We've Come a Long Way, Baby...

I mentioned that our old fridge had died. Yes, that fridge had kept it's last Diet Coke chilled. It has gone on to appliance heaven, or the back porch, however you want to look at it. So that means WE GOT A NEW FRIDGE!!!!!!!! We actually went and picked it out on our way out of town for our 10 year class reunion and when I told my friend Pao she said, "See what makes us happy now?" Yes. It does make me happy. I also realize that I may need to create a new blog devoted totally to appliances as I seem to talk about them A LOT. To explain my fascination with appliances you must understand that sometimes you just can't appreciate things fully until you have lived with the worst case scenario. Does that make sense? Let me explain.

You see, 3 years ago we moved to Mississippi and into a house that we had never seen until the night we pulled up in the moving van. For those of you who were reading my blog back in those days you know that I got a job that started sooner than I had anticipated and we had to have a house quick. I am going to share that actual blog from August of 2006 with you, but first I have to fill you in about the refrigerator in that house. I had actually forgotten about it until we got our new one and Josh remarked that we had come a long way. Isn't it funny how we block out traumatic memories? Well, the fridge in the house we moved into was an antique and I do not mean that in a good way at all. It was so bad that we could not use the freezer at all (our kids grandparents still talk about how pitiful it was when our children would visit them and beg for ice cream because "we can't have ice cream at our house" :) and it had such a bad smell that we had to double seal all of our food in gallon size plastic baggies. I am not even kidding. So, what I am telling you is that I say a prayer of thanksgiving everytime I get ice out of the ice maker. Here's the rest of the story....

This is from my blog on August 19, 2006. It was titled, "I'm a Little Bit Country, But Not So Much". I am finally getting around to posting a pic of our little farm house. I was very proud of my chair I painted on the porch and my Mums. Take note of the living room furniture on the porch. :) We were just relieved we finally got the stove moved...

Well, it's official. I'm a Mississippi girl again. Last Sat. we packed up the truck and headed out. It was me, Josh, Abby, and my two dads.My mom kept Sarah and Eli. We had a good trip.I prayed the whole way that Josh and Mr.Bucky wouldn't fall asleep at the wheel since they had both worked a full day already. Everybody was fine. However, for future reference for anyone traveling to Meridian from Florida, once you go through Citronelle there is NOWHERE to get gas, food, or go to the bathroom until you are right outside Meridian. So what did we do? We stopped in Citronelle for Josh and Mr. Bucky to change trucks, but we did not get gas or food. That means everyone was panicking about 20 miles outside of Meridian that all three of our vehicles would be running out of gas shortly. And of course it was late and if there were any service stations they had already closed.We were also grumpy because we were hungry. I found an exit that said there was a gas station and drove the longest three miles ever to find that it was an old closed down one. We finally did find a gas station and while I was inside Josh called Karen to let her know where we were because her family was supposed to be waiting at our exit to take us to our house. Yes, at this point I still did not even know my address.So when I came out Josh said that he had talked to Karen and that they were upset about how the house looked and that we could talk about other options when we got there. Other options?????????? It was 9:30 on a Sat. night. We didn't have other options!!!! I started wondering how many hotel rooms it would take for all of our stuff!

So, needless to say I stressed out the whole way to the house.When we got there the first thing I saw was the barn. I was afraid that it was the house, but luckily it was not. It was too dark to really be able to see the outside of the house, but I was very eager to see the inside.The owner of the house was there and he apologized for the shape the house was in. That was not a good sign. I grabbed Karen to go inside with me and be my moral support. She told me there was no bathtub. No bathtub!! Was there an outhouse? What she meant was that it only had a shower. We walked into the house and the first thing that hit me was the smell. That's always a bad thing. I knew the lady who lived there before had cats and I could definitely tell. The house was filthy. Now you need to know I am not an obsessive cleaner and I am not snotty about where I live. This house was just really bad. I seriously don't think it had been cleaned in several years. It was a little frustrating because I had just spent so much time cleaning our other house. Karen's dad told us we could think about finding another house. We had planned to unpack the truck the next day anyway.

