Flash Flood!

Friday, October 23:

After a nice Asian stir-fry dinner complete with egg rolls and a fortune cookie, we realized that our pets' water container was bone dry.  We have the kind that has a pop bottle filled with water that dispenses water when the bowl is empty.  Both the bowl and two liter bottle were empty.  Scott thought that it would be a great idea to take the pop bottle and poke a hole in the top. The reason for doing this was to prevent the glug, glug, glug sound that would startle both Mickey and Simba.  I went to go sit on the couch because he was making me nervous with the knife he was using.  He thought I was being a "nag" and worrying for nothing.  All of a sudden, I hear a whoosh and notice that Mickey is lapping up the floor.  Scott is saying a few choice words and calling me to come into the kitchen quick.  I see a huge puddle of water gushing out of the pop bottle.  All over the rug, floor, and wall.  We frantically picked up the water bottle and grabbed a towel.  Simba and Mickey helped us out by licking the remaining water up.  Once the mess was semi-cleaned, Scott and I glanced at each other and burst out laughing!  We grabbed a pop bottle and I asked Scott NOT to put a hole in it.  Law of Physics revisited!

Lessons Learned:

1. Don't poke a hole in a pop bottle when you are using the bottle as a water dispenser.  It creates a huge flood! 
2. What a mess! Working together gets it clean faster.
   
3. Laughing really is the best policy!
   

The Cat's Meow?

Sunday, September 13, 2009:

So recently, we got a cat.  His name is Simba and he is an orange tabby cat.  Really cute and really frustrating at times.  I'm not quite sure what persuaded us to get a cat. I think Scott talked me into wanting one.  Simba is now a very important part of our family and we do love him.  We went back to Grand Rapids this past weekend to visit family and to go to a Bed, Bath, and Beyond sale to complete our registry (which was a complete blast... that's another story though!).  We left Simba in our apartment thinking he would be okay until we got back on Sunday.  Boy, were we ever wrong.  With our hands full of our goodies from Bed, Bath, and Beyond, our luggage, and Mickey (our dog who is really sweet, but tends not to listen all the time!) who was pulling towards the door.  We have our own entrance in our apartment and getting in the door without our animals escaping is sometimes difficult!  So we rushed up the stairs because we were curious to see the condition of our apartmen.  Scott was fearing the worst and I was a little more optimistic.  Scott put the keys in the door and had trouble unlocking the door.  This should have been the first clue.  After struggling with the lock for several minutes, we took a deep breathe and got the door open.  Simba was there as usual trying to escape to his freedom!  We shuffled in like penguins (not the best simile, but hey I put one in!!!) and managed to corral him and push him back into his "prison". We threw down our bags like they were on fire!  Scott immediately smelled something strange in the air and immediately started his search for Simba's mishap.  He walked into the kitchen and muttered some choice words.  (Use your imagination here!) Simba had knocked over a tiered plate displayer meant for snacks when you have company and the box with pet supplies in the laundry room (brushes, nail clippers, vitamins, etc.) was spread all over the floor.  Simba had managed to climb onto the shelf where we store his treats and food.  There was a huge hole in both bags and a significant amount was missing!  It was also clear that Simba had gotten sick from doing this because there was poop just outside of his litter box.  That was not too bad to clean up because it was linolium!  As Scott got ready to clean up that mess, I walked down the hall into our master bedroom.  I couldn't see anything at first until I turned on the light.  Right in the middle of our *NEW* bedding. It's brown, tan, and white.  Really quite beautiful and crisp.  Right in the middle of the tan part was a pile of poop.  My mouth dropped as I turned to the wall.  There was poop on the wall.  How this little kitty could get poop on the wall is beyond me, pretty talented I guess!  There was also a pile on the floor and a bunch under the bed.  This cat was really sick.  I called to Scott in the sweetest voice I could use, "Honey, come here please."  I could hear him grumbing as he made his way down the call anxious to see what awaited him in the room.  His mouth dropped as well!  We both quickly got to work cleaning.  It was a chore that took longer than we wanted it too!  I took the massive comforter and tried to shove it into our washer... hoping and praying that it would fit.  I called Scott and asked, " Can we shove this thing in?"  He gave me the look that said it all, "That's what she said!"  I slapped him lightly on the shoulder as we both shared a laugh!  We tried to get the comforter in the washer with no success.  We looked at each other and said, "Bathtub!"  Since the washer was already started, the comforter was half wet!  We carried it quickly as we could down the hallway as water was dripping down onto the carpet.  Turned the tub on and dumped the comforter in.  We had to keep pushing it into the water to make sure it could get soaked properly.  As it soaked, I took Mickey for a walk as I left Scott alone with Simba and the cleanup!  I got really lucky, but Scott insisted and I was not going to complain! When I got back, Scott decided that we needed to run to Walmart at 11:30 (they close at midnight... not much is open late in Fenton except maybe the Taco Bell!) to get litter liners and other random things to clean up the rest of the mess.  Instead of leaving Simba the full run of the house, we learned and left him in the bathroom with no towels or toilet paper!  He likes to scratch both and tends to take the toilet paper all across the bathroom.  Another wonderful sight to come home to! So we ran to Walmart, where we were the only souls of Fenton out and about.  The cashiers were giving us evil looks as if to say "Who would dare to walk into our Walmart this late in Fenton?"  We raced our cart like we were race car drivers on a mission to win!  I ran and got a few essential groceries like milk and eggs while Scott went to the pet section to get Simba stuff! We sped to the front lanes and when we got there, the three cashiers sitting on a bench singing to each other.  I could only think, "Why is Fenton so strange at night?"  Finally, one of them got up to help us!  So we were almost done checking out and ready to go home and finish cleaning and head to bed when Scott's debit card  decided not to work.  We tried three times  and then it wouldn't except the card anymore.  The night manager slowly got off the bench and explained that the issue was because their machine were not excepting pins at the moment.  That would have been nice to know five minutes prior!  Luckily, we had another card that could be used as credit.  We quickly grabbed our bags and were shushed out the door by the cashiers because they were about to close.  Tell me why they didn't act faster earlier?  Frustrating!  We finally got back to the apartment and did our rangling routine to keep Mickey in the apartment.  We finished cleaning and got ready for bed.   Simba curled up on his normal spot and purred.  He was back into our good graces (well better than what he was at the start of the night1 A.M. and we finally got to bed!  Fast forward to today: Monday.  The comforter is yet to be dry.  It thankfully fits into our dryer, but it is taking forever to dry! 

