blue artichoke

Remember a few weeks ago when I got so uppity and all oh-look-at-me-and-my-fancy-new-fridge? Well, I got my comeuppance. The "new" fridge wasn't actually new, just new to me. It came from the appliance farm on the outskirts of town, where it had resided for about 5 years. It was broken when it was added to the farm, miraculously fixed itself for the day the appliance farmer plugged it in and sold it to my landlord. It indeed worked for the first two days I had it. Then I left on my long Christmas vacation and sometime after I left, it stopped working so hard. I came back to mushy produce and warm beverages. The freezer seemed ok; then it stopped freezing. I called the landlord; he came for a look-see. He called his buddy, the appliance farmer, who said, yup, that fridge needed a shot of freon. The appliance farmer came over, told stories and taught me how to read the freon gauge and watch the lines get blocked up and then freeze. My landlord came over a few hours later with a brand new, still in the box fridge. We kicked the old one on it's way out the door; the new one is big, quiet and cold. Oh, and to top it all off, nothing was wrong with the original fridge, the one that keep dripping water and freezing up and thawing. Nope, nothing wrong except that it was too small for all I wanted to cram into it and had oddly placed freezer fan vents. I covered up the vents with food, the air couldn't blow, so the lines froze. All it needed was two days to defrost and someone whose freezing needs were limited to a few ice trays. It's now in an apartment down the street, so I can visit it if I need to. It's in a better place, where it can run free.

So, new fridge. I also have a few things I like to replace annually and early January is a good way to remember. New year, new shower curtain (I like the cheap clear ones that let in the light and get grimy at the edges after a year of use) and new cutting boards (I bleach them occasionally, but if they hold stains, I'm sure they can hold bacteria. 2007 is not the year of food poisoning. That's 2011.)

Getting to Know All About You: Um... what did you have for dinner last night?