A place for everything, and everything in its place?

For the last hour, I've been trying to sort my thoughts out enough to write a coherent blog. It hasn't happened so far, so I have a feeling it's not going to happen any time soon. I've got so many different things fighting to get out of my head, but I can't seem to untangle them, so I'll write about them another time.

Bugster, Bubster and Frank came over today for a few hours. It was wonderful seeing them and catching up. It seems like we never get to spend enough time with them.

I have my list of things ready to work on tomorrow. I've got plans. I'll be working on some stuff in the kitchen. We have a baker's rack that needs an extra shelf in it. We have such limited storage in the kitchen that it falls into disarray easily. I'm hoping that, if there's a place for everything it will be easier to keep up. It gets frustrating when there's no place to put things away, and then they tend to be left out.

I'm looking forward to working with the shelf. 

It means I get to use my power tools. :D

How to burn boiled eggs.

The refrigerator has been driving me crazy lately. I have been wanting to clean it thoroughly since before Christmas. And while there was nothing growing in there and it looked clean at a quick glance, I wanted to get into all the nooks and crannies and get it really clean. Every six weeks to two months or so, I tear it apart and thoroughly scrub it, but life happened, and I got behind.


One thing about this refrigerator that I really struggled with was that the glass shelf above the crisper drawers doesn't come apart from the frame. But some gunk had gotten between the frame and the glass, and I was bound and determined to get it out of there. Yuck! I can't stand that sort of thing! Thankfully, it's not like there's been food under there for years and years, (we've only had the fridge a little over 2 years, and I've kept it very clean), but it still grossed me out. So I started looking around and noticed that there was a little square plastic clip on the back two corners where the glass met the frame. 


I figured I'd pop them out, wash the glass and frame, and then put everything back together. Then...I broke one of the clips. 


My initial thought was one of very mild panic. Where would I get a replacement? In my mind, I started thinking of where to look for a new one. Do I maybe have something in my craft supplies that would work? If I found something, would I be able to find two, or would it bother me if they were mismatched? What about the hardware store? Would they have anything? Would I have to actually contact the manufacturer to get a new one? I wonder how much it would cost.


Then, I took a deep breath, assessed the situation, and considered my options.


I still had one clip in perfect condition. I could just use it on the one side. It wouldn't really show that there was only one, and I'd be the only one that knew about it unless I pointed it out to someone. I could try to replace it, but was it really worth the trouble? And then I realized there was another option that I would have never even considered a couple of years ago.


I could just... throw the clips away.


Hmm.


What a novel idea.


What would happen, if I threw them away? Well, I wouldn't have them anymore. But realistically, the world wouldn't come to an end. It wouldn't hurt me. It wouldn't hurt the refrigerator. In fact, there's a chance that the clips were put in there only for moving the refrigerator across country or from the appliance store to the home to keep the glass from falling out and breaking. But we aren't going to be moving the refrigerator anytime soon, except to clean under it. It's not going to be moved to the garage or downstairs or across town. It's staying right where it is.


It would be difficult for the girls to dislodge the glass, because of the way it fits into the frame, so that shouldn't be a problem. Even if Hubster or I put something in there in a hurry, it's still not going to move the shelf. It's secure. And if we sell the fridge, we can always just use tape to secure the glass. That's what we've done in the past, and the world didn't come to an end.


I did consider keeping the clip that was still intact, but I realized it would just take up room in the drawer, and it would possibly get broken in there anyway. Plus, by the time we would need it, I probably wouldn't be able to find it. So I threw them in the trash. Even the good one. 


I did hesitate for just a moment and felt my pulse quicken ever so slightly, as I tossed them in the trash. But I did toss them, and I didn't look back once they were gone. It was a relief to have made a decision and be totally comfortable with the decision I made. No second-guessing. No looking back. No self-criticism. Just relief.


So I finished cleaning out the refrigerator from top to bottom, and I'll work on the freezer later this week. My back couldn't take anymore stooping today, so it didn't get done, but I got quite a bit done in the kitchen that I'd been putting off. Got the dishes caught up and deep scrubbed the stove. I even checked the eggs in the fridge to make sure I only had fresh ones in there.


I put them in a gallon bucket of cold water and waited to see, if any floated. I took the three that floated, wrapped them in a grocery bag, tied it shut, and threw it in the trash. I dried off the ones that were the freshest and put them back in the egg container in the refrigerator. Then I took the 5 that were starting to bob in the water just a little bit and decided to boil them, so I could make potato salad. I put them on low heat and started making lunch.


I got the onions, peppers and cheese out and made quesadillas for lunch and sat down to eat with the family. We took our time eating, visited for awhile and just enjoyed one another's company. Then I went downstairs for about ten minutes to work on something, and when I came back up, I smelled something. I wasn't sure what it was. And suddenly it dawned on me that I'd left the eggs on the back burner on low! Sure enough. I'd boiled them dry. 


