24 February, 2015

Accepting the Unexpected

I'm a planner. I don't like surprises; my ideal day skips right along from one scheduled and anticipated event to the next. Yesterday wasn't that ideal for me. It all started out okay... but then, when I plunged my hand into the freezer to remove what I needed for our dinner (pre-planned and on the calendar, of course!) something wasn't quite right; there was no icy blast of air, no rock-hard piles of carefully wrapped steaks, chops and fish... in fact, I was greeted by the exact opposite. Warm air, not good; thawed meats and prepared-ahead casseroles, they weren't even slightly cold... the contents were a complete loss. This refrigerator-freezer is probably 25 years old, it has served us well as a kitchen back-up; in all honesty, it is used almost as much as our primary one. It was dead. I had not planned on this.

In the mid-afternoon we lost our power. It was back on within an hour later; I have no idea what happened, but the day's plan was eroding... and fast. What next?

Now, imagine if you lived without weather forecasts (in a cave?); you would just wake up in the morning and deal with whatever the weather gods have in mind for you that day. Welcome to my world; this is what we awakened to today... surprise! I don't like surprises. I need to work on my flexibility.


I imagined that Mr. Goodneedle and I would shop for a new refrigerator-freezer to replace the one we've lost, I was looking at the planner to schedule a time to leave with one eye on the now snowy roads... perhaps we'd have to wait. He had another idea altogether... he thinks he can fix it! Oh. I hadn't planned on that. I should have... what was I thinking? After a string of suprises it's comforting to recognize that this handy husband will most definitely take the time to try and fix what's wrong before we hastily schedule any appliance shopping trip; that's a behavior I can always plan on. I had almost taken leave of my senses; reacting to too many surprises all at once, I can't be held accountable. He's got the back off of it now and a volt-ohm meter in his hand, all is right with the world...
almost!
...There was that light and fluffy, smooth loaf of bread I expected to remove 
from the breadmaker to serve with our spaghetti and salad this evening... 

 I'm going to go do some stretches... I'll jot that down on my calendar!

Life is Good!

11 comments:

Quiltdivajulie said...

Yup - that's what being married to an engineer-type is like!

Breathe in . . . breathe out . . .

Hugs!

Pat said...

Laughing at the lumpy bread! There is a Jimmy Buffett song called Changes in Latitudes. Some of the lines have become one of my "life mantras":

"It's those changes in latitudes,
Changes in attitudes, nothing remains quite the same.
With all of our running and all of our cunning,
If we couldn't laugh, we would all go insane."

Sorry about your freezer and all of the various types of "precipitation" that has come your way. Together, you and Mr. Goodneedle will weather the storm!~

Shelina (formerly known as Shasta) said...

I know the feeling, we make plans on what to do next, and all of a sudden, our normal changes, and we have to stop to bring everything back to normal again. Hope Mr. G has the fridge up and running again!

Carrie P. said...

Surprise!!!

45th Parallel Quilter said...

If you want to hear God's laugh ..... tell Him your plans .... ;-)

Kay said...

So sorry about your refrigerator. I know the feeling. The same thing happened to me this past Friday. My main refrigerator of almost 29 years died. I was bummed that I had to throw away so much food. We had to go shopping as we figured it didn't owe us anything and probably wasn't worth fixing. My husband isn't the handy type. I hope that your hubby is able to fix yours.

Angie said...

What a pill to swallow. ..losing all of that food. Hope do was able to get it operating.

Tanya said...

Oh dear... I'm not great at being flexible either. But like you, I have a husband who will spend time repairing things after I've given up. Maybe you could put the freezer goods out in the snow while your husband is repairing?

Kathleen said...

looks to me like your refrigerator/freezer arrived, just outside instead of inside !!!

cityquilter grace said...

tough to do esp when unexpected is usually unwanted....life IS good but a challenge for sure!

Laura Chaney said...

Oh my! I'm with you, and much prefer to have my days (and weeks and months) run as planned. Hope everything got back to normal quickly!