The Saga of the Fridge



empty old fridge

Once upon a time there was a boy and a girl who lived in a house. This house was over 50 years old and had some issues, but this boy and girl made do and tried to make things better as the time passed.  

In this old house there lived an angry old fridge that liked to let everyone know it was angry by periodically making a loud Kerrrrrr-cHUnK sound. It did this several times a day, and also multiple times in the night while this boy and girl were sleeping. For the most part they ignored the angry fridge until one day (that happened to be a Sunday) Old fridge just decided it didn’t like them anymore, and instead of it’s usual Kerrrrrr-cHUnK it made a high pitched humming-rattling noise that drove the boy and girl (and the cats) crazy. It would rattle-humm for two hours then stop for twenty minutes then rattle-humm for two hours and then stop for twenty minutes…. And the pattern continued all day and all night and all the next day. But by the end of that first day, angry old fridge decided that it no longer wanted to keep the cold things cold, or the frozen things frozen so it let the frozen orange juice go squishy, and the freezer jam to melt.

the contents of my fridge

Now, this didn’t sit well with the boy and girl who lived in the house. They could put up with the angry old furnace that periodically Ka-Booms! As it starts to heat, and they were even putting up with the lack of hot water pressure from the bathtub faucet… but they would not put up with the angry old fridge that was refusing to do it’s job. So after a full nights sleep the boy and girl got up and went to work the next day. The girl spent all day researching refrigerators on-line, looking at prices, and brands, and sizes, and dealers… Eventually it came down to this. They needed a fridge. It needed to run. It needed to be quiet. It needed to be cheap. It needed to not have an ice maker. It needed to fit into the pre-existing spot of the old fridge… but most of all, they needed it NOW.


empty living room

So girl found a store that happened to be on her way home from work so she stopped there, walked in said, I need a fridge and I need it delivered tomorrow.  

empty kitchen w/old fridge



And the sales man said “I can do that.” So he showed her a fridge and she said “I’ll take it.” It wasn’t fancy, but it would do the job. So now, girl had to go home alone, (because boy was working ALL day,) and clean out the old fridge. Armed with coolers and ice girl emptied the angry old fridge listening all the while to it’s rattle-humm that was digging into her brain. Once everything was out she pulled the plug on that old monster and gave it a good swift kick.

Then she realized that she needed to do more work. There was only one way in and out of this old house and it was thoroughly blocked by the gathered possessions of this boy and this girl… so again, she got to work. Placing all the random chairs that gather at the table into various other rooms of the house she started moving things around in the kitchen. She yanked out that old fridge and knocked out some wooden trim that had previously adorned the cupboards and walls surrounding the fridge. She pulled out the computer desk and pushed, and scooted it across the floor with the subwoofer and printer in tow, all while trying not to knock the items and knick-knacks off the top.

She hauled the plastic drawers full of computer crap into the junk room and took a deep breath… but it still wasn’t over. When she turned around she saw how hideously dirty the floor was so she swept and swept and dusted the cob webs off the walls, and then for good measure she pulled out the steam mop and cleaned the entire floor as best she could. And yet she still wasn’t done. Next she moved to the hallway and removed at least three years worth of Christmas cards and pictures of family and friends that had been taped there. She took down her pictures and ripped out the taped down phone cord that belonged to the phone that no longer existed.

new fridge



She pulled down the picture frame and made a neat little pile and put it all on the previously moved computer desk… Then it was on to the living room. The path between the door and the hallway was strewn with obstacles. First she put away all the shoes that liked to gather together near the door and she told them to all stay put because she didn’t want to see them in front of the door for at least another twenty-four hours. The shoes all agreed and settled in to their now/old spots for the time being. Back in the living room the girl looked at the collection of CD cases and decided that they had to go too.

She pulled out her handy screwdriver and disconnected the brackets from the wall and pushed/pulled/rocked the CD case away from the wall into the middle of the room. Then she moved the lamp and the other case that is much lighter and not attached to the wall. That was it. The pathway was cleaned and there was nothing left to do but wait for the delivery man…. So the girl went to bed, and the boy finally came home from working. It was late at night. 

