The ending to the refrigerator saga (or, at least, what I hope is the ending) is rather anticlimactic. Also, brace yourselves for the stunning revelation of my intimate knowledge of the inner workings of refrigerators.
The guy said that when they replace the thingy he replaced last week, they ususally replace another doo-hickey, too. However, when he tested our doo-hickey, it tested fine, so he didn't see the need to replace it and charge us for it. (Thank you!) Howsomever, that doo-hickey was the one that went out on Thursday.
Fortunately, he had the new doo-hickey in his truck and was able to replace it right then for a mere $35 (who knew doo-hickeys were so cheap?!?). He didn't even charge labor. Thank you, Lord!!
Funny how when you don't have to go to work on Monday, Friday just kind of bleeds into Saturday. Yesterday, I realized that tomorrow was Saturday, and the habitual gut-instinct of oh-crap-I-have-to-clean-the-whole-house-before-Sunday-night hit me.
And then... (savor this with me now, folks)... I remembered. Ahhhhh, yesssssssss.... Summer Vacation. :) Pure, relaxing, unadulterated joy. Hallelujah.
I think we're taking the kids to see Surf's Up today, because I'm not chained to my house to do laundry!! Yay!
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Saturday
Friday, June 8, 2007
Fiderajer
... we interrupt this broadcast to update you on the continuing saga of the refrigerator, which is "continuing", despite the fact that you may have known nothing about it.
Last Monday, Memorial Day, our refrigerator went out. Not like on a date or anything (there's a joke here somewhere about where those little refrigerators come from... "When a mommy refrigerator and a daddy refrigerator really love each other..."). No, it "went out" as in "quit working". This is on the day after I'd been up all night with the dreaded Stomach Flu, which chose to manifest itself in a revisitation of anything and everything I'd eaten since about the eighth grade.
This is also on a holiday when everyone, including the appliance repair people, took a day off. (Good for them. I'm sure they needed a break from all those people hounding them about broken appliances... except, of course, how dare they choose a national holiday that would fall on the same day my refrigerator quit?!?) I called and left an appropriately desparate message for them to please call me back ASAP on Tuesday morning.
So, what with me being sick and completely unable to even think of venturing into the kitchen, my dad came over to help Knight take all the food out of the fridge. Dad took it all back to their house and stuffed it in their refrigerator and freezer. Yay for Dads!
I had to go to work the next morning to finish a few things and check out for the summer. Knight started his new job that day, too. I finished up about 11:30 that morning, and met the refrigerator repairman back at our house at 1:00.
After about half an hour, he determined that the circuit-board-something-or-other needed to be replaced. Did they have the part? No, ma'am. They'd have to order it and it would be in by Friday. Fantastic. Four days without a fridge.
I managed to keep busy for the next few days, and Friday rolled around. The nice lady at the repair shop called to say that they had the part and would I be around on Saturday? Yes, we're having a yard sale, but he can come fix the fridge. Please come fix the fridge.
Now, have you ever had a yard sale? If you have, then you probably know that your whole house looks like a tornado ripped through it because you've been digging around, gathering things to sell. Combine that with a few breakfast taco wrappers and a plate of unfinished pancakes from Whataburger, a yard sale in full swing, and two toddlers running around... and you have a fairly clear picture of our house at 10:00 that Saturday when he came back to install the thingamajig.
About two hours later, we had a hallelujah moment because the ice maker dumped the first batch of ice. I'll never take ice water for granted again.
My sister in law Deanna had come up to hang out and help with the yard sale. After the yard sale finished and I made a trip to Goodwill with the leftovers, she went with me to gather up my food from Mom's house and hit the grocery store. We grilled burgers for dinner, and God saw that it was good. There was evening and there was morning - the first full day with a working fridge.
Fast forward five days to last night. I was feeling sick with this head cold, and a bit stressed, so what's the cure? Why, ice cream, of course!! As I scooped, I noticed that it was a bit soft. Posessing scientific observation and reasoning skills, I deduced that the freezer was going out again. Sure enough, when I opened it and looked, the back was covered in frost. Again.
Called and left another message. She called back. Is your freezer freezing over again? Yes. I can send him back out at noon. Will you be there? Yes, thanks.
He should be here in about an hour. Wish us luck!
... we now return you to your original broadcast...
Thursday, June 7, 2007
More on the ring, and it's not pretty
Thanks to everyone for their suggestions on the last post about time-outs. Fortunately, I haven't had to deal with the situation since I wrote it (figures!), but I'm sure it will come up again.
