"The Worst Ever! ...But aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln..."

 This is “the worst ever!”

 My family teases me that I use that phrase too often, and I admit that my petty inconveniences aren’t “that” bad when I compare my lot in life with so many other people’s situations.  Just yesterday I went to return something to a little boutique at the mall in Grand Rapids, commenting that I had driven into the city for this errand last weekend, only to discover they were closed.

 

“Yes we were,” the saleslady (owner?) said.  “I got hit by a tornado.  It crashed into my garage and my car was in it!”  Now that’s got to be way up there a tad higher than my “worst ever” – but silly me, the first thing that popped into my head was a phrase my dad used to say when something was truly catastrophic:

 

“Well, a poor excuse is better than no excuse!”

 

She did not think that was funny at all.  “Maybe you didn’t hear me.  A TORNADO hit my house!” I quickly explained that sarcasm is not my native language, and that I tend to use it inappropriately.  What I meant to say was, “That’s awful!  I am so very sorry.” At least I didn't quote my mother-in-law who, in a similar situation, would have said,

"Aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?"

 

Back to my not-so-bad morning.  No, a tornado didn't hit my garage, but something happened!  

 

It wasn’t the worst, but it sure was inconvenient.  It fits more into the category of “the thing I always feared has come upon me.”  After going to the mall yesterday, I stopped at Costco to stock up on some groceries.  When I got home and quickly shoved it into the freezer (since Jim is in Mexico, and he normally brings order to my chaos), I noticed on the ground  a bag of bananas that weren’t completely frozen.  I figured it had fallen out earlier and defrosted. I went on to bed.

 

This morning I discovered there was water in the ice trays!  The freezer had conked out. I spent the next solid hour grilling the burgers on my electric grill, stewing all the chicken in my instant pot,  baking the fish in the oven, frying up all the ground turkey with onion and garlic, and even preparing a frozen pizza which I cut into individual serving sizes.  The andouille sausages (that were on sale) are now in the refrigerator.  I’ll think about those and the shrimp tomorrow.

 

All this was before 7:00 on a Saturday morning!  Now are you sympathetic? To think I was so proud of myself for all the good bargains I found yesterday.  However much I saved doesn't nearly cover the expense of all I tossed wastefully in the garbage.  Another one of my dad’s pithy quotes comes to mind:  “You can’t save money when you’re spending it.”  Thanks, Dad.  Great reminder.

 

Thankfully we have another freezer in the basement, so this was not catastrophic in the least.  It’s a pity about all the stuff I had to toss, but it could have been so much worse.  The weird thing is that our Samsung freezer was advertised as suitable for use in the garage!  It hasn’t even been that hot here in Michigan, not compared to my poor family in Texas with daily temperatures regularly over 100 degrees this summer.  It could always be worse.

  

The old chest freezer in the basement came with the house.  It's old.  I was always afraid to pack it too full, thinking it might break down and we would lose everything.  That’s why we bought the “new” one a few years ago.  (Besides, it’s more convenient to walk out to the garage from the kitchen rather than going down to the basement, potentially waking up our daughter whose apartment is next to the storage area.)

Why do we assume that old is bad and new is good? 

In my continued efforts to be Pollyanna and play the Glad Game, one thing I am extremely thankful for this morning is that I found my cell phone.  For a few panicked moments I was afraid maybe it had fallen into one of the disgusting stinky garbage bags as I was struggling to double bag the worst ones.  If I had needed to go dumpster diving, I would not have been happy!

Thank God for small mercies!

 

How's your day going?

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