Living without a fridge for a week has been hard.  It was fun for the kids at first because we got to eat out every meal.  But even now, they are tired of it.  “Pleeeeeeaaase mom, get a fridge this weekend.”  I don’t mind so much. We eat cheap with coupons and there are no dishes for me to clean.  But I miss the ice maker and filtered water.  I had no idea how much ice I consume.  It even sounds odd when I write it.  I have discovered that my favorite ice cubes are the little snowball kind at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. And the little square kind are so much nicer in a beverage than the “orange slice” size cubes my old fridge made.  Do they make refrigerators that allow you to choose your type of cube?  I have a girlfriend who redid her kitchen and out of all the fancy appliances and drawers that she has, what do I envy most?  Yup, her dedicated ice cube machine.  Just like the restaurants.  After 11 years in my kitchen, it finally dawned on me that I rarely use my double oven much (the toaster oven on the other hand gets a LOT of use), and that space would have been much better utilized with one oven and an ice cube machine below….So, I’m off in search of the perfect ice maker that will have to be attached to the necessary refrigerator so my kids stop complaining.

Pee-in-your-pants-funny-and-forward-to-all-your-friends-worthy, Anita Renfroe is definitely my new favorite comedian.  Introduced to me by my dear friend Janeen via an email forward of a song spoof, I discovered this hilarious version of Beyonce’s “Single Ladies.”  She is like the Weird Al for anyone over 40.

CLICK AND ENJOY:  Anita Renfroe’s All The Wrinkled Ladies

Image and song copyright anitarenfroe.com

This pretty much says it all today.

overwhelm |ˌōvərˈ(h)welm| verb
• bury or drown beneath a huge mass
• defeat completely
• give too much of a thing to (someone); inundate
• have a strong emotional effect on
• be too strong for; overpower : the wine doesn’t overwhelm the flavor of the trout.

What is behind your fridge?  Evidently, behind mine is a patchwork wall still sporting wall paper from the 1960s.

Why didn’t the manufacturers of standard interior doors co-ordinate with the manufacturers of refrigerators so that we consumers would not have to remove doors and handles from both to bring new appliances into and our of our homes?

Seriously, why would a new fridge have a standard (read – thick that sticks out) 3-prong plug, while a 15-year old fridge has a flush-mount (read – lays flat against the wall) plug?

Why, oh why, does each new appliance need an adaptor to fit the piping/plumbing of the old one?  Haven’t they seen how many adaptors come with iPod players? It’s inspirational.

My new fridge is sitting empty, unplugged in my kitchen while my frozen food sits in a cooler.  Why?  Because if you have to tip the refigerator to get it into your house (uh, see the door issue above), then it must stand upright, unplugged for 6 to 8 hours to allow the Freon to settle, or so I am told.  Soggy pizza, anyone?  Oh, and if you get thirsty, I don’t have filtered water, so BYO.

“The man who smiles when things go wrong has thought of someone to blame it on”

- Robert Bloch

How many people in the world actually get an opportunity to have an 8-wheel prototype of the new Mars Rover roll over them?  At the JPL open house in Pasadena this weekend, Paris became one of the lucky few…  The technology and science of our space programs are truly amazing today.  Imaging what they will be like by the time Paris is a parent…