Friday, November 22, 2013

In praise of the vacuum as a spousal gift

The old chestnut provides that if you want your wife to give you a divorce, give her a vacuum for your anniversary. It has been the stuff of sitcoms for evuh! I'd like to wax a little on that topic for a moment.

Ooo... nice!
A while ago I posted a note or two on Facebook about how thrilled I was when my hubby gave me a new iron, not for an "occasion" gift, but just because my old one was giving me some serious "shade" (and boy did I take a beating on that post from some of my Facebook pals). I use my iron 6 days a week, at least. Having a new (Rowenta, for thems that knows their appliances) iron really has made my morning routine run more smoothly. Now that was more valuable to me than some flowers or candy (which I cetainly don't need) or other transitory things. That will remind me every day how fortunate I am to have my Mr. B. 

And now he's done it again. No I haven't been given the vacuum cleaner as mentioned in the title. Let me digress...

The FHP Clubhouse is a small place with appliances that match. We have a side-by-side refrigerator/freezer that is so small you cannot put anything as wide as a frozen pizza down flat on the freezer shelf. It is absolutely ridiculous in design. It has driven me crazy for such a long time. I couldn't make extra red gravy for the freezer. When I made chicken pies, I couldn't make an extra one for the freezer because a friggin' pie plate could not be put flat on the shelf. Ugh! My friend Sally Tomatoes said he had just seen small, 5.5 cubic foot Chinese freezers at Shaws Market (of all places) for $179. If you purchased the freezer they would give you coupons for $180 worth of Shaws products. It was a no brainer. I thought about how I would get it down to the basement and where it would be plugged in... all of it. I went down to Shaws and looked at the thing and tried lifting it up at the corner and found it surprisingly light and maneuverable. So I went home and chatted with Mr. B about it and he said "Whatever Dude" so I knew I was "in". We brought it home, plugged it in and for the next few weeks I prepared all sorts of delights to have "later". Readers of this site have an idea that I cannot just cook for two so it was a dream come true to have this thing in my cellar. 

Fast forward 60 days. My cheap Chinese freezer has shit the bed and all of my hard work and expense is in a big metal hot box oozing juice. 2 hams, a lasagna, frozen veggies, 3 chicken pies. I was heartbroken. I hauled that thing right down to Shaws and demanded my money back, which I got. However, I was now small freezer-shy. Small freezer = Cheap, no-good freezer. I'm not going to buy another small freezer.

I feel like a bride!
Well now, 3 months later and my good-as-gold husband told me to organize a new freezer if I wanted one and I did. I went to Home Depot and bought a nice little GE, Fabriqué aux États-Unis, freezer. This time I also bought the extended "Oh no, you did not just die on me again" 3-year repair or replace warranty with food spoilage insurance to boot! I am off this weekend with the aforementioned Sally Tomatoes to Market Basket to fill that thing right up and start cooking up some great things for the winter months.

The point to all of this (and yes, there is one) is that when someone thinks about what really makes our lives more comfortable and easy we should embrace that and not be insistent on flashy, transitory fulfillment. I really appreciate my husband for thinking about what makes my life easier. He's a really good "egg".