Thursday, January 13, 2011

I'm still kickin'... and cleanin'

It's been several weeks since my last post, and I wonder if I can remember how to do this blogging thing. Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's have all come and gone and now it's mid-January. For heaven's sake, I feel like I've lost a huge chunk of my life in the blink of an eye.

To be completely honest, I haven't felt like I had that much to share with anyone. I guess after having lived overseas and traveled to so many incredible places, it doesn't seem particularly exciting to write about my day-to-day life in Illinois.

Then again, maybe, just maybe, you might find my daily adventures amusing, because I manage to do a lot of really goofy things... things that would probably boost your self-esteem by several points. And of course I share all of this with my readers, all 3 of you, because it's like a community service kind of deal. I'm here for YOU!

Need an example of a goofy thing I've done? I'm happy to oblige. Just two days ago, I opened my refrigerator and discovered it reeked of something really strong, but I couldn't quite put my finger on the cause. I started moving items around on the very full shelves (Thank you, Lord, for lots of food to eat!), and finally determined the odor was coming from a jar of pickled beets that had overturned in the back of the refrigerator.

Oh, okay... no problem, I figured. I would just wipe up the mess and be done. That's not how it went down... not even close. This turned out to be a 2-hour ordeal that required the removal of every single jar, bottle, baggie, package and plastic bowl we owned, as well as all of the shelves and drawers themselves. Yep, that reddish pickled beet juice was everywhere. I kid you not. How could that much juice be in one little jar of pickled beets? Enough to drain out and splatter onto (and into) three shelves, three drawers, down the back of the refrigerator, onto the wound up water tubing, and then of course it pooled in the very bottom too. Just a fantastic mess! I can make 'em, I tell ya!

I should have taken a photo, but I was so on the verge of tears that it didn't occur to me at the time. The first 15 minutes of cleaning wasn't that bad, but that's because I hadn't realized to what extent my refrigerator was covered in pickled beet juice. Once I fully understood the serious cleaning job that awaited me, I began to mutter to myself, and eventually laugh, and I don't mean just a chuckle. I mean hysterical laughing, out of control laughing, the kind that could worry others who happen to be in your presence.

Just so you know, this exact scenario happened to me just a year or so ago. Yep, pickled beets and I don't have a good track record together. Maybe that's my cue to stop buying them. In fact, I feel pretty certain God Himself is trying to tell me that I need to cut pickled beets out of my diet altogether. You know what? Message received!

On a positive note, my refrigerator is spotless now. Don't envy.

4 comments:

Pam Flora said...

Marva, I think this is God's way of telling you to only eat pickled beets in restaurants. That way someone else cleans the mess.

I do envy a clean refrigerator. As grateful as I am to have two fridges, both of them are in dire (DIRE, I say) need of cleaning. On the days that I have the time, I don't have the motivation. C'est ma vie.
Don't worry about your life in IL being boring. I can't imagine a day, ever, that I would find you boring. Blog away! :)

Fernanda said...

I think we all feel sympathetic with you about your fridge: I've gone through that situation a least twice that I remember. Even worse I should say, with a whole pack of coke cans bursting in my freezer and, believe me, this REALLY was a pain cleaning. Never thought of giving up coke though, God didn't ask me to:)

But I'm here to congratulate you on something totally different. I happened to read your "About me" description. "Children whose moms are "stay-at-home moms" are very lucky", our adult children always say. Three of our four children are forever thankful that mom was there on every special event of their lives. Dad, being a military, missed quite a few! The choice of staying at home was not easy. Many times I wondered if I had done the right thing or not. Hopefully Jaime, still a child, will grow up to be a good Christian like his brothers and sister. This is what I've been working for all these years; the best business on earth: the Kingdom of God.
So hang in there stay-at-home mom!! Your full-time job is really worth it!

Anonymous said...

Hey Marva!

I was reading the post and kept going through the comments when I noticed the "Visitor From ..." bar on the right. You have a VERY international audience!! Hope things are going well with all of you. Enjoyed the Christmas letter! (I just mailed our New Year's card two days ago!)
Karen Gaouette

CoachStephanie said...

I think God was telling you to clean your fridge. LOL! That's what friends are for, MIssy. ; )