While I inhaled some ice cream,
Coach drove over to my parents' house with a laundry basket of mostly bags of
frozen veggies. (Just joining us? Our freezer started to defrost a week
before we were going out of town). I left a message for the appliance
lady because the freezer was less than 2 years old. It is a
Thermador. Hello - not a cheap-ass appliance!
Later
than night we noticed that the freezer had begun to freeze things again.
The spoonful of sherbet that I stuck in a baggie was now frozen solid.
What the?
The
technician was able to come out a few days later. I did not cancel even
though the situation felt less emergent because now it seemed to be less drippy
and more chilly. Go figure.
The
bummer -he found no issues. Come on, give me something! I started
using the freezer again a bit, but I was hesitant. I did not want
everything defrosting right before we left - especially the meals that I made
and froze for the trip. Not to mention, what if it started to defrosts
while we were away?
I
told my mom that I would try to send one of the boys over to get my frozen
veggies from her before they left for Vancouver. Frozen vegetables that
do not belong to someone but are seeking a cold shelter can apparently heighten
anxiety levels for the cold-environment provider.
The
boys never ran that errand for me. I honestly preferred not to use the
freezer anyway until we got back from Vancouver so I could keep an eye on it,
so I hadn't reminded them or threatened their lives if they didn't do it.
As
with every other millisecond of the trip, we landed back in Chicago (don't worry, I still promise to flash back to details of the trip) and one by one my offspring
started to grill me about what I was serving for dinner. I was
like: 'I am standing next to you in an airport. I didn't start my
crockpot remotely, so I DON'T FRICKING KNOW. CHILL OUT. YOU WILL
NOT STARVE.'
We
stopped at the grocery store on our way home from the airport. Coach
grabbed dogs to grill and milk and I scooped up some fresh fruit, bread, and
yogurt. While they waited for the grill to heat up the kids switched into
ransack mode. Reg opened the freezer to see what he could stuff in his
face while he waited MINUTES for dinner.
He
gasped. I peeked in and found the walls covered in brown grossness.
I could NOT for the life of me figure it out. I stood there for a minute
thinking the freezer thawed again. I had a couple of huge-ass frozen
containers of Italian Beef in there. Even if they had thawed, how would
they have gotten shaken up and spilled all over the walls of the fridge?
Someone had some 'splaining to do.
 |
| Blue arrow is pointing to frozen Italian Beef. See how the color of the walls resemble splashed beef juice? I could NOT have been more confused, because the beef was still frozen. Like did a small elf come in there, thaw the beef and then shake the Hell out of it? I know. Far-fetched. Utter confusion. |
I noted that mom had returned my frozen veggie bags, so I called her to see if the fridge looked like a fudgsicle exploded in there while she restocked. For the record, I did not have fudgsicles in the freezer. Sounds yummy though.
Me: Hi, we're home. Thanks for
returning the veggies (insert eye-roll). Did my freezer look . . .
Mom: Oh, so you saw IT!
Yes, I came over there the other day and the inside of the freezer was a
MESS. Someone put a pop in the freezer and left it there. It
exploded. (lots more details and chit chat about this event).
Me: (Insert more eye-rolls because of the
unspoken: 'yeah Mom, I know. Our kids are slobs'.)
 |
| See my very artsy double arrow - it is pointing out the veggies still in the grocery bags that Mom delivered, so while the kids are panicking about what to eat - I was like, 'Well, who wants veggies?' |
Me: Tank did you put a pop in
the freezer and forget about it?
Tank:
Sure. (inconclusive, as this is his code word for stop accusing me of stuff and
leave me alone)
Translation:
clear as mud. It was either Tank, Lad, or Reg. The girls would
never. Ed doesn't drink pop. No one fessed up. The next
few times Tank or Reg got in trouble I made them scrub the inside of the
freezer just to cover my bases. I must admit that I was super relieved
that the freezer had not defrosted again.
What
are the chances that the freezer malfunction would coincide with the one (but
probably not the last) time my kids ever explode a pop in the fridge?
(Part of the issue is we never have pop in our house, but I overbought for Ed's grad party and certain children have a tough time keeping their mitts off of taboo items no matter what we say).
6 comments:
Well mystery solved! And I feel like a decent/normal mother would have cleaned the frozen drink out of the freezer.
It was good the freezer was ok! Lesson learned!
Yes, the freezer is OK. I still wish they would have been able to say 'this is what the issue was' because how do I know it won't happen again. As far as a lesson learned, well - when it comes to which ever kid stuck that pop in there, they got away with it, so no guarantee that they won't try that again. When it comes to things like that I find my crew are slow learners!
yes, the discolored walls solved, but why did the freezer thaw in the first place the week prior? Just hoping it doesn't do that again.
I honestly did not mind that my mom did not clean up the mess. She probably figured that whichever kid was guilty would need to clean up his mess. Having said that, earlier in the summer I stopped by my folks house with Mini to meet Pat and practice fiddle. My mom was on her patio scrubbing an old plastic kid picnic table to the point of ridiculousness. Apparently her neighbor has tiny grand kids and a lake house. My mom wanted to hand the table down to her since her grand kids are too big for it. 1. She never asked me if I wanted it for my in-home daycare. 2. The neighbor is quite well off and can afford to go buy one 3. Why would you scrub it until your fingers practically bled?
It is hard to explain, but my mom gets hooked on impressing people or buttering them up, and I stand off to the side and go 'Huh?' Like this neighbor has lived in the house for awhile, but my mom has only recently decided this lady is the bees knees. I cannot wrap my brain around it and it sounds weird to try to explain. I love my mom to pieces, but it is a weird deal. I sort of equate it with how my folks are with Pat's friends. They buy his friends baby gifts when they have babies and invite them over to their house with their little tots to see Dad's train set. Meanwhile I tried to get the kids I sit for to come and see the train set, but it was not working and my visit was not worth a repair. Sigh.
Oh my goodness. It's always something.
You had me laughing at your thoughts/comments, especially 'I am standing next to you in an airport. I didn't start my crockpot remotely, so I DON'T FRICKING KNOW. CHILL OUT. YOU WILL NOT STARVE.' LOL!!
So, no takers on the soda covered veggies? ;)
I have begun to deflect the 'what's for dinner' question to Coach. He uses the grill, or carries a credit card in his wallet (when we are not home), so HE CAN ANSWER THE DAMN QUESTION. Especially when the timing of when they ask it makes no sense. I started a rule MANY MANY years ago that they were not allowed to ask me WHILE I WAS PULLING THE MEAL OUT OF THE OVEN. I was like, 'Open your eyes, small person.'
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