The next morning boy and girl got out of bed and got ready for the day… the fridge wasn’t supposed to come until the afternoon, but then the phone rang and the man on the other end said “I’m bringing your fridge now!” and the boy and girl rejoiced. 

new full fridge

It was a tight squeeze, but delivery-man got the old one out and the new one in pretty darn quick, and then boy and girl had to wait for it to cool before they could bust open the coolers and refill the new fridge. The new fridge was so quite and so clean, it made the boy and girl happy. It only took a few hours for it to get to temperature and again boy and girl rejoiced. Once the old food was in the new fridge girl decided she didn’t like the shelf placement, but she’ll have to fix that later there was to much else to do. Next it was into the living room… the floor was dirty so before anything was moved back girl had to vacuum. Then back to the kitchen where boy and girl used some cooperation and pushed the computer desk back into place and made the cords all nice and pretty and made sure the speakers worked. Then the plastic drawers came out of the junk room and resumed their place next to the desk.



all back together again



Then back to the living room where together they manipulated the heavy CD case back into place and screwed the brackets back into the wall…before realizing that the lamp cord needed to go behind the heavy CD case. So they unscrewed the brackets and put the cord in place and screwed the CD case back to the wall again.

 Then the lighter CD case went back into place. Boy hung the famed proclamation back onto the hallway wall, but alas, the pictures did not go back up. Finally, boy and girl put all the chairs back in their places and sat down for a deep breath. What a day… and it was only 11 am. Nap time.

The end.

And now I ache all over ...

Part Three of Flower Bed fun.

Step 1: Kill Husband with bad back

Step 2: Complete!

Well, this morning was fun. We got up to do some yard work. Or at least I got up to do some yard work, and after an argument about who was mowing the lawn it turned out that the lawn mower didn't work anyway. It needs a new fuel line. So now it is buy a new fuel line and the tools to fix it, or go back to our usual argument about just buying a new one. We don't really want to buy a new one, so we'll just go on arguing until the lawn is another 6 inches long and we cave in and hire someone to come do it for us. But since we had all that spare time I wrangled John into helping with the flowerbed.... Doesn't it look nice. We got rid of a tone of grass clumps, and the giganto root that was running across the front of the house. But it looks pretty good now. I got the stones seated into the ground and the earth turned. The next step come with adding an additional layer of new top soil and some mulch. Once that is done I can add the Creeping Myrtle that has been sitting on my porch for the last three weeks while we waited for the rain to stop. I have always loved the flower beds that grow in front of my mom's house. It was an excellent ground cover, and needed very little work. I have been meaning to plant some over the last 6 years we have been in this house, but I just hadn't found any at the garden shop, or I've been too poor or lazy. So I decided that this year is the year.

The front of the house is so shady that it is nearly impossible to get anything but grass and weeds to grow there. On the side of the lawn where I have put the flower bed there used to be Daffodils, but in the last few years they have stopped blooming. I usually get the leaves to sprout, but never any blooms. The front of the house is in pretty much full shade until June and the soil is so sandy... I'm not sure which was worse for the flowers. Probably a combination of both. I have decided that I need to find shade friendly flowers and plants. but the MUST be perennials. I don't want to replant anything year after year. I just want them to bloom without much help from me. Creeping Myrtle is just that plant. Shade friendly, grow anywhere, hard to kill type of plant. Mom had to argue with me about what the plant was called, according to her it is not creeping myrtle, but I have learned that it is called many things, i.e. creeping myrtle, periwinkle, and vinca as just a few examples. Needless to say, I picked up the right plant, because even if I didn't know it by name, I knew it by sight. Well, now we are both tired and sore, showing our battle wounds from fighting with mother nature this morning, but I've gotten one more step along in my quest to have an actual flower bed. Yay!!

Next ... Step Four:

Top Soil

And some Mulch

My Summer Project

17 Cement blocks. 3 days. 6 Scratches. 2 Smashed fingers.

Phase One Complete.

Time for Phase Two....

Installed new dryer vent. By myself. In the dark.