Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Phil 4:6-7



Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Living in the Real Life Department...streaming



I am old enough to remember getting on an elevator in a department store and telling the attendant which floor I desired. Or, I guess my mother did, as I was young, likely holding the hand of one of my three younger brothers. But, I do remember, going to the big department store downtown and getting off on the floor we requested.

Real life department for me, please (actually, I'd rather have the fantasy life department, but I haven't made it there so far), just in case you think this is one of those blogs that makes life look impossibly beautiful, or happy. Nope. Real life here.

I woke up on Monday morning ready for a better week (last week's UTI and flea bites out of my mind, mostly). Faith and I had an annual trip to the country scheduled with my mom, so we dressed and headed out, camera in bag, to the country and Ye Olde Mill -- i.e. Velvet ice cream factory.







It was a brisk and windy morning, but we enjoyed walking around the pond, and lunch in the restaurant with a big waffle cone of Butter Pecan Cashew for dessert (that was my pick...Faith's was Raspberry Fudge Cordial).




the sweet little kitten that was lunch entertainment


When we arrived home from our trip, I noticed a puddle of water in front of the refrigerator, never good. On the new floors, no less. I opened the freezer and found that everything, and I mean everything, was thawed -- mushy berries, french fries, fresh salmon, puddle in the bottom of the freezer. Weep. Long story short, the compressor on the fridge is bad -- a two year old KITCHEN AID fridge. Between the fridge and the dishwasher, which has been repaired more times than I can remember in two years, I'll never buy that brand again. And if I got the president of the company alone in a room...

It will be a week before it is repaired. We lost everything in the freezer and a lot of the fridge. Fortunately we have an extra fridge, it's just in the basement, so the silver lining is maybe we'll all get more exercise.



Noah is struggling in algebra II. Every day is a new day, depending on whether or not we get an email with quiz or test results. The mood switches real fast in our house these days -- it could give you whiplash. I wish I could help, but algebra I is my limit. We're paying a tutor, but so far $160 a month is not cutting it.



We have a birthday this weekend -- my oldest will be 24. Sigh. He's coming home and we'll have a big dinner with his grandmas. He asked for pernil al horno, which I think is pretty much carnitas  (I think pernil is Puerto Rican and Carnitas are Mexican, but the flavors look the same). We'll have some black beans and rice and flan, and big bowl of salsa and guacamole.


I hope your October is feeling better than mine. I seriously feel like I wake up and something bad happens, every day. I also feel like I am so tired, I am dragging myself through life. I seriously walk as slow as molasses. What time do you go to bed every night? Do you go to bed before you go to sleep, for reading or relaxing?


By the way, thank you all for the nice comments on the post from Saturday. I wanted to respond to them, but then the fridge conked out. Maybe tomorrow. Tomorrow's another day, right Scarlett?





30 comments:

  1. Ooh! I remember the elevator ladies in the department stores too! They wore gloves, presumably to protect their hands as they grabbed that metal handle on the sliding elevator grill all day. So sorry about the fridge! Hope the floor took it okay. (and there's no way I could read in bed - I'm asleep in an instant!) Thankfully, tomorrow is always another day.

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    1. I'm glad you remember, too. ;-) I always get slightly motion sick on elevators, so I thought that would be the worst job ever!

      The floor survived. Luckily we weren't on vacation!

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  2. So sorry about the fridge.

    I have been trying to stay awake longer than the kids so that I can have some quiet time. Some nights I make it, some nights I fall asleep snuggled up beside Therese.

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    1. Jenny, I know your days are more physically tiring with little ones (and getting ready for a move) . I don't know how you do it!

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  3. Before you get a new fridge, it's Whirlpool you want to stay away from. They own Kitchenaid now, and Maytag, and ton of other brands. It seems like their MO is to buy a successful brand, cut production costs (and thus quality) while keeping the high prices for the name, thus running the whole company into the ground. It's hard to find a brand NOT owned by Whirlpool, but it's possible. I have a Bosch dishwasher we're very happy with (very quiet), my fridge and freezers are Frigidaire (seems like a low quality brand but I've never had a lick of trouble with them) and my washer and dryer are GE (only moderately happy with those, but they were mechanical and didn't try to automatically adjust the water level for me. I can adjust my own water, thank you very much.) Haven't found a non-whirlpool stove I like yet, though.

    And thus ends my anti-Whirlpool rant. :-)

    I'm pretty worn out over here, too. I'm tired of keeping all our balls in the air, of making all the decisions, of fixing all the crises, of holding everybody else up while having nobody to support me. It's exhausting. Some nights we watch movies or a television show off the internet (love The Walking Dead, oddly), and other nights I try to read for a little bit before I fall asleep. I don't usually finish a chapter, no matter what the book is. Then I wake up, figure out what day it is, thank God for His loving care, ask Him to hold me up for another day, and roll out of bed to start all over again.

    Lots of love to you. This is probably just another one of those seasons that passes away if we can just wait it out with courage and grace.

