Who knew???

....that I could fix a refrigerator all by myself?

I sure as hell didn't know.

But somehow, after spending an hour or two of cleaning up all the water in the floor from the melted ice and running all over my neighborhood storing my frozen food in various neighbor's freezers, I was able to sit down quietly, look over the situation, and figure out that two of the doohickeys with the wires coming out of them that plug into each other had ever so slightly jiggled themselves loose from each other. And, after tightening them just a bit - Presto - freezer starts freezing again.

It was also a wonderful opportunity to toss out everything in the freezer and fridge that were this close to expiring, and that I probably wasn't going to eat anyway.

Too bad the same thing can't happen to my closet, so I could be inspired to toss out those clothes that expired in 1996, or that I have no intention of wearing.

Updates

When last we spoke, I was still recovering from the trauma of trying to deal with the bad MRI.

Today, I talked to my doctor's office and they said that they could either schedule me at a place with an Open MRI or prescribe a sedative for me to go back to the original one. I asked if we could do both. Fortunately, they agreed.

Turns out that the only place on this side of the city with an Open MRI is less than a mile from my house. So, we are all set for next Monday.

more cat pictures

Also, I finally got the kitchen cabinets organized. It really goes fast once you realize that half the stuff is way past expired and can be tossed in the trash.

Cleaning House with AADD

I woke up this morning with a desire to organize my kitchen. The cabinets are all in a disarray, and I figured that if I dedicated an hour or so, I could get it all done and feel really good about lazing away the rest of the day.

But as I started to get out of bed, I noticed that I had a lot of dust starting to accumulate on the ceiling fan above my bed. So, I went to get a duster.

When I got into the laundry room where the duster was located, I noticed that I had almost enough whites for a load, but I knew that there were some towels and socks in my bathroom floor that were white and should be added to the wash, so I went to get them.

Once I got in my bathroom, I started realizing that maybe I should take a shower before I did the laundry, since I might not have enough hot water for the shower if I started the laundry first.

But before I took a shower, I knew I should go sweep the front porch before it got too hot outside, and so that if I got dirty sweeping, it would all wash off in the shower. So, I went to get the broom.

As I was about to open the front door, I saw that my neighbor Brian was edging the grass next to the sidewalk in front of my house and his. So I put the broom down and went back to the kitchen to get him a bottle of water to thank him for his hard work.

When I got to the refrigerator, I remembered that I was supposed to be working on my kitchen cabinets. So, I quickly pulled all of the items out of the two lowest shelves and put them on the counter.

Then, I remembered Brian and the water, so I left that all behind and got the bottle of water and started towards the door. But then, I remembered that I hadn't yet brushed my teeth, and I didn't want to offend the neighbor with bad breath, so I went back to the bathroom to brush my teeth.

On entering the bathroom, I saw the whites that I meant to put in the wash, so I grabbed those up and started back to the laundry room. But I had too much in my hands at that point, so I started dropping stray socks and washcloths down the hallway as I walked, but I knew that if I tried to bend down and pick them up, I would drop it all, including the bottle of water that was probably getting warm tucked under my arm.

So, the items that made it to the laundry room were tossed in the washer, and I went to get a new bottle of colder water for Brian. And since I figured that if I didn't get out there soon, he would be finished and back inside and my small gesture of thanks would be lost. Remembering that I hadn't brushed the teeth, I said to Hell with it, grabbed a peppermint from one of the bags that I had pulled from the cabinet and put on the counter top, popped it in my mouth, prayed it would cover the morning breath, and made it out the door just as he was finishing up and took him the water.

Yay! One thing accomplished.

Of course, then I sat outside and talked to him for about 10 minutes, and by that time I was getting hot and sweaty. I really needed the shower. So, I abandoned the broom and went back inside the house. And a fly followed me in.

I tried to ignore him, figured he'd be dead on his own soon enough, but he kept buzzing around me as I went into the laundry room to pull a clean towel for the shower out of the dryer from the load I did four days ago, but never got around to folding and storing. And there, I see my duster. Which I needed for something, but now don't really remember what.

So, I carry the fresh towel and the duster with me back to my bathroom (where the fly follows me) and I finally swat him down with the duster and daze him enough to finish him off.

After disposing of the carcass, I wash my hands, and I see my toothbrush just as the mint is wearing off, so I brush after washing my hands.

Yay! Two things done.

I start to turn on the water for the shower, but then decide maybe to go back to the kitchen and try to make some more progress on the cabinets - again, if I'm going to get dusty and use cleaning products, it might be best to do it before I shower, so that I won't have to repeat the shower when I'm finished cleaning.

So, I get up on my step ladder to get things out of the higher cabinet shelves, at which point I have a horrible attack of Vertigo (the sickness, not the movie) and fall off the ladder. Luckily, it only has two steps, but still it freaked me out.

At that point, I'm so dizzy that I need to go lie down. So I stumble back into my bedroom and fall back onto the bed.

And as I'm lying there, staring at the ceiling fan, I remember why I needed the duster.

That was the last thing that went through my mind before I fell back asleep.

Needless to say, the day is almost halfway over, and I haven't washed the whites, folded the towels, swept the porch, dusted the fan, or taken a shower and everything in my kitchen is sitting out on the counters.

But at least I have fresh breath.

Save me Al Gore!

This Global Warming is killing me.

So for the second time in less than a week, it snowed here in Atlanta.

Not tons of it, but more than we had the other day.

Tonight, the temperatures are supposed to go down into the teens, so what we have will probably freeze over during the night and I will definitely be stuck come tomorrow morning.

I was fine with that, until I realized that I'm out of Diet Coke. Truthfully, I've been trying to cut out drinking so many of them and have done pretty well since the first of the year. But the more that I thought about spending two days without one, I just couldn't take it, so I broke down, drove over to the gas station/convenience store down the road and got one before the roads got bad.

Took this shot of my house on the way back.

Now I'm ready to curl up and settle in for a while. I've got my Diet Coke, my blanket and a couple of left over Vicodin, which should be helpful as the cold is making my knee hurt again. I've also got the first season of Dexter and the second season of Life on Mars on my TiFaux, along with a couple of movies, so I think I'm set.

Why my Love Life is a One Car Garage

I’ve long been a dabbler in Feng Shui. And by dabbler, I mean that I own 47 unopened books on the subject and can correctly pronounce the term.

Recently, I discovered an HGTV show centered around the teachings of Feng Shui called Fun Shui. In it, the host Stephanie McWilliams does Feng Shui focused redesigns on people's homes in order to help them improve certain areas of their life. Then, they follow up with them a few months later to see if it helped.

The show inspired me to actually crack open a few of the books and learn a little more than the few things I that I do know - like not having your bed positioned with your feet pointing towards the door because it drains your energy, or that clutter is bad because it blocks your progress. (I seem to have a lot of blocked progress in the floor of my bedroom closet and surrounding my desk.)

In Feng Shui, there is a map, or bagua, that you place over your house plan that shows what is controlled by different zones of your home. You place the map based on where your front door is located.



My house is rectangular with the front door in the exact middle of the front wall (career zone), so it seemed pretty straightforward. Based on this, I came to the conclusion that the Wealth area of my home was in my living room, and most specifically in the corner where my TV is located. I thought this was kind of neat – maybe a sign that I would one day soon earn my wealth in connection with TV, possibly working on that sitcom I always dreamed of writing. This would also put the Love area of my home where my reading and office area is located – so maybe I should consider signing up for an online dating service, since my computer was located in the Love area.

Then I read more.

It seems, anything that falls behind the front door and is covered by the roof is part of the map. So, if you have a piece of your house that juts out, then that expands the entire square or rectangle to include that area and any other area outside of your home that would fall in the square if you completed it based on the outer edges of the jutted out piece. Which means that my garage at the back of the house is part of the house, and therefore, its outer edges cause the back deck, adjoining grassy area, and parking pad to also become part of my home for the purposes of Feng Shui.

Basically, that means that my Wealth area is where I keep my garbage can, and my Love area is a one car garage with a bunch of old, dusty clutter in the corner.

This explains sooooooo much.