Long Silence = Long Update.

Get comfy.

So, I think when I left you, (not counting the rant about the shooting in CT, which I could rant on for DAYS but will not for my own health's sake) I had an appointment to have the fridge repaired on Tuesday? 

I'd thrown out a lot of food, and hauled that which could be salvaged to my daughter's fridge. I bought ice and put an ice chest in the bathtub in the guest bath (the easier to empty down the drain, of course, and it's only a few steps off the kitchen).  I was prepared to camp until Tuesday - I had cold Diet Coke and cold water, I could chill a bottle of cheap chardonnay if I wanted, I was set to camp until Tuesday.

Tuesday, the tech came - nice guy, bearer of bad tidings - and declared the compressor dead.  Had to order a new one. He arranged to put a rush on it and get it set up to be installed on Friday.

It was Tuesday, and I'd been without a fridge since Saturday, and the new refrigerator was an entire MONTH OLD.  So I contacted LG.  They greet you with "How may I provide excellent service today?"  Cute.  The guy who took my earnest questions about what they were going to do to make it up to me when their product failed in 30 days - like, I dunno, getting it fixed or replaced tomorrow, or at least compensating me for the food I'd had to throw away - was politely disinterested.  They don't reimburse for spoiled food, and I see you have a repair scheduled for Friday.  Is there anything else I can help you with?

I'm sorry, but are you under the impression that you helped me with anything so far? 

So, I called Home Depot. It's hard to catch a live human in the appliance department. They are staffed as lean as every other business, and I'm not going to pretend they are all gems, I spoke to an idiot along the way.  But Rob was fabulous, and he worked it out with the department manager to send  me a mini-fridge to tide me over, and by the time it was all worked out she'd decided to LET ME KEEP IT, and ordered a check for the spoiled food to be mailed from their corporate office.  I hope the dept manager has a mechanism to get this back from LG, because they totally need to beat this out of them just on principle.

Friday, the guy from LG showed up, and it took a very long time to put in the new compressor. He also left my entire kitchen showered with little flecks of black shit off something he did with a power tool - I mean it's on the BLINDS across the room, it was on the stovetop 4 feet away, it was everywhere.  I wasn't told to move or cover anything, or that this would be a big, messy, ugly job.  It was.  I got to clean that up.  And I now have a brand new fridge that has had the equivalent of a heart transplant one month in.  I do think I'll hold onto that mini-fridge I have no place for for at least a couple of months, until I see if the new compressor is going to take, or if the refrigerator will reject it.

I still really like the refrigerator in many ways.  It's the perfect size and shape for the space, it's as big as a 2 br. condo really needs, and when it works, it's fabulous.  But damn, this was not a great introduction to LG's customer service OR quality control.  Home Depot in Altamonte Springs, OTOH - LOVE, ELEVENTY!

What else? Around this minor drama I had a lot of business stuff.  The teeny fridge was helpful when it finally arrived, but I spent most of the week in chaos, eating more fast food than I'd consumed in two years, plus pizza and junk food at the office during out marathon coaching sessions.

Oh, and wait, I seem to recall there's a holiday of some sort?

I'm really, really short on cash right now. Business start-up is always like this, and I'm at that point of spending every penny I have earned and more on just keeping going. We won't even talk about the thousands of dollars of unexpected expenses incurred on vet bills and such. Anyway, this year I declared that the granddaughters get gifts but their parents will have to wait a quarter, when random gifts will suddenly appear.

I offered to do a round of nostalgic baking instead - stuff I used to make when they were kids - but my son was not interested.  They eat so healthy, they didn't need it.  Okay.  So just hold out for a random gift after the first quarter, I'm fine with that if you are.  I did of course send Supergirl two delightful storybooks and some preschool card games.

My daughter OTOH said screw healthy eating, it's Christmas, and asked for fudge, and I made fudge, and also made chocolate chip cookies I haven't made in 15 years, probably.  And they are eating dinner here Christmas Day, so I asked her if she'd like me to make our formerly traditional Christmas lasagna.  She was delighted!  I used to do it for Christmas Eve, and give the other pan away to a friend.  I stopped making it years ago because it's not only labor intensive, but should include a coupon for a free angioplasty.  2 lbs. of ground beef, 1 lb. of Italian sausage, 30 oz. of ricotta, 2 lbs, of mozzarella, and I think there are eggs involved somewhere (obviously tomatoes too, but they aren't on the cardio-incident trigger list) - it makes two large, dense pans and it is fabulous, but I haven't made it in years for liability reasons.  :-)  But they are young and active and healthy, so I will serve one pan for Christmas dinner, with garlic bread and some sort of fancy green veggie side I'm still deciding on, and send the other pan home with them, wrapped up and frozen for future use. 

After the lasagna, I am cleaning up my act.  All leftovers go home with the skinny active younger folks.  My butt has been spending way too much time in a chair.

More catching up tomorrow, maybe, probably.  If not, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Happy Festivus!