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    1. Jennie, yes, whirlpool is the problem, but I guess I am also mad at Kitchen Aid for not maintaining the integrity of the brand. The repairman told me he dislikes whirlpool because they will not replace a new appliance no matter how bad -- like our dishwasher, on which they extended the warranty because it was so bad but would not replace. The only good thing about this fridge, according to him, is our warranty, which covers the compressor (after the $80 trip fee), which he said is unheard of today. Most people just buy a new fridge. Unfortunately, he said replacing a compressor shortens the life of the fridge. I have always had good luck with Kenmore brand (and never know who made the item), so I'll go back to them. The funny thing is (or isn't), we have an extended warranty on almost everything, but not the fridge and dishwasher. :-(

      PS you are a good woman, ya know that? I know how you feel (with your world on your shoulders). Even though you have extenuating circumstances, and a harder life, much is the same.

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  4. I wish I could "Like" Jennie C.'s comment! Consider it liked. Yep, Whirlpool is the problem. Somehow, I have trouble trusting cell phone companies like LG and Samsung with my kitchen appliances. :-/

    Are your wood floors okay????

    I remember the elevator operators---but I wasn't a child. It was in NYC during college at the large department stores.

    Does Noah ever use Khan Academy? Pip has started using it for Biology, and I even found Tom (aka Mr. Calculus Is Easy) using it last night to help him. Frankly, I'd like to just work my way through the videos to learn stuff I don't know!

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  5. Ditto on the LG and Samsung bit.

    The floors are fine -- even underneath. I guess I caught it early.

    My son Geoffrey just sent me some Khan links. I knew about them, but was afraid they would confuse him if the method was different from what he learned in class. But, if he doesn't understand a concept, I guess he can't be worse off. Maybe we need to use them for chemistry, too!

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  6. Barbara, I am so sorry about the week (month!) you've had. Don't appliances just stink? The entire electronic panel went out on our dishwasher a few months ago. It was only three years old. I asked our repairman what brand he would buy if he was buying for his own house and he said Bosch. And he was saying, too, about how a certain company now owned some other names. I can't remember it all. I hope you are feeling better from your health issues. Saying special prayers for you today. : )

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  7. Jumping in on the brand recommendation: I have three LG appliances, a stove, fridge, and dishwasher. The stove and fridge we've had for two years and they get used a lot. The stove is used almost every day and still works like the first day I used it. We bought a higher-end model (we had to for our kitchen configuration) and I don't regret it.

    Our fridge has put up with tons of kids abuse and is still ticking!

    We bought our dishwasher based on the success as of our stove and fridge. We've had it for a few months now and no problems what so ever.

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  8. Oh, and on the wood floor and water, our hot water tank burst last month. It is in our kitchen (we are on a slab) and when it burst, the water went into our dining room, which is hard wood. Forget the mess in the kitchen and bathroom, we jumped on cleaning up the dining room. Save the wood floor!

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  9. Oh, Barbara! The time you've been having! I'm so sorry to read of all your trials. I'm putting you back in my rosary.

    We have all Kenmore appliances for the past 10 years (two homes) and have been very happy with them. I can't remember what we had in our first home.
    But we have had two appliances needing repairs over the last year. We did have to take out a service plan on our dryer upstairs for a repair. Yes, we have two sets of washers and dryers. My husband insisted on taking the set from our last home with us. I thought it to be too "first world" (who has two sets of washer and dryers?!). Well, with our family now having 11 members, it is a godsend. One set upstairs and one set on the main level - my husband, when he gets it right, he gets it very right. :)
    We also needed to replace our 5 year old dishwasher. It gave out on us right after I came home from the hospital and Anna still in the NICU. We realized too late that it had been leaking underneath the cabinets. Yeah…have I mentioned we have wood floors in the kitchen? Nice. Nice and wavy floors, that is. :( Never, never again. Wood is pretty and warmer than tile, but I'm sticking with tile from now on. Anyway, I wasn't too upset about the washer going out on us as we use the heck out of it and I felt like we definitely got our use out of it. It served us well for 5 years.

    I feel ya, Barbara. It's no fun having to deal with repairs and a mess.

    I, also, have been dragging. I've started to double up on my multivitamin. It's helped a little. I also need to get back to my walking or doing 30 min. on the Gazelle in the morning. I was doing so well and gaining energy. I got off track when when I tried to do the Couch to 5K program. At the end of week 2 my knee pain came back and I was in pain for two weeks. Not good. I think I need to stick with walking until I can get more weight off of my short and small boned frame. My joints just can't handle the impact of any extra weight. *sigh* One step forward, two steps back. Blessed be the name of the Lord!

    When we get to bed we're usually SO tired, but we occasionally try to watch a show together. We're really into Person of Interest right now (love it!). We've also been making our way through Star Trek (original)-My husband is a confessed trekker and it's amazing how many I hadn't seen yet!- Once Upon a Time (just caught up with the last season), and we've been waiting and waiting for the new episodes of Doctor Who to be updated on Netflix instant-watch.

