Refrigeration and Celebration

Well. This has certainly been an entertaining weekend!

Yesterday L and I went to lunch at P.F. Chang's (yum!). We then struck out on an epic quest for a new refrigerator, since all of the groceries we bought after having our old refrigerator repaired last week have now also gone bad because the stupid thing crapped out again. The AC is still on the blink as well, of course. Our luck with appliances needs to change, and quickly!

So we went to Lowe's. Then we hit Home Depot, where we found a depressingly small array of dinged-up appliances available for purchase. Nothing like the gleaming selection at Lowe's, even if the financing deal at Lowe's was definitely nothing to write home about.

We drove to a local "appliance and TV center", but they were closed because it was Sunday. So we went to Sear's, the old standby for appliances since the beginning of time. There we found an Indian lady and an elderly salesman who helped us choose a new 25.4 cu ft refrigerator in a black and stainless combo finish (no fingerprints!) and a new extraspecial superamalgamated black and stainless steel convection oven that does everything you can possibly think of (it stores recipes! it has a warming drawer underneath! it slow cooks! it self-cleans! it mops the floor! ok, not really, but you get the idea).

L couldn't stand the thought of the stove and the fridge not matching. Even he was laughing at himself about this.

Mr. Elderly salesman wrote up our customer file under "Mr. and Mrs. P" and gave us 15% off our total purchase plus 6 months no interest. We will have the whole $2000 paid off by then, so it was actually a tolerably good deal. The new appliances will be delivered on Wednesday, complete with warranty and service contracts.

And I got to be Mrs. L.P. for a whole hour. We had a good laugh about that, too.

Then we went to "Celebrate Anderson." CJ played our band's jam CD as opener music for the program. That was kinda cool, listening to us coming through that big PA system, and watching people start tapping their feet. Dionne Warwick sang, but she was violently ill, apparently, and the vocals were all over the place. Still, it was kinda cool. And the fireworks were spectacular. The thing I didn't enjoy was watching A1 work her a$$ off while her bosses and coworkers sat around and drank and ate and enjoyed themselves.

She works too hard for people who take the credit for her accomplishments and treat her like essentially a non-entity. She is wasting her hard work and missing out on her family, and she doesn't even see it right now. I worry that she will burn out. But.. she doesn't really call me anymore, so what can I really say about it? Right.

Other interesting occurrences last night: More of the same snideness from certain members of the "group" who seem to believe that there is something wrong with "dancing with the one that brung ya".. i.e. that L and I can come to the events together if we must, but there is something wrong with actually enjoying each other's company. Sorry ladies.. he's my best friend as well as my boyfriend, and I see no reason to ignore him all evening just because you hate your husband and you want me to listen to you trash him. Deal with it.

CJ introduced me to about 1000 people. And when L and I got home, Barney the golden lab tried to dig his way to China by way of his crate, in the garage. Needless to say, he didn't get very far, but he did succeed in keeping us awake half the night.

And now.. happy labor day. I'm the only one in my department who's working today. : )