GREAT NEWS & NOT chillin' at the Hillbilly House

When I was a kid, my dad used to roll his eyes when we visited my cousins' house and my uncle had us sit and watch his movies from their most recent vacay. So, I'm giving you a break from tales from our Europe trip. Plus, I have more pressing things to share . . . 

Let's start with a video from the past . . . drumroll - as in, FROM THE VIDEO TAPES THAT I FEARED WERE LOST FOEVER. My day was MADE on Friday (really my remaining years on this earth were made) when the camera store called and said the guy she sent them to got them to work on his camera and he transferred all of them to digital. I will soon send him the remaining tapes. HOORAY!

This is Curly entertaining the rest of the kids with her funny faces during dinner. It's less than a minute even though I recorded this particular incident for like 10 minutes. Thus the 80 hours of video from the first 12 years of my motherhood. 

I honestly feel like a weight has been lifted. I can breathe again. Nothing else can ever possibly upset me. *feel free to remind me of this if I share an I'M SO UPSET post.  

*******

It's official. We've turned a corner here at the house of Shenanigan and it ain't pretty. The specific corner I'm referring to is the corner of the dining room. Let me 'splain.

Remember the fridge that refused to chill? In November our turkey went bad because the fridge was only like 42 or 40 degrees. Gallons of milk had been spoiling for months, but since I'm not always a rocket scientist and I've got offspring to blame, I blamed the offspring. 

Me:  YOU GUYS NEED TO ROTATE THE MILK PROPERLY. DON'T GRAB THE NEWEST GALLON OUT OF THE BASEMENT. GRAB THE ONE THAT WILL EXPIRE NEXT. 

Duh. 

Then the stench of rotting turkey meat when I opened my bird on T-giving morning made reality as clear as the juice running from a properly prepared bird. 

Irritated by the fridge's short 6 yr (?) life span, Coach refused to replace it. So, we carried on. The freezer was still working. Two big boys were away at college, along with their appetites. Look at us, we're so fancy we have a whole fridge dedicated to storing vegetables and non-dairy beverages. I know you're jealous. 

In addition to our kitchen fridge and our basement 'non-functioning' fridge, we have fridge drawers built into our snack bar. This spot is a mini island with a built in bench and two stools. The kids love it for doing homework and hanging out with friends, or eating while watching sports on TV. Those fridge drawers are crazy pricey. They are also crazy unreliable. *cue me sobbing in the background*

They were new in Dec. '17. We probably had them serviced twelve times in the first 2 years. No exaggeration. They died a few more times after that initial WHAT IS GOING ON period. They've replace the entire unit. They've replaced the control board countless times. My take:  Thermador didn't have it ready to roll out, but they wanted to stay competitive, so they sold them anyway. 

In theory those hold kid snacks and beverages for when we entertain. If you are wondering when we entertain, I'm wondering right along with you. It's a rare thing. Who has time when we're always at basketball games? Graduation parties tend to be an annual event that we host. For those parties and others that crop up, we clear out all the yogurts and other stuff and load the drawers with drinks for our guests. 

Last week I ate a yogurt that was not as cold as usual. Then I lost my focus . . . until, the next day when I consumed another not chilled yogurt. Huh?

The drawers broke. Again. Service fee = $189. Control board is out. Again? Why? It's backordered and no one can tell us when it'll be available. There's no guarantee that it'll be chilling for our grad party on June 11th. 

A week before that happened, I told Coach IT'S TIME. With two college guys coming home, an upcoming grad party, and my frustration limit reached, I was ready to buy one. What's that U2 song? Oh yeah, WITH OR WITHOUT YOU.  

We ran to an outlet. I looked online. I ran to Best Buy. Best Buy has lost my business. Their hours are ridiculous (which the sales guy said they were changing), and I can no longer call the store to ask questions. My call is answered by a call center. The call center can't tell those of us shopping for a deal if they have any open box items. Very frustrating. 

Finally, I found another outlet store. They had a guy. Everyone needs a guy like this. I told him how narrow our basement door was, and that we embrace dents and deep discounts. He called me back with a great fridge complete with dings and a great price. Plus, they deliver. 

Delivery happened a few days after we had no functioning fridge drawers in the kitchen and no guarantee on a replacement part. 

I woke up the day of delivery for our dinged up basement fridge with a moment of clarity. Instead of having them haul away my vegetable crisper/freezer from the basement, I'd ask them to reposition it . . . in the dining room. I'm pretty sure the delivery guys thought I was crazy, but they hauled the old fridge up from the basement and stuck it in the corner of the dining room. Genius, right? 

If you don't find what you're looking for in
the kitchen freezer or fridge, step into the
 dining room. Who needs formal
 when you have more space to chill?

I now have a basement fridge with dents. My tower fridge and freezer in the kitchen, and a freezer with fridge space to chill drinks for the grad party in the dining room. 

The question is, when the fridge drawers are fixed, will I be able to part with my additional dining room beverage cooler/freezer? I'm finding it very handy. Have I started a trend here? 

I feel like we now qualify as Hillbillies for housing a sort-of functioning fridge in the dining room. My next post will have a few more Hillbilly qualities to reveal, believe it or not. Feel free to take a stab at what those might be. Or let me know if you have a THEY DON'T MAKE 'EM LIKE THEY USED TO story.