The Things I Put Up With Around Here!

I've been thinking about writing a book lately. Sure, there are plenty of useful and brilliant things I could write about - the great American novel, profound thoughts that would change peoples' lives, inspiring words of wisdom that would frame a generation... But, what I really feel compelled to write about is all the everyday stuff that we put up with.

Don't take me wrong, here. When I say 'put up with,' there is no negative connotation implied. I am a firm believer in living an empowered life, and never being a victim of circumstances. Indeed, I don't believe in being a victim at all, and loathe all forms of self pity and spinelessness.  I don't dole out the band aids or Kleenex without really good reason, and believe that the best way to get ahead is by a firm pulling upward on one's own bootstraps - and no slacking off when doing so either. You best be sure you're helping others along the way. (Imagine having to have ME as a mother!)

No, when I say that there are things that I have to put up with, it's really a reflection of my priorities. If something gets problematic enough to stop the effective flow of my life, I'll deal with it. If it's just a minor annoyance, I'm likely to leave it alone. Since I'm not really a detail oriented person, the list of little things that I'm willing to put up with has gotten progressively longer the older I get.

Most of these little hitches in my get a long, so to speak, are minor. I'm sure that, if I set my mind to it, I could probably fix half the list in the course a single long afternoon and with only a few of my hard-earned dollars expended in the process. But, where am I going to find a free afternoon and few dollars that converge all at once? If I have free time and money, I'm certainly going to find more interesting ways to spend them! Plus, if I fixed all the little stuff, what would I have to write about?

Here's a list of my favorite little problems that I put up with in everyday life. Feel free to share yours. Who knows - they might even make it into my book! ;)

• My dryer isn't level. When I open the door to load or unload clothes, the door swings shut automatically. I often find myself propping the door open with one leg, as I lean over to the front-load washer and drag an armload of wet clothes into the dryer's gaping mouth. Sometimes I prop it open by putting the broom in front of the door, or require one of my younger children to hold it open for me. Occasionally I'll have had a day full of minor annoyances, and (unable to face another) I will just give the task of switching loads to my oldest child. On the up side - for the first year we lived here the dryer was not level AND the washer door swung the wrong direction, causing me to have to drag wet clothes over the door in order to get them into the dryer. Total estimated fix time : 5 minutes. Cost : $0

• I have a Betty Crocker Cookbook from 1968 that has a permanent place of honor on my kitchen counter. It rocks. I use it at least 3 times a week. It has everything you could possibly want to make, including some recipes (like scrambled brains) that I can't imagine anyone ever wanting to cook. Short of some Julia Child-esque masterpiece dish, I'm pretty sure I can make anything life would require of me out of that cook book. The only problem - the last few pages of the index have come loose. They're stowed away on a bookshelf in my dining room under the rest of my cookbooks.  I'm fine as long the dish I want to make starts with A-P. Anything else, well... it becomes a little tricky. I once found a recipe for pear tart (which you would usually find under either the 'p' or 't' sections) by looking up 'fruit' and working my way back from there. The cross referencing and logical layout make the book easy to use, even with the missing index pages. Occasionally I find myself unable to find a particular recipe that I'm looking for. So, on those nights, we have a nifty jello salad instead of tapioca, or just plain potatoes instead of turnip gratin. (Not found under the 'g's' - just so you know.) Perhaps I am missing out on a world of recipes (or at least 10 letters worth), but who really likes turnips anyway!? Total estimated fix time : 5 minutes. Cost : $3 (including the cost for ring-reinforcing stickers). 

•  I still have three separate remotes. I know it's possible to get a universal remote that would control my TV, my converter box, and my DVD player all at once. But then, where would that leave us when my youngest stole that remote and put it in the freezer? None of my remotes have batteries in them right now, either. Well, they never have batteries in them... ever. To be fair, they do have some batteries. One is full of dead batteries. One has 2 good batteries and one bad one. The other has no batteries at all. In fact, the back is missing. There are still the remnants of the scotch tape that used to hold it on. You'd think this little problem would stop us from watching too much TV. Alas, the only effect it has had is that we can no longer access special functions on DVDs. Who needs to watch the director's commentary, anyway? Total estimated fix time : 5 minutes (including programming a new remote). Cost: $10, including batteries

• We have had 2 lamps in our living room - one on either side of the couch - for 2 years now. One of them didn't have a light bulb for about 10 months. We sure appreciated the extra light once we put one in, but we did take our sweet time in getting that job done. Now comes inconvenience number two - sometime in the past two weeks our youngest child screwed the little twirly knob that you twist to turn the light on (I'm sure there's a real name for it, but it's not worth looking up right now) in the wrong direction until it came off. I know it's bound to be somewhere on the floor close by. However, I've not taken (found? used?) the time to look. So, at least twice a day, every day, I have been  twisting the threaded, skinny nubbin left in order to turn the lamp on and off. I have a groove worn in my index finger. Of course, the logical thing to do would be to get down on my hands and knees and search for the knob. Or, better yet, I could go to the hardware store and buy a new one. Most likely, however, I will stop using the light, or wait until the bulb burns out, therefore buying myself at least six months before I really have to think about the problem again. Total estimated fix time : 3 minutes. Cost : potentially up to $0.50 for a replacement knob.

•  Speaking of light - the lightbulb in my oven has been burned out for over a year and a half. Ditto the one on the freezer in the garage. I think these little problems make mealtime a bit adventurous - you never know what you're going to dig out of the freezer, or what it's going to look like when it comes out of the oven. Replacing these bulbs (at least one of which I'm almost certain we already have in the office) would take away some of the spontaneity of life (or at least dinner) in La Casa Farrier. Total estimated fix time : 3 minutes. Cost : $1.98. 

So, that's what it's like at our house. The appliances (like the people) are a bit unbalanced and occasionally on the dim side. It may not be pretty, but things get done. Lest you think that my "Leave R Be" (as opposed to "Get R Done") attitude stems from some sort of laziness, let me just remind you that the total investment involved in fixing just these five things alone would add up to over $15.00 and over 20 minutes. That's plenty of resources to both buy AND read two brand new books with my children, which I consider a MUCH better investment of my time and money. Plus, don't forget that there's still a sticky toilet handle, drippy faucet, lack of sharpened pencils or working pens, sliding closet door off its track, and so many other minor things to deal with that I'm hesitant to start down that road. Perhaps after I'm rich from writing my book I can hire someone to fix these things. I'll keep you posted.