 SO lessons learned this time:

1. Put Simba's food in a container! Place this container on the floor and not on a shelf where Simba can knock over the contents of the shelf.
2. When we leave for the weekend, we need to leave Simba at Petsmart!  So he doesn't feel left out with no human contact!
3. As I was writing this blog, Simba killed a spider, a HUGE male mosquito and another unknown bug. All of which I do not like, so thank you Simba, you're hired!
4. Husbands have dirty minds and so do wives!  (I'm just slower at times to get the dirty joke!)
5. The comforter does not fit into the washer... don't even try!  Transporting a heavy, wet comforter by yourself without getting the hallway and laundry room floor drenched is impossible.
6. Walmart in Fenton after 11 is a ghost town and the workers turn into weird creatures!
7. Always LAUGH... it makes life crazy moments less stressful!

It's Not a Real Meal Until...

Monday, August 24, 2009: I plan a great dinner for my husband. It was the first homemade meal I made him as a wife, it was bound to be an adventure! I planned on making spaghetti and meatballs with cheese bread. The easiest part was going to be the cheese bread... I mean it looked so good in the picture! What could go wrong?

• Step one: Prepare french bread (cut in half and spread butter over the two halves) The butter was hardly spreading, even though I had melted it! Oh well, I called it good enough! Ok, check!
  
• Step two: Place bread halves on pan in broiler. Broil for 1-2 min. So I think the oven has a broil drawer. I empty out the cookie sheets, pizza pans, and other random cookware that is under there and place the bread in the drawer. I carefully time 1 minute and then I check on the bread. Nothing has happened... the bread is still cold. I even preheated the broiler! Ok... so I put it back in the drawer again. Another minute went by and the bread was still cold. I stuck my hand in there and there was nothing, no heat at all! I checked the gauges on the oven... all were lit up correctly. Finally, I looked into the actual oven and saw that the broiler was actually in the oven. It was glowing red! I placed the bread in and timed for a minute and a half! Well that was too long because I smelled burning bread! So I quickly, opened the door to the oven and all of a sudden... I heard a shrill, "Beep, Beep, Beep!" The fire alarm went off! In our new apartment, we have sprinklers on the walls. I was nervous that they were going to start sprinkling water everywhere and ruin everything! So what is a new bride to do? I run around the apartment and open all the windows and doors! Then, I remember that there is a fan on the oven! Did any of this effort work to shut the fire alarm off? No of course not! So Plan B: I run to the smoke detector and start waving my potholders at it and then, I whip off my apron and flap that too. I'm also saying some choice words to this detector because the thing is so loud!!! The neighbors probably think I'm crazy!! The detector does not shut up until Scott walks in and asks me what I'm doing. I simply tell him that he gets dinner and a show!
  
• Step three: Place cheese on bread and then back into the broiler! Oh goody! Back to the wonderful broiler! This time I kept a watchful eye on this bread. It seemed to be a little sneaky! I waited for the cheese to get nice and golden brown. I pulled out the bread, (Luckily, it was only burnt on the top edges... so it was still edible!) and again the shrill sound of "Beep, Beep, Beep!!!!" filled the air waves. This time I knew what to do... I had to go flap at the detector. It worked! YAY!
• Step four: Cut bread into slices. This step was the easiest!

Now, after this exciting time in the kitchen, dinner was finally served on our nice fiesta ware that we got as a wedding present. How did Scott like his first homemade meal as a new family? Well, let's just say that he asked for seconds. : )


Lessons Learned:

1. Our oven does not have a broiler drawer!
2. You must watch things you broil very carefully... this is hard in our oven because there is no window!
3. The sprinklers will not go off unless they are triggered by heat... thank goodness they did not go off!
4. Scott is not a very picky eater and doesn't mind when things get burnt! : )