Why haven't I been showing up at this blog lately? Life has just been a tad overwhelming, is all. Nothing big, just assorted and sundry adding up and sucking away at my blogging time. A few examples:
Bedroom closet - I spent what should have been my blogging time on Tuesday hacking a path through the detritus on the floor of what is (in theory only) a walk-in closet. In the process, I discovered Christmas presents I forgot to give the kids, approximately 6,000 extra hangers, our fire-escape ladder, and various other items. And that was only 2 feet in.
Children - Brian was crying this afternoon because his mittens were wet. And he didn't like his spare pair - too snug around the wrists. I adore him - he is the sweetest, most good-natured person ever. And yet I found myself grabbing the lapels (as it were) of his winter coat and saying, "I cannot knit you a new pair right now." Loudly. Poor guy.
Refrigerator - worse than usual. I know! That's hard to imagine. There are all these small objects in it that persist in falling all over each other and tumbling out of the fridge whenever I try to remove a larger object. This happens about 543 times a day; and each time it occurs, it eats away another small part of my soul. Please tell me someone else has this problem.
Meals - Tired of removing produce formerly known as fresh from my crisper (not!) drawers, I've been exploring the brave new world (for me) of frozen vegetables. Last week I decided to treat my family by spending Larry's hard-earned money on 2 bags of frozen broccoli with a special cheese sauce. Cheese sauce! Everything tastes good with cheese sauce on it! Heck, cardboard tastes good with cheese sauce.
We all know where this is going, right? Brian spit it out on to his plate, saying "It tastes like vomit." He should know. Watching this performance, the rest of us concluded that, no matter what it tasted like, it certainly looked like vomit. So I ended up having to wash off everyone's broccoli. Because I don't have enough to do.
Appliances - inoperable. My sinister plan to kill my stove is proceeding apace - I am down to 2 burners, and neither one works right. I call the Habitat for Humanity ReStore every day, checking to see if they have any stoves. There is no way I am paying full price for something that is just going to break a year after I bring it home. Larry is not totally on board with this plan. He inexplicably labors under the delusion that if we spend a lot of money on a new appliance, it will last a long time. Speaking of which....
The dishwasher? Still broken. A friend of mine who is remodeling offered me her 6-year-old dishwasher. You know what rankles? The injustice of her having a 6-year-old model that still works while my expensive 2-year-old piece of crap languishes indolently in my kitchen, that's what...
Anyway, this generous offer has put Larry and I back onto the merry-go-round of discussing/arguing the merits of fixing our (less old) dishwasher or taking the offered one, thereby throwing out an appliance that should be perfectly good but isn't and why should we spend money fixing it but gosh it's still so new.
If you couldn't follow that, you are not married. You might want to stay that way.
Our fridge--bought new when we bought the house--crapped out permanently after about 3 1/2 years. The fridge guy managed to fix it once, but then he said it was a lemon. Sometimes you have to cut your losses, even if you can't beat the appliance manufacturer over the head with their crappy appliance, like you want to and they deserve.
ReplyDeleteI've been using frozen vegetables for a while. They freeze them so quickly they actually probably have more nutrients than the "fresh" ones I could buy that have traveled from who-knows-where. Frozen broccoli is just so much easier (except I don't buy the kind with cheese sauce). I still buy some things fresh, but there's no shame at all in frozen. Just, maybe skip the frozen cheese sauce next time!
Oh it SO ticks me off when I purchase an appliance and it dies - usually right after the warranty expires. That. Is. SO. Wrong.
ReplyDeleteSounds like life is full. :)
Maybe you should stop buying food until everything edible in the fridge is eaten. I have 6 children too and our fridge becomes empty about 2 days after I've done the fortnightly food shopping. They keep opening the door expecting that the fridge genie has filled it back up but, as I try to convince them, even the fridge genie has to budget.
ReplyDeleteGood Grief! I am happy to see someone else has the same closet issues as I do, except for me, it has developed a little urban sprawl and is currently trying to overtake the bedroom. Every weekend I optimisticly think this will be the weekend and then I am just too bloody tired from making things happen all week. Sigh... maybe this will be the weekend?
ReplyDeleteHow about a house that dies on you! Not to try to outdo you because, YOU ARE LIVING WITHOUT A DISHWASHER with 6 kids! Nothing trumps that! But, my 6 year old house sprung a slow leak which ended up going under the floorboards of our bedroom. Our bed has been in the middle of the family room for 2 weeks now, while my clothes and bedroom furniture are scattered throughout the house. We are living the dream-The Sanford and Son dream.
ReplyDeleteAnd there IS no shame in frozen veggies. The vitamins stay with the veggies and it's convenient and you need convenience because YOU ARE LIVING WITHOUT A DISHWASHER.
And by the way, my fridge has shredded my soul. So you are not alone.
I end up picking up various bottles of 'stuff' every time I remove a large object from the fridge. It makes me crazy. Why my children need to put every condiment we own in front of the gallon of milk, I know not. It is one of my greatest pet peeves.
