And the Frigidaire Has Never Been Cleaner

Yesterday was quite full- all sorts of adventure for Wilson and me. Twists and turns around every corner. We first went to the pediatrician for his 18 month check up. It went very well except that Wilson is very afraid of heights and was miserable every time we had to put him up on the table. He had to get an unexpected shot (the AAP and their ever-changing "suggestions") so that was not the most fun, but he quit crying as soon as I took him off the table and he could get back to the cawrs. The doctor sincerely said he was the healthiest kid he'd seen in a long time. Boy does he know how to make a mom happy.


Next we went to get Granna and then went to have some Easter pictures made with a real duckling and bunny. He had a blast. He petted the duck and it quacked at him and he quacked back. He loved on the bunny. He splashed in the duck's water bowl (before the picture, of course!) It was all too cute. I can't wait to get the pictures back next week!!


After that, we went back to Granna's for lunch and then went to Uncle John's tennis match. It was tons of fun to roam around between the courts and in the grass around them. We hear John won, but we didn't actually get to watch much of the match! It was blazing hot and Wilson was overdue for a nap, so he naturally fell asleep in the car on the way to take Granna back home.

If you came here looking for good news, stop reading here and just skip to the last paragraph of so because the day just goes completely downhill from here. Otherwise read on . . .

We get home and Wilson is in a very deep sleep- the kind that you can move him from his carseat to the bed without any problems. Or so I thought. He laid down in his bed and as soon as I walked out he started crying. I left him for a bit, but there was no changing his mind. So I put him in my bed to watch Baby Einstein while I recuperated from chasing him around in the 90 degree heat.

I got up to get something in the kitchen and noticed a small puddle of water in the kitchen by the sink and thought, that's odd, but I probably just spilled something. I went back later to clean it up and found that it was a flowing puddle! I first thought it was coming from the dishwasher which actually could have been a small victory since I have been begging for a new dishwasher since we closed on the house. After unloading the dishwasher, turning the water off that goes to the dishwasher, unscrewing it from the cabinet and trying to pull it out to see if I could find the source- I realized that this was perhaps the dumbest thing I'd ever tried to do with an 18 month old and two dogs in the house. I put the whole thing back together and decided to just run a load to get the last dishes clean (turning the water off to the dishwasher also turns off the hot water to the sink- so either way I was stuck with a sink full of dirty dishes- might as well let the machine attempt to do it!). I mop up the water that is flowing through grout lines of my kitchen and find that it has gone under the fridge. I then see water running down the front of the fridge from the ice/water dispenser. So now I go pulling the 8 ton fridge from its home and turn the water off from behind it and vacuum up the dust et al from behind it. (Now would be a good time to mention that Phil and I had been noticing an odd noise coming from the fridge the night gefore, but chose to ignore it and hope that it got better on its own) This did nothing to help the water problem so I decide that maybe ice is melting and coming out the ice whole- so I dump all the ice out. Finally, it dawns on me, things in the freezer are usually really hard, and not so much juicy like the broth that is sitting around the roast I put in there last week! (Still, an 18 month old, his tractor, and two dogs trying to help me here!) I use one of my prized Method Eucalyptus Mint cleaning wipes (the only way I know of to simultaneously clean surfaces and smell like your at the spa)to clean up the mess on the floor. I put the ice container back in the freezer, dribbling water right where I just cleaned up, thereby wasting the lovely aroma I had just spread. Alas, I admit defeat and call in the troops. Since this is a matter of food going bad I decide to go with the closest grandmother possible, my mother-in-law. I, of course, catch her as she's going out the door to church, but she graciously switches gears and offers to come over to wrangle the boys. She plays with Wilson while I attempt to get some information from the store we bought the fridge from about repairs and then as I try to call the repair place they recommended at ten after 5:00. Of course, no answer, not even a machine. Luckily, Pat Pat came prepared with a cooler to take the contents of the freezer to her house.

Let's pause here. Did anyone else's mom ever advise them to always wear clean underwear "just in case" you got hit by a bus? Okay, show of hands, how many of you have EVER benefited from that advice? Let me give you some advice that is much more likely to come in handy- this is on the house, free of charge. Clean the goo out of the bottom of the freezer regularly and keep it organized "just in case" you have ever to dismantle the dissolving igloo in front of your mother-in-law. Thanks, mom, where were you on that little piece of wit and wisdom!!

So here we go, pulling out the remains of every diet I've tried over the past 3 years, the frozen berries, nuts, and fruit that were going to make wonderful breads and desserts (yeah right!), vodka from party in 2002, ice packs, the ice cream machine middle, coffee, flour, sugar, you name it. We fill her cooler and my trash can leaving only chocolate unfrozen yogurt running down the inside of the door and pile of corn meal and broccoli flowrets floating in melted ice in the bottom of the freezer. Wilson heads in just in time to smear his hands through the chocolate yogurt.

The rest of this evening is spent cleaning the freezer, plugging in our outdoor mini-fridge and deciding which of our most prized refrigerated items should get a spot, trying to get Wilson to eat the supper that he loved last night but now not so much, putting him to bed and pondering how ironic that I had actually just vacuumed and steamed my kitchen floors the day before- WHAT A WASTE!!!

At 3:30 this morning Wilson wakes up and decides he is NOT going back to sleep. I change him, I give him a snack, I rock, I make a palette on the floor, I leave him to cry, but nothing is working. Finally I just decide to heck (but I wasn't thinking heck) with it, and I shut his door and let him play while I attempt to sleep in the middle of the floor. Apparently, he had a blast. I woke up when he threw a wooden stacker ring at my head and found that I was in a sea of legos, cars, stacker pieces of all shapes and sizes, farm animals, musical instruments and books. I fed him breakfast at 6 and then cleaned up his room while he watched tv.

Okay, if you came for good news, you may start reading again, Wilson and I played a little longer and then I peacefully put him back to sleep. Phil took a piece of the back of the fridge of last night a vacuumed out something (I had actually just recently cleaned out the vent across the front, but knew nothing of taking the back off the fridge. Really, mom, help a girl out-write these things down!) and that seems to have done the trick. As I was typing I just heard the first piece of ice fall into the bin- things are FREEZING!! Wilson is now asleep, Phil has gone to work, I think the dogs are under the bed, and I am going to take a nap. I'll post now and check grammar and spelling later!!