appliances excite you! Here I am with my new stove! It came in last weekend so we picked it up on Saturday - actually on our way to dinner for our anniversary celebration. I'm enjoying it, although I have to keep the owner's manual out on the counter. I still haven't figured it all out yet! I didn't realize that there is no knob to set the oven to bake. It's all digital, so that's taking some relearning. I'm used to just flipping the dial to "Bake" and being done with it. Now it involves a series of complicated buttons. In the manual they also tell you which rack to put what kind of food on. That's too much work for me! I just want to shove my food in there and get it done. But Paul is being very serious about this. He evaluates each food item we put in the oven and then consults the rack chart in the manual to make sure we're doing it properly. I'm standing there thinking that supper is going to be delayed yet another 20 min. until he figures out that the racks are fine where they are!
In addition to getting my new stove, we had a nice anniversary. Paul spent the day at an Amish auction, which was a new experience for him. He bought a bunch of lumber and cement blocks for our (his) basement project he is planning. I spent the day rushing around like a madwoman. Last week was super busy for me and so I had a lot of housework to catch up on. Plus, Will had informed me Friday that he had invited a friend to come home with him Sunday afternoon. Argh! I don't mind that but it meant I had to clean up the house and make a somewhat presentable meal - which meant I had to go shopping because we were almost to the end of my 2 week meal plan and I wanted to make a somewhat decent meal for a guest (esp. since I know his mother is an amazing cook and I'm - well, not!). So by the time Paul and I left for the evening, I was more than ready.
We saw "Dear John" at the theater. The jury is still out on that one in my mind. The movie deals with the subject of autism, which was a pleasant surprise for me. But I didn't realize the movie was based on a book by Nicholas Sparks. I might not have gone if I had known that. A few years ago all my friends were ga-ga over "The Notebook" so I finally read it. I wasn't that impressed. It wasn't bad, but I just didn't see what the fuss was about. It's kind of the same for this movie. It just seemed very unrealistic to me. The young couple in the movie is so, so in love and that's fun to watch. I mean, they are soulmates - bound at the heart, the hip, and the lips. But then John goes off to fight in Afghanistan or Iraq - somewhere, post 9-11. And Savannah can't take the separation (hello? They were separated for 6 months right off the bat after they met during spring break and fell madly in love!) and writes him a "Dear John" letter. It didn't make sense that a love that was portrayed as so strong collapsed that easily. Save your money or go see "The Book of Eli" instead.
I am earnestly hunting for a new refrigerator now that I have the stove. I thought I had found one on Craig's List the other night, but after we started dealing with the owner, we discovered that he was a jerk. So I'll keep looking. I just hate to pay a ton of money because I have heard all kinds of stories about refrigerators having shorter and shorter life spans now. Today Ben decided to use brute force on the one remaining produce drawer I have when it wouldn't open for him. It's been cracked for the last year and I've had duct tape on it. Lately, it had started to stick so I had to kind of wiggle it to get it to slide open. Well - no more! He completely took the front off the drawer in an attempt to get to a pudding cup. So now I have no produce drawers at all. My mom was reminding me about my grandparents' Maytag refrigerator. They bought it in 1960 for a 25th wedding anniversary present to themselves. It was one of those ones with the rounded tops. My grandma always referred to it as "the ice-box" which is a term that goes back to the 19teens when fridges first came out -they had a spot on top where you would purchase a block of ice from the appropriately named, ice-man, and that block of ice would cool the entire unit. Anyway, that Maytag refrigerator was still going strong in 2003 when Grandma and Grandpa both died. That's 43 years of service! And I bet it's still working somewhere...
Monday I took Will to Penneys to get his clothes for Prom Alternative. That's an event that our youth group does every spring. The kids get all dressed up, go eat somewhere fancy, and then have a fun overnight trip. This year they are headed up to the largest indoor park in America, located right beside Mall of America in Minnesota. I have been amused by Will's interest in what he would be wearing for the dinner. I guess this is the closest I will ever get to buying a prom dress - and at considerably less cost! He told me he wanted a red shirt and we were able to find one. He picked out a nice black tie with embroidered red swirlies - and was aghast when he saw that it cost more than a shirt! Welcome to men's dress clothes! I haven't figured that one out, either, actually.
Well, we aren't getting mail anymore. I'm irritated. Our postman is a crotchety old guy. Yesterday he had Janet, my neighbor and the postmistress, call me and let me know he was refusing to deliver any more mail to our box until we get all the snow and ice cleared out around it so he can drive right up to it. There's no way that is going to happen. There is a layer of thick, thick ice out there, topped with a lot of snow. I've sent the boys out to clear out the mailbox numerous times but they can only do so much. So, I just told Janet I'd pick up our mail in Hartford at the post office until it melts. I stopped in today to get it and Bob, the mailman was there, getting ready to go out on deliveries. Janet brought up the fact that it was too bad I had to come by to get my mail now and I said something about how there was no way we could chop through all that ice and we'd just have to wait until it melted. Bob commented loudly that he had another lady with the same problem and she used a pickax and it was all gone now. How nice for her! I'm sorry, but I am not that motivated - especially when it's only 14 degrees out, like it is today! I'm also picking up my neighbor, Dawn's, mail. I went over to her house yesterday to let her know about the mail situation and to offer to get her's for her since she is at work during the hours that the PO is open. She didn't answer her door the first time I went and so I peered in through the back window. I could smell animals through the door, which is gross, anyway. I don't think anyone should ever have more than one animal in their house - any more than that and it stinks! But I could not believe the mess inside - and sitting there atop it all were 5 cats! And that's just what I saw. I knew she had a couple because I've seen them outside, but oh my goodness - 5 cats! My other neighbor, Jenn, just rescued a sheep. Yes, you read that right. And she's keeping it in her house, like a cat, my boys have informed me. That cannot smell good! I know our house probably doesn't always smell the greatest between stinky tennis shoes and diapers, but at least it doesn't smell like a barn! I hope not, anyway.
Ok, I've got to be ending this. I have more to write, but I need to conquer Mt. Laundry that has exploded and overtaken my back room. I also have to get my next FaithWriters piece written today. I have a fabulous title - "Between Marriage and Menopause" but now I have to write something to actually go with my title! I've only got a few hours to get this done in, too.
One good piece of news: I made a new friend yesterday. Don't I sound like a kindergartner home from her first day of school? We have a new couple in our church with a little girl that is Sam's age. I haven't had a chance to get to meet them at all yet. But the mom is going through a year of chemo right now in an attempt to beat down a serious auto-immune disease that she has. So the ladies of our church have been signing up for different weeks to do something for this family. I think that is so nice! So yesterday I brought over a meal and Jennifer and I just sat and talked for hours. It was great! And it turns out Jennifer is a Twilight fan, too. How can I not love someone who is as excited by Edward and Bella as I am?!
Off to fold and fold...and fold some more. Why do we need clothes anyway?
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