How I spent my Halloween

It was Friday, October 30, 2009, and I had just finished churning my pumpkin ice cream. When I opened the freezer door to place the ice cream container inside, I noticed a little frost on some of the apple juice concentrates. I paid no mind to my observation thinking Ari just closed the refrigerator door too hard and the freezer door popped open a little bit. It happened all the time, so I casually closed the freezer door and went about my business.

A few hours later, I checked on the ice cream to see if it had hardened at all. Nope, it was still soft, but the frost was gone from the apple juice, so everything seemed fine. Later on that night, as I put the finishing touches on the jack-o-lantern cake, I checked the ice cream again. Huh? Still not firm? What's going on? I noticed the freezer wasn't all that cold and I picked up an apple juice concentrate and it was completely liquid on the inside. It was then that I realized the freezer had stopped working.

Luckily, our old refrigerator was in the basement in fine working order; so Valerie and I hauled all of our frozen items into the downstairs freezer for safekeeping. I then checked the upstairs refrigerator to make sure it was still working and it everything looked good. A little after eleven o'clock that night, I got a sinking feeling that something wasn't right. I checked the refrigerator again and the butter was a little soft. I took the temperature of the refrigerator and it was fifty-something degrees. Not good. So, Valerie and I hauled the refrigerated items downstairs as well.

My dad was in town for the weekend and he was over the next morning for breakfast. Pa was there as well and they both looked at it and thought that it was most likely the compressor that failed. Valerie and I were at a crossroads. Should we look into getting it fixed or should we just go out and buy a new refrigerator like we had been wanting to? Of course, by now I'm sure you already assume we decided to get a new one; because, why would I be writing about getting a repair? You know?

So, Valerie, my dad, Mary Lee, and I all went around town that afternoon hunting for a new refrigerator while Angela volunteered to stay at our house with Stephen and the kids. We found one we liked at Sam's right off the bat, but still went to several other stores to see what we could find. We ended up getting the one at Sam's because we really liked the refrigerator and we really couldn't beat the price. Our next dilemma, how would we get the refrigerator back to the house?

Valerie called her dad and he wasn't able to help, so she then called Kyle; who is the proud owner of Marty's old truck. He graciously accepted our desperate pleas for help, and met us at Sam's a little after five o'clock. After finally figuring out how to get the refrigerator out of Sam's club (there were four employees trying to help), we strapped it in the bed of the truck and headed home. Looking back, it was quite naive of me to think we would have it unloaded and installed before trick-or-treating, but I thought it nonetheless.

So, we got the old refrigerator out of the kitchen, and then managed to somehow get the new one in. I really need to think about getting a hand truck, by the way. It was a real team effort and it is times like these when I realize how lucky I am to have such a wonderful family. I sadly missed trick-or-treating with the kids, and I'm sure it wasn't he Halloween my dad, Mary Lee, Stephen or Kyle were planning on having, but they were there when I needed them without giving it a second thought.

The refrigerator really looks great and it matches the stove perfectly. We ideally wanted a refrigerator with French doors on top and a pull out freezer door, but those were way out of our price range. I am very happy with the one we got, though, and the freezer is a lot bigger than our old one. Perfect for housing all the meat and sausage I've been grinding. Valerie is quite happy with it too, and she didn't waste any time getting it decorated with all of our magnets and pictures. What a day.