Life Gets in the Way

It is amazing to me how life can get in the way of something I've committed to stick to---like posting daily to this blog.

On Wednesday a.m., while drying one load of clothes and with a load of wet towels in the washer, my dryer died. Fortunately, the load in the dryer was far enough along that they were mostly dry---the towels, though, were another story. I consulted with a repairman who advised that a service call and the repair of the most minimum of the possible problems would cost about $110 (and, of course, would go up from there). Considering the age of the dryer, he felt the most prudent course would be to purchase a new dryer (no, he doesn't sell new dryers).

In this household we have to research everything to death, read reviews, etc. before we purchase anything. Even with 2 of us on separate computers, it took most of the day to not only find what we thought was the best value, but to make calls hoping to find one in stock somewhere. No luck there. So, late that afternoon we purchased one from Home Depot. It had the bells and whistles I wanted and was on sale for $200 off the regular retail price (they had the same brand with fewer bells and whistles selling for the very same sale price but only $100 less than the regular retail price...that's a mystery). The downside is that it can't be delivered until a week from today. I put the wet towels in a big lawn and leaf bag and hauled them to my friend Joan's house and dried them there....and, I get an enforced break from doing laundry for a whole week.

After the hard work of researching and purchasing the dryer, hubby declared (while still in Home Depot) that he was starving---and when he's starving, that means he can't wait even a little bit to eat. He's a bicycle racer who trains hard every day and burns up lots of calories and has a super-fast metabolism. I, on the other hand, don't exercise much and rarely get hungry because I must have the metabolism of a boa constrictor, who eats a big meal and doesn't have to eat again for 7 weeks. Anyway, we popped in to a nearby Mexican restaurant and had dinner---no cooking and no decreasing my food inventory that night.

Then, last night (Thursday) I took my mom to a Kenny Rogers concert at a nearby event center. She's 89 years old and moves slowly. We had the opportunity to eat dinner in a restaurant at the event center and that's what I thought would be best for us. That way, I could drop her at the door before the biggest part of the crowd arrived, go park the car, walk the distance back to the entrance and then we'd be in the building an hour and a half before showtime. It worked out very well. I'd never eaten in the restaurant before and it was a very nice experience. The menu was fairly limited but adequate and the food was delicious. So, another night of no cooking, no inventory reduction (I noticed my husband had picked up a pizza from Pizza Hut, so he was no help in depleting the food glut).

Maybe tonight will afford some progress.