We are now the house of the head-cold. Jet brought something home last week; I took him to the doctor last Tuesday. It was "just" a virus, but it threw him for a loop. Knight and I both woke up miserable this morning. To top it off, my sister-in-law is having surgery today, so we have our nieces here. I absolutely don't mind having them and taking care of them, but I'm concerned they'll take it home with them this weekend. Deanna definitely doesn't need to deal with that.
Anyway, Knight and I both went to the doctor this morning. While I was there, I asked him about my ring and the reaction that I've had to it. He just confirmed what the jeweler said -- I now have a nickel allergy, and I just simply can't wear the ring. I semi-jokingly said that I could have Knight buy me a new platinum one, but the he said that almost all rings are made with a nickel alloy to strengthen the metal. He told me I could wear a plastic one. Great!
"Honey, go win me one o' them there nice plastic ones that costs a whole quarter outta that there bubblegum machine!"
"Why shore, darlin' -- yew know yer worth it!"
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Time-Out Dilemma
Last Friday was a rough day. I called our place The House of the Time-Outs and Spankings. I had expected it to be difficult -- just getting Jet used to a new routine, etc.
However, we've run into a couple of issues, and I'm seeking opinions.
First, you should know that I'm more prone to use a time-out (one minute for each year of age) for discipline than a spanking. For starters, it doesn't hurt me as much. I hate spanking Jet. Sometimes I feel like it seems to him that I'm taking my frustration out on him instead of the spanking being logical consequences for his actions (a.k.a. discipline). Time-outs also seems to be more effective with him.
So, here are the problems. When I put Jet into time-out, he takes a swipe at me. He also yells while he's in time-out. He doesn't yell any words. It's more like a cross between a scream and a growl, and it's definitely directed at me. He does that about three or four times during his three-minute time-out.
I know that hitting is wrong, and he should be disciplined for it. I usually just consider the time-out to be punishment for the previous incident as well as the hitting. I do make it a point to tell him a stern "No hitting!" when he hits me, and I address it in our post-time-out pow-wow. I make him apologize for both things. He says he's "Sorry for [fill in transgression-of-the-day here] and hitting and yelling". I tell him that I forgive him and I love him.
My question is this: Should the hit and/or yell escalate the punishment? If so, to what? Spanking? It bothers me to say, "We don't hit - here's your spanking"...Here's Your Sign. I don't think a longer time-out is effective or appropriate, so... ?
Monday, June 4, 2007
Excuse me?
Today has been a good day with Jet. He's a pretty funny kid...
I put him in a T-shirt with a pocket today. To understand the humor, you should know that I've dumped out a ton of dirt from pockets and found countless clean rocks in the bottom of my washing machine. He's definitely ALL BOY.
J: Hey! I have a pock-et!
D: You sure do. What do you put in that pocket?
J, very seriously: Not dirt.
D, stifling a giggle: No, not dirt.
J, still seriously: And not rocks. And not friends. And not peanut budder and jelly samliches.
~~~~~~~~~~
Later, we were looking at pictures on my computer.
J: I wanna be a farmer!
D: Mmhmmm...
J: I'll be a farmer, and you can be.... a COW!!! Yeah, A COW! You be the COW, MOMMY!!
D: ???..... Gee, thanks.
J: You're welcome, Mommy.
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Meme from Heather
I was tagged by Heather to do this meme, so here goes!!
The rules:
-Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
-People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
-At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
-Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.
1. I can tune the world out if I have a good book. Sometimes people have to physically touch me to get my attention. This worries me a bit about staying home with Jet this summer. :)
2. I luuuuurve the Food Network, and it's the one reason I'm even considering getting cable. Otherwise, I hate paying for TV.
3. I never have a problem falling asleep. Knight swears I fall asleep before my head actually hits the pillow.
4. I've scrubbed our shower exactly twice since we've moved in last October. I hate scrubbing the shower. I assuage my guilt by wiping it down every now and then while I'm in it.
5. I actually have stories that start out, "One time, at band camp...".
6. When I was a sophomore in college, I worked in the administration office of a hospital. One of the VPs invited me to eat lunch with Tiger Woods, and I didn't go because I didn't have a clue who he was. *smack to forehead*
7. My sister Beezneez and I shared a room for a long time when we were growing up. This created some hardships at times. After one particularly difficult day, I had a nightmare that something really bad happened to her, and I woke up crying. I woke her up and made her come to bed with me so I could cuddle her. I don't think I've ever told anyone about that.
8. When I was a toddler, I had houseshoes that were Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street. One shoe was Bert, the other was Ernie. Ernie's nose disappeared at one point. When asked what had happened to it, I replied, "I bited it off."
I tag Ann... and I would have tagged Heather, but... as she said, "so sue me!"