Our dads left for the hotel and Josh and I decided to stay at the house. Karen's family had brought us food so we sat on pillows on top of a loveseat the previous renter had left. I know we must have been quite a sight. I couldn't put away the leftover food becuase Karen would not even allow me to open the refrigerator she said it smelled so bad. After we ate I was washing something in the sink and the faucet started shooting water in a hundred different directions. I could hear Josh stomping bugs in the bedroom. I had to laugh. It was either that or cry!

The next adventure was taking a shower. It brought back memories of college days in community bathroooms where I showered with my flip-flops on. I seriously would not walk anywhere in that house without my shoes on.We made it through the night and after the truck was unloaded on Sun. Josh and my two dads left. Josh had to finish his last week of work and he and the kids were going to stay with his parents. They made me call Karen before they left and see if I could go to her house so I wouldn't be alone. Dads never stop worrying do they?

Karen was going to church that night but I was really tired and hadn't unpacked any nice clothes so I decided to just drive around and look for houses. :) Johnny Cash's song about how Sunday makes you feel alone was playing in my head. It was pretty lonely. I'm the type of person who likes to have a lot of alone time just to think, but I realized that I am so not used to ever being alone anymore. I went back to the house to read and I was fine, I had Abby with me. After a couple of hours I had visitors. One of the other pastors in town and his wife stopped by to see if Josh could preach for him in a couple of weeks. That was good. It reminded me why I was there.

I was completely content to stay at the house by myself. I really didn't feel scared there at all. Then, I saw a spider. It wasn't just any spider mind you. It was the biggest spider I've ever seen. And it had stripes. I don't know what that means but it scared me. So I killed it, threw some clothes together and headed to Karen's. I know, I'm a scaredy cat.

Well, it didn't take long before I started seeing the potential in our new little home. It was actually much bigger than I expected. It only has two bedrooms, but they are both so big that it's pretty much the same size as our other house. So, what does a girl do when she has a whole week away from her family? I had planned to read and go out to eat with Karen. Instead, I decided to refloor our house. Yes, you heard me right.Karen and I ripped the floor out of the kitchen. It was not easy. I wish I had a video of us. With a hammer, crowbar, and razor we took that floor out. I know we must have looked hilarious. I have never been so sore in my life. Then, we ripped up the carpet in the living room. It weighed 8,000 pounds. I'm not exaggerating. Getting it out of the house took an act of God. We may die any day now from the amount of dirt, dust, and who knows what else was in that carpet. It was so nasty!! There were places under the carpet where dirt was packed onto the floor. I had to use the hammer to get it up. Vacuum cleaners, mops. Who needs those when you have a hammer? That's what I clean my floors with! :) The rooms were so much bigger than we realized. I bought floor tiles at Family Dollar and the lady working there was my first friend made in Meridian. She would laugh at us everytime we came through the door. You also have to realize that I now live in the country. It would take 30-45 minutes to get to the store. So that became our routine. Get floor tiles, get food, eat on the way home. Put down a floor. Next day, do it all over again. I felt like I was living in Groundhog Day!

Our next obstacle was the bathroom floor. Again, we had the hammer and the crowbar getting the tiles up. But this time, the floor was so sticky that we would get stuck and couldn't move, It was the funniest thing ever. And poor Abby would come in and get all four paws stuck. Then she would get pieces of the tiles we had cut stuck to her and go walking through the house with them. We wanted to paint the bathroom before we put the new floor down, but we couldn't because we couldn't move!So, we put down three floors and painted the bathroom in three days. Karen told me that Josh would never leave me alone again and she is probably right. I also put down a threshold and I am very proud of myself for that. It is not a silver thingy on the floor, it is a threshold.:)

I've met the cows, I've had boys on four wheelers pull up in my driveway, and I have an old stove on my porch. I think that qualifies me to say I live in the country. And it is growing on me.I've just gotten my papers for my licensing exam so I will be taking my exam next week and then starting to work. We've still got a lot to do, but a country girl can survive!!