I added a bit of hot water out of the tap, and the pot and eggs were so hot that the water started boiling immediately. I was shocked it happened so quickly! After the eggs had cooled enough to peel, I decided to check one to see how bad they were. Sure enough, it was a dark, dark brown. I didn't even know it was possible until today, but now you know how to burn boiled eggs.


You're welcome.

Not even going to try to pull it together tonight.

Can't keep my eyes open enough to write a post.

Maybe tomorrow.

Thoughts.

I've had a lot on my mind today. Nothing really extraordinary...just...life.


I rarely dream. I struggle with getting all the way to REM sleep most nights. It is what it is. When I wake up and actually remember a dream, it's unusual. This morning I'd decided to take a little nap after getting Scooter off to school. Hopper had decided to go back to bed and start her day a little later, too, so I felt comfortable getting a little shuteye. So this morning, when the phone rang the first time, and I realized I was dreaming, I was a little surprised. 


It was Bugster. We had a bit of a freak snowstorm hit, and it was super icy outside. The defrost in her car wasn't working, and she realized the car was overheating. She couldn't get Bubster on the phone, so she called us to help her figure out what to do. She decided to try Bubster again, and I told her to call back and let us know, if she got a hold of her husband. If not, I knew Hubster would go help her out.


When Bugster called back a little bit later to let me know that she'd called in and let them know she wouldn't be able to make it to work, she once again woke me up from a dream. It was a weird dream with pieces of our past melded with pieces of our right now. It included lots of people from our past and present lives, and it was just sort of fun. But it did surprise me that I'd been able to get into the REM cycle twice within such a short period of time.


I was still exhausted, so I closed my eyes once again. It felt as though my head had hardly touched the pillow when the phone rang for the third time waking me from yet another dream - this time about someone opening my cupboard doors after my house was completely dehoarded and asking me why I still had so many cake pans. I tried pulling my head out of the cupboard in my dreams and bring myself back to the conversation at hand. It was Bugster once again. Her radiator had sprung a leak, but Bubster had been able to help her get the car home and was going to replace her radiator before he went to work. 


I took the third call as my cue to get up for the day, but I have to admit I'd have loved to have crawled back into bed. I heard from Bugster a few hours later that Bubster had indeed been able to replace the radiator and get to work on time. It made my heart swell with pride knowing that our son-in-law was taking such good care of our girl. The more we get to know him, the longer they are together, the more we are so very grateful that he is her husband.


We aren't sure how it happened, since he didn't learn it from either of his parents, but Bubster is such a responsible young man. As parents, we have always seen Bugster take her responsibilities seriously, so it didn't come as such a huge surprise that she's such a responsible adult. But they have taken on so much with Frank.


It's so incredibly unfair that he was first abandoned by his mother and then a short 3 years later was deserted by his father. Seriously, who does that? And it got me to thinking. What causes some people to refuse to take responsibility and compels others to take on way more than their fair share?


I get that there are a lot of different circumstances that can factor in.  Finances. Physical health. Mental health. Age. Maturity. 


I get that. I really do. And sometimes, I think that those factors are valid reasons not to take on certain responsibilities. But when does a valid reason turn into just another excuse for bad behavior? When does it turn into an excuse to pawn your responsibilities off on someone else?


I'm really struggling with Bubster and Frank's parents about now. The extra responsibility Bugster and her husband have taken on by taking Frank in is taking its toll. Don't get me wrong. Their marriage isn't in trouble. They're still very much in love and very much willing to have Frank live right where he is in the extra bedroom. But they never really have time alone. They've never had that awkward but wonderfully fun adjustment period with just the two of them against the world. And it angers me. 


It angers me that two adults who should be taking their roles as parents seriously are so selfish that they pawned their youngest off on young adults just starting out on their own. 


Mostly, I'm just so incredibly proud of Bugster and Bubster for being the amazing, selfless people they are that they continue to sacrifice, so Bubster's little brother has a home. A family. And love.


And I am honored to call them my family. 

Meh.

Ever have one of those days when you just can't seem to think straight? 

Yeah. Today's been one of those days. 

I slept wrong again last night, and my back has been killing me all day as a result. I was able to get a bit of paperwork done, but that's about it. I was able to get 3 bags of shredables ready to go out the door, but then I forgot to send them with Hubster. I won't add them to the list on my sidebar until they're out of the house.

I'm hoping to get a better night's sleep tonight and get my back to relax a bit. And I have to admit that I'm very thankful that my back doesn't bother me this much very often. It only happens a few times a year, but it pretty much knocks me to my knees.

Hoping to be back up on my feet tomorrow.