Oh Scrap!

Last night was a scrapbooking night at the neighbor's house. People slay me when they ask how it is that I have time to scrapbook. I MAKE time because it is a hobby that satisfies a number of needs in my life: "me" time, creative outlet, a place for the photos of my kids that I love to take, an occasional night out with the girls that doesn't involve spending a lot on a dinner and drinks out...shall I go on...I think I shall because having a one stop place to get all of that also SAVES me big bucks going to the shrink. That would be $130/hour - I think I get a far better return from the scrapbooking, don't you?

This week was a very special week because our refrigerator died. How did we know it was dying? Not the puddle of water on the floor, no, no, no...that's not how we roll. Instead we noticed a strange antiseptic sort of smell in the area of the refrigerator that got worse as the day wore on while the food in the freezer started to un-freeze. We were not messing with that shit calling a repairman.....new fridge it was. But that's not the end of the story. The story continues with having to move the food from the old into the new and in the process discard anything that was so obviously stinking of whatever that smell was that we knew we couldn't eat it. Then came the quandry over whether it all just had to go or if anything was salvagable. First, I wiped down everything in the fridge because it seemed the odor had settled on things. That helped. Fresh box of baking soda to absorb more odor - absolutely could not hurt a thing. Thankfully the new refrigerator has a separate aparatus that does the freezer and the air doesn't mix, because the freezer stuff also carried the odor. More fun. I donned rubber gloves, emptied the entire freezer, actually washed my food (racoon thoughts running through my head), dried my food, sniffed everything again, decided to unpackage the things that were in boxes but also wrapped in side. Boxes smelled, wiped down the contents, sniffed again - seems ok - into a ziploc bag, next! This is getting boring right? Imagine having to do it! Some things didn't make the cut and out they went. Things seem to be smelling back to normal in there. The new fridge is really nice - water, ice (crushed and cubed) in the door, lower freezer compartment, upper is side-by-side. It's a nice fridge.

So now to fill it back up again - which brings me to thank God for Safeway grocery delivery. This is something that I honestly don't mind doing - the grocery shopping that is - especially since I'm not one to plan out weeks of menus, etc. to go shopping. However, for $0, I can have my groceries delivered - ok, so I had to be some of the stuff on special to get free delivery but so what - it's not worth $11 of my time to have the stuff delivered? Last time I checked my hourly rate (at work) is somewhere in the neighborhood of over $450....I think my time at home is vastly more valuable than that and so the $11 becomes a drop in the bucket (or the soup pot - your choice). I can honestly give up the satisfaction of squeezing my own melons and pawing through all of the nearly identical packages of Perdue chicen breast filets myself to have my groceries delivered by a nice man who is not allowed to take tips but can accept a nice cold drink, thank you very much! If something is not to my liking I merely pick up the phone, call customer service, and receive a credit for the item. It's a beautiful thing. If you haven't tried it - well all I can say is that I'm guessing you fall into the category of those who don't like to get massages and other stuff like that....I'm just saying.....

ok, I will wrap up by describing my romantic Valentine's Day - I was feeling a little punky all day so I basically laid around and napped the day away. I sound like a lazy slob saying that right after the grocery thing, no? But the thing is that I'm thinking like a bear here - virtually hibernating because in a month or so we'll be getting ready for Easter, soccer and baseball will be starting up, I'll be busier at work, the flower beds will need a good Spring cleaning along with the roses that need pruning, etc....so I'm enjoying some guilt-free down time. The pizza should be arriving shortly and we'll watch a movie with the kids. I just love being home!