climb up on my lap as I haven't been able to pick her up since my surgery. But we have to be extra careful about leaving things on the table.



And although she's a good climber, she's not good enough to get out of her crib. So we got her a new big girl bed. It's very pink, and has princesses on it. I'm thinking I might need to repaint the walls, or rethink the wall decorations, seeing as how they all went with our nursery theme of Winnie the Pooh. Maybe someday, I guess-I'll just add it to the mile long to-do list, that starts with hanging the new window blinds I got for our front room.

Oh, and also this Sunday Ivy gets to try her new nursery class, because she's 18 months old today! YAHOO!! (Well, unless she's like my boys, and hates it, and I have to sit in there with her for at least a few months. But you never know.)

Also, she's getting 4 new teeth. The child already has 12 in her little noggin-this will make 16!

Jakob has a new interest-Bakugan toys. Maybe anta-Say will bring some for istmas-Chray. But I'm thinking I'm going to have the kids help me clear out the unused toys before Christmas. I've done this before, and it's worked really well: I tell the boys how there are some kids that can't afford new toys, so we need to give our toys that we don't use to a store (D.I.) so that they can have toys for Christmas. So then I have them help me organize all the toys (blocks in the block bag, dinosaurs in the dinosaur bag, etc.), and then I have them take turns picking their 10 favorite toys to keep, and we get rid of the rest. (I'm not a super toy Nazi, though- If they pick a dinosaur, they get all the dinosaurs, and sometimes I still hang on to some toys that they don't pick-I call them Ivy's 10 toys.)

And I got new pain meds on Monday, because dang. I will hopefully be able to lift my kids, and vacuum and the like next week, though. It may hurt to do it, but I'll be able to.

Finally, Pete and I have a new obsession: a game called Plants vs. Zombies. It's hilarious, and fun, and the kids love watching us play it. Which I'm going to go do right now, because I have a very patient Brock sitting on my lap, ready to watch.

YAY for new things!

Lost

This is what happened to our computer yesterday:

Well, not literally. But it completely crashed. Just...curled up and died. We don't know why, or how. And we were going to lose EVERYTHING. Everything like every picture of Ivy from birth on. Like all of my little files (which would be like losing my mind). Like the I-Tunes music we've purchased. EVERYTHING.

Luckily, Pete is a master genius when it comes to computers. Luckily, he was able to move stuff around to our other computer. Luckily, before we had to completely wipe the hard drive, we saved some of our stuff.

Unluckily, we did end up losing the pictures from January and February of 2008. Unluckily, we lost some of our I-Tunes music. Unluckily, we lost the blurb digital scrapbook that I had been working on. (Luckily, though, I've been too busy to work on it much lately, so I wasn't very far into it. Still, though.)

Lesson learned: Back your stuff up! Put it on a disk far, far away. Or, have two computers, and double copy everything to both. And after doing that, still do a disk far, far away.

Now a moment of silence for my lost blurb book...

Thank Goodness for Voom!

Behold, the Voom. A beautiful sight, right?

(Thanks for the snow blower, Mom and Dad! You rock!)

We're Expecting...

...our new riding lawn mower to be delivered tomorrow!!!

Our other mower died a very tragic death as it was trying to power through our craptastic backyard. It had a good long life, though-it was a hand-me-down from my dad. I remember running it when I was a pre-teen. It sputtered and smoked while I was mowing earlier this week. It hasn't started again since.

So a new mower was needed, and since our yard is so huge, well, this will make it easy, fun, and fast to mow!

YAY!!

A Spiderman Post, of Course!

Just when you think you can't get anything else Spiderman...

Jakob got a Spiderman bike! His other bike was WAY too small. He's still working on pedaling well, and if we'd have consistently nice weather then maybe he'd get better at it! But soon enough it will be nice all the time, and then I'll be able to ride my bike, too!

And apparently, Jakob thought our garbage can needed a little extra something. That's a Spiderman, with his name (kind of) underneath. One day when he's a famous artist, everyone will know who did it!