Christmas fiasco

Okay, stay with me on this post. Trust me.

A few days after I got back from California, daughter, Jenni, arrived for Christmas with Emma and Mason. (Son-in-law, Joe wasn’t due to arrive until the 24th)

The day after arriving, Emma woke up with a deep croupy cough. But, it didn’t seem to keep her down. We had about 6 – 8 inches of snow overnight and she got to help Papa (Mr. CnW) shovel the deck. He had even gotten her a little shovel of her own.

Of course, they had to take a break from all the work to build Papa’s version of a “snowman”.

Ahhh, exhausting work!

THEN….the following day, Mason woke up with the same croupy cough. It didn’t seem to bother him either during the day.

But, by that night, he couldn’t sleep and was really laboring to breathe. Poor little guy was just miserable. Neither one of the kiddos had ever needed a doctor in Bend, so after a sleepless night for us all, we just opened the phone book and called one. They were able to see him early that morning. He got a “breathing” treatment at the Dr’s office that was supposed to work for 2 – 4 hours, and a steroid shot that was supposed to kick in not long after. He sounded so much better and we headed to the pharmacy for a prescription.

THEN….no more than 10 minutes after we left the office, he started wheezing and laboring to breathe again. Back to the Dr’s office. She took one look at him and decided he needed to be admitted to the hospital where he could be monitored. So, off we went to admitting.

He got all settled into his room with his Mommy. (I have to say that the little gown he had on was adorable).

He was one sick little boy but I finally got him to smile a little in between wheezes.

He ended up staying 2 nights (with Mommy right by his side) until his breathing was under control. We found out that the little ones can’t handle Croup very well because of their tiny trachea. (I think that’s right). The virus causes inflammation which leaves very little room for air to be inhaled and exhaled.

He was back to his old self after a couple days back at home. Whew! His Daddy ended up coming a day earlier than planned as he had been really worried about his little guy.

THEN………. while all this was happening, our refrigerator decided to quit working.

(all the following pictures are from Google images because no actual pictures were taken!)

We called a repairman who came out the next day and decided it was the “evaporator fan motor” and he would have a new one the next day. In the meantime, we had to move our food to the refrigerator in the garage. Mind you…it’s now the 22nd of Dec.

So, he comes back the next day, replaces the motor and goes on his merry way. But….guess what? By late afternoon it wasn’t any cooler than it was the day before. Another call to the repairman and he said he’d be back in the morning (the 24th!)

THEN……. In the meantime, I had baked a couple of pies that had spilled over onto the bottom of the oven, so Mr. CnW said we needed to use the self cleaner on the oven before baking the turkey. 3-1/2 hours later, the oven was sparkling clean.

Are you still with me? Trust me…it gets better.

I had fixed a lasagna for dinner and went to put it in the oven and……guess what? Yep, you’re right, it wouldn’t heat up.

All the great minds in the house said it just needed to cool down from the self cleaning mode. “Sure” I said. “Yeah, right”. After 1/2 hour of everyone staring at the oven, I called Anne, who has a vacation home in Bend that wasn’t being used. I asked her if I could cook the lasagna at her house. She said “of course”, so off I went, taking my brother with me to help.

It smelled just wonderful cooking and even better when it was done.

THEN…….as my brother was taking it out of the oven to put on the counter, guess what? Yep, you’re right…..IT FELL ON THE FLOOR!

This Google image picture isn’t even remotely like what it actually looked like on the floor. The WHOLE casserole dish UPSIDE DOWN on the floor.

Now, you have to understand that my brother is a bachelor and has been his whole 67 years! To this day he doesn’t understand “how” it happened. All I know is that I never touched the dish. My theory is that the dish grew legs while it was cooking and decided to jump off the counter onto the floor doing a triple somersault on the way down! Just a theory!

After cleaning it all up, we headed to the local pizza parlor for take-out.

THEN…the morning of the 24th, the day before Christmas, Chrismas eve, (are you getting the picture?) we had 2, that’s TWO repairmen here at the same time in the kitchen. Of course they knew each other, and I'm sure we paid for their “chat” in our hourly labor charge. (Yikes, I’m feeling my blood pressure rise as I re-tell the story)

Long story short (HA)….the oven was fixed by replacing the thermostat and I was able to get the turkey in to cook at a reasonable hour.

But….the refrigerator…now that’s another story. Repairman had to call Kitchen Aid/Whirlpool for advice and was told which part was needed. We were told it would take SEVEN days for the part to arrive.

Are you still with me?

Monday, January 3rd, Mr Repairman called to tell us that the part has been discontinued and is no longer being manufactured, BUT there’s a place in the midwest, or east coast or timbuktu, that will TRY to repair the part. Another 7 – 10 days. Now, friends, this refrigerator is only NINE years old! And…….since we sold the house and are now renting back, we are feeling very guilty, but don’t want to buy the new owners a brand new fridge. Ummm, dilemma!

This is how I feel about appliances!

So, that’s a part of why I wasn’t blogging over the holidays. Whew!

Will keep you posted.

Hugs, Anne