Positive Focus Sunday - Lilac!

 I love lilacs. 

In fact, while writing my posts I have my lilac candle burning.  

This is a 'Baby Kim' lilac I rescued. Then forgot what I had planted, thinking it was a hydrangea for a while. It's planted at the front edge of my front porch and should be quite happy there. 

Couple of things about lilacs.

First, being in the South, I thought we were too hot to have lilacs. So I never tried to grow one before. Two, while in Montana, lilacs are like weeds. Alleyways are lined with lilacs. They are everywhere. And I adored it. I would clip handfuls to bring inside during spring. This only increased my desire for a lilac in my yard when I moved back to North Carolina. 

Thus, my 'Baby'. 

And to find it growing so nicely this spring, despite the surprise frosts and its first flowers emerging, really has lifted my spirits, because it has been a tough few days mentally.

You see, when I bought my house, it had been renovated and came with appliances. Unfortunately, it seems all the appliances were bought at a discount store and are less than stellar. 

The dishwasher I need to do some 'surgery' on, but need time one day to do it. Therefore, my dishwasher is a giant