ReplyDeleteIf I had only known that Habitat for Humanity stores really sold stuff like appliances to the public, I would have been all over that like white on rice long ago. As we live on opposite coasts, we shan't be in competition for those appliances either.
I went grocery shopping today. One day I will write a post about how physically draining it is to shop for a family of 8 for 2 weeks. I am so tired, it isn't even funny. I'm crying on your shoulder because you are one of the few people who could sympathize (I hope, tell me you can) and I'm tired of hearing Hubby say, "How hard is it to spend my money?"
My fridge has no fewer than 4 semi-mysterious tin foil packages in it right now.
ReplyDeleteThings fall on my head in my pantryand my closet. But my Bosch dishwasher is still washing after 5+ years.
ReplyDeleteHave you been secretly living in my house? Nearly everything you wrote is agonizingly familiar... Although, in your defense, I have never purchased frozen broccoli with cheese. I do buy plenty of other frozen veggies, and you could always try plain ones and then add your own cheese sauce (because of course, you need more to do).
ReplyDeleteSpring will be here soon and then you can just feed everyone outside from food cooked on the BBQ. Right?
ReplyDeleteI think that we're currently using only the front 2" of shelf space in our refrigerator, the rest is full of leftovers and condiments.
ReplyDeleteYesterday my daughter opened the refrigerator, looked closely at a Gladware container with leftover cheesy potatoes in it and said "Wow, that looks like a moldy alligator, look, you can even see it's teeth!"
We have a few of those "walk in" closets. Really, they should be called "climb over all the stuff if you are really brave enough to go that far inside" closets.
I can't believe you rinsed off the broccoli.
Invite your mother-in-law over. She'll clean that fridge in no time flat. OR, if you have one of THOSE MIL's, knowing she's coming over will light the motivational fire under you to get it done.
ReplyDeleteYour conversations with Larry sound a lot like mine with Doug regarding our television sets (20 years old, as big as VW bugs, missing remotes but still operational).
ReplyDeleteGlad you're still operational, though. And keeping a sense of humor about it.
I have a friend who has so far gone 27 days without a working oven. Not sure I could do that. My in-laws feel your pain on the dishwasher. Theirs, too, is only 2 years old and works like crap. If it's working, that is. The funny thing is, they bought 2 dishwashers at the time: a high-end one for their kitchen and a run-of-the-mill one for the attached apartment that we are temporarily staying in. And which one do you think works best and has had NO problems? You guessed it!
ReplyDeleteJust as a side note. I have 5 kids currently and our appliances last less than 10 years. So we buy the warranty and get them replaced at the cost of another warranty. So my dryer was originally bought for $350 plus $150 for warranty. It was replaced (Costing new $450) and I paid for another warranty of ($150). So I paid $300 for a new dryer total and saved $100. But that doesn't include the cost of all the parts I had repaired during the 8 years it lived. The parts would have ran me $120 alone. I don't know how much the repair man would have cost. So it's really a savings of $250. Phew. We always buy the first one new, and then keep up on the warranty. I learned the trick from a millionaire. And I figured, he knows how to make and maintain money right?
ReplyDeleteNow I know why everybody hates me: All my appliances are 17 years old and in working order. Oh, and tell Larry they were the cheapest models available.
ReplyDeleteThe devil's in the details -- and so is the humor if you look for it. Especially if it's happening to someone else! ;)
ReplyDeleteOh fart! The Husband asked me to start a load of laundry this morning, and the entire idea went whoosh out of my head as soon as I hung up the phone. It just re-occurred to me! Gotta run before my brain fails me again!
BTW, bad idea of the day: letting The Boy buy whoopie cushions from the party favor aisle in Target. Bad, bad, bad...
I have a paneled thing on the door of the fridge where you're supposed to put butter.
ReplyDeleteInstead I keep small take out packets of ketchup, mayo, mustard, hot sauce in there. I have no idea why since I have large bottles of all those condiments.
Every time I open that door, those little packages throw themselves out through the tiny slot at the bottom. And yet?
I can't throw them out. Help me.
Remodeled the kitchen. Put in a Thermador stove. Five burners, two designed to cycle on and off for risotto blahblahblahsalesmanspeak. Those two burners, according to the repairman who came out later, had a design flaw that if you ever, ever, so much as just once turned them all the way up, the heat fused the thing shut and your burner was dead to the tune of $450. Two burners? New stove time! Brand stinking new and toast. I'm with the buy-the-warranty commenter.
ReplyDeletehope all is well in the "more the messier" household.
ReplyDeleteblessings,
bia
Rinsing sauce off of broccoli is totally something I would have to do for my kids. Who doesn't like cheese sauce??
ReplyDeleteHere's a stove! Larry will love it! Only $19,000!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.universal-akb.com/585agafoovco.html?productid=585agafoovco&channelid=FROOG
Ah, but did the refrigerator act alone?
ReplyDeleteIs that all? And you can't find time to blog everyday? Sheesh!
ReplyDeleteMiss you. Hope all is well.
ReplyDeleteSigned: Someone who enjoys your writing but prefers to be anonymous for now!