Friday, January 21, 2011

Tales of the Fridge and the Frozen Pipes

When we moved into this rental house, it didn't take long for us to discover that the previous tenant didn't do anything to maintain the house or its contents in any way. It was dirty. Very dirty. Many things were broken. Many. It was -40 degrees the day we moved in and there were several windows in the house that weren't even closed all the way. Of course, there were several inches of ice on the inside of the windows, so we couldn't shut them. Thankfully, it warmed up enough to melt the ice and Mike was able to take care of the problem. Not so surprisingly, we're able to maintain a constant temperature in the house now!!! Whodathunkit? Anyway, one of the things we noticed was broken was the fridge. It's a smallish fridge to begin with, certainly not made for a family of 7. However, the fact that every single one of the shelves on the door are broken was enough to send me over the edge. That means that I have to cram everything onto just the interior shelves, piling things on top of each other, etc. I can only fit one gallon of milk in there at a time. Did I mention we're a family of 7? The other night while I was talking to my Dad on the phone, I opened the fridge to get something and eight items fell out onto the floor. That was not a good night. Even though we've been in this house for nearly a month, we still haven't bought a new refrigerator. We've looked. And looked. And looked some more. Finally, today, it was time to buy. We looked at Lowes last night, came up with a couple of options, but decided to check Sears just in case they had a better deal. Which, they did...however, I would have had to wait until mid-February to get it. That just wouldn't work. Back to Lowes we went. Only to discover that even though they had told us last night that they had the one we were looking at in stock was a lie. A big, fat lie. So, sadly, we paid for a new refrigerator, but I won't have it until February 4th. Unless it comes in sooner. Please pray that it does. I am not one who waits for this kind of thing very well. You are probably wondering why WE bought a new one and not our landlord? Cause I'm taking this baby with me when we leave this house! I'm tired of dealing with rinky dink refrigerators. While this isn't exactly the style we wanted, it will work perfectly for now. We do have to move a cabinet up a few inches, but that's not a big deal. This is very similar to what we ended up with. Freezer on the bottom, it had to be. We're tall. I'm tired of bending down to look at the top shelf in the fridge. Hopefully this will alleviate the problem. I can't wait to get it. This is the first appliance we've ever bought besides a washer and dryer. I feel like such a grown-up!!! :-)
Frozen pipes? Did you know it's possible for them to freeze two days in a row? I'm praying they're not frozen a third. Yesterday, we had a thawing company come out and...well, thaw them. HA! Today, I decided to take matters into my own hands and hit them with the hottest setting on my blow dryer. Thankfully, it worked. It took about 10 minutes, but it did work. I guess frozen pipes are common in -40 degree temps in a house built in 1950, but I digress. Please don't let me awake to frozen pipes tomorrow! I do plan to run a small space heater under the sink tonight. Maybe that will work. I'm pretty sure it will impact my sleep though...I'll be wondering all night if it's going to catch fire! Is it May yet?????

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