    I think the gloved elevator ladies/men is an Eastern thing. I was born in Southern CA and grew up in Western CO. We're way too laid back here to ever have something like that. Shame. The idea of it makes me smile.

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  10. I love this bloggy land but I wish we sometimes could just drive over and sit and talk with some tea and give hugs. so..the next best thing..my BLOGGY (((HUG))). stupid fridge.

    We had to buy new tires this year. Stupid tires. It is always something girlfriend.

    hang in there

    ps.I hate math..no help from me!!!!

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  11. Barbara, I love that your blog is real. I would be so upset about the water on the new floors!!!

    I have heard mixed things about LG fridges. We own one, have had one repair for the ice maker and it's still young. In hindsight, I don't know if I would pick that brand. But the same goes for all the ones mentioned above. And avoid GE and Electrolux...what do you have left?

    So many appliance makers are not good. Nothing is made to last anymore. If you have the money, I wonder if the professional appliances are the way to go, like SubZero. But we aren't made of money, are we? It just so happened that my kitchen seems to be going towards Bosch appliances. I know have a gas stove, DW and double wall oven in that brand. Very pleased.

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  12. Poor Barbara. ((((hugs)))) and love and prayers.

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  13. Nooo!!! Not the fridge! I feel your pain. When I was out of town my fridge died. Granted, it was basically an antique on military housing....but I was soo mad and it was such a mess! I can't believe yours died at 2 yrs old..that is bad. Never buying Kitchen Aid fridge either. Good to know.

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  14. You know what, I am just sending you some major love and prayer right now because you have had one humdinger of a month!!

    Yes, I know that awful sinking feeling when you see the puddle in front of the fridge - except for us it was our giant stand freezer in the basement. Alllll that frozen meat and prepared meals . . . I still get upset about it!

    And don't take bedtime advice from me, because I am the worst. I know that I need to go to sleep early and I stay up MUCH too late each night because it is the only time there is ever any quiet in this house. I am a glutton for punishment.

    Keep it real, lady. Love you!

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  15. {{HUGS}} to you, Barbara!! I'm dragging here, too ... But for other reasons. Some days I'm barely holding on. I'm reading "Consoling the Heart of Jesus" right now, and that has been a HUGE help, especially in learning to accept the crosses that God gives us. And to trust Him. It doesn't make things easier, but it's an anchor, something to hold onto. What would we do without our Faith?!

    Let's pray for one another!
    Blessings!

    P.S. Have you read "Your Cross" by St. Francis de Sales? It's a short prayer. Google it. It's something I keep coming back to ...

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  16. P.S. I love that photo of Faith sitting on that wall with the pumpkin in the background. SO cute!!

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  17. Our dishwasher just broke, a burner went out on our stove, and the fridge is slowly leaking water from the freezer into the fridge.

    Good times, good times.

    I would send you good appliance vibes but obviously I don't have them either! lol

    God bless!

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  18. Stephanie, Thank you for the prayers. Keeping that Bosch tip tucked away!

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  19. Beth,
    Good to know about LG. I guess because they are so new in the kitchen appliance arena, I really had no idea -- but then would have thought Kitchen Aid, based on the name, to be good. Just goes to show.

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  20. Kelly,
    I'm Kenmore girl, too. I have no idea who makes all the different appliances, but they seem to last for us. Take care of yourself.

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  21. Christine,
    There IS always something -- tires, roofs, hot water tanks... something (all first world somethings, but then we live in a first world country)!

    Thanks for the hug -- would love to have a cup of tea with you.

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  22. Jennifer,
    You're the second Bosch vote...if only they were not so darned expensive. I guess that's why they are good, but it seems $2000 should buy a nice fridge, doesn't it? One which would last past two years?

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  23. Thank you, Jamie,
    Hugs from you are always nice. ;-)

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  24. Elisa,
    The only thing worse than losing the fridge would have been if we were out of town. My husband said the back of it was so hot you could fry an egg on it. I guess that was the compressor. Fortunately we were home to unplug it. I can't imagine if we had been gone -- which makes me wonder about leaving town with all the appliances plugged in...

    Good to see you again.

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  25. Oh, Aimee, you lost a whole freezer? That really would be sickening...I am bemoaning lost waffles and pancakes, freezer jam, french fries and veggies, but some good meat and fish, too. No homemade meals though.

    PS I owe you an email. ;-)

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  26. Sarah,
    I do know "The Cross," but I'm like Mother Teresa...
    "I know that God won't give me more trouble than I can handle ... but sometimes I wish he wouldn't trust me so much."

    ;-)

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  27. Thanks Amy Caroline,
    I think it just stinks that stuff is not made to last. It's not good, not good, but us knitters get that, don't we? Would we just throw away a perfectly good knit sweater, just because it had a pull? ;-)

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I appreciate your comments -- sometimes I feel like I'm talking to myself!