It’s Big, It’s White And She Can’t Wait To Get Her Hands On It

Our fridge was starting to die on us yesterday. The giveaway being when eldest daughter went to get some crushed ice and got a whoosh of fairly cool…ish water splurting out over her. I gave it a very hopeful vacuuming out of the air intake as it did look like it had tried to suck several cats up into it. Then set it on maximum cold and went to bed.

The fridge passed away in the night.

Jennifer snuck out at the crack of dawn to completely avoid the situation by going to work for twelve hours. Leaving me, the kids and a dead fridge. Also the cats were out of cat treats and they became increasingly vocal anytime anyone walked into the kitchen. Which seeing we had a dead fridge, was about every seventeen seconds.

So being a smart guy, I pulled the model number and Googled it to find out what the potential problem and part issue/solution was. I’m not a gearhead by any means, but I am a geek and if you can give me a bug sheet and a solution option, I can give it a solid try.

I drove over the lawnmower with the car last year and fixed it with a $20 part including shipping. I did have to toss the entire lawnmower a few weeks ago as I went over something nasty and there was huge “KA-KUNK!” and the engine just burst into tears on me. Then when I pulled on the starting cord, the engine does nothing at all and the wheel the cord pulls on just spins really fast and aimlessly. So I knew I couldn’t fix that and just got a new one. One of those top of the line exercise mowers designed to give you a cardio workout as you mow the lawn.

Anyway, I digress. My initial Googling for parts and problems on my fridge model number reveals a somewhat concerning issue with my fridge. Sometimes the compressor breaks and the entire fridge bursts into flame at some random point after that. I figure that I’m not going to mess with that. Better just get a new one.

Anyway, fridge prices vary from “Grrr!”, to “Ugh!!”, to “WTF!?!” and “We’re so sorry for your loss.” I’m looking to shop somewhere between Grrr! and Ugh!! Via text I confer with Jennifer about the dilemma and seeing a fridge is a major kitchen appliance that we live with forever, I figure she wants input. But she’s at work and we need a fridge like right now. I simply cannot drink anymore ice cream. Seriously we need to fix this like now.

Honestly we have the cash to get a fridge, but I’d like to spend WTF!?! on upgrading the website and the fridge is eating into that. We don’t need a WTF!?! fridge, but an Ugh!! would be nice, and really all we want to spend is Grrr! We text back and forth and settle on fixing the immediate problem with buying a Grrr! fridge thinking that eventually we turn that into the second fridge in the basement for overflow and party planning.

Eldest stays home with the yowling cats and youngest comes fridge shopping with me. As we walk in we pass a cute little grill and it’s only a little tickle expensive. Nice. We walk on into the store and I have to say we stumbled onto the perfect sale. We got an Ugh!! fridge on sale for a Grrr! price. I pull up the model number on my phone and Google and the reviews are good. Hot damn. I don’t bother asking Jennifer more because I know she will love it. Ugh!! for Grrr!  That’s name brand Ugh!! to boot. It arrives Wednesday in a forty hour window of delivery.

So anyway I’m pumped and gleefully spill the beans to Jennifer who thinks she’s getting a Grrr! fridge and a cranky husband. She’s excited and I send her photos of daddy’s little minions gleefully ransacking the fridge of everything into the curbside trash bin that I haul up into the kitchen. It’s fun in the same way demolition is fun. The cats keep complaining about the lack of treats.

Then we have to make a quick trip to get ice and set up a cooler with milk etc for the next few days. Grab a chicken and a little beer. Completely forget to buy cat treats. The cats discuss forming a union.

Jennifer comes home and we retell the day and hunt up the new fridge online for her to just accept what I bought see and admire. It’s better than the old one, so high marks for getting Ugh!! for Grrr! and handling it all in high spirits. I’ve roasted a chicken to clear out the outside trash can smell and it’s yummy.

After dinner Jennifer and I leave the kids home and do our usual walking circuit where I recount how occasionally the old fridge has that issue where it sometimes bursts into flame. She looks at me funny. So I quickly recover and tell her that I saw that little cute grill. Seeing we did so well on the fridge, we could spring for the grill too. She’s agrees. We stop off mid route and buy cat treats before they go all Planet of the Cats on us.

So back to the store with Jennifer and youngest and we spring for the little cute grill. Using Upper Body Strength (TM) I lightly toss the grill into the car and back home we go. I didn’t wake up planning to spend that much money. I could have been a grump about it, but all handled and good. Yay me. Jennifer loving it too. We drive back home in good spirits and having fun with each other. Eldest daughter welcomes us home with a pleasant, “Dad there’s something funny with the TV…” 

Fabulous, just fabulous. What else can happen today?

Oh yeah…

Lemme go unplug the old fridge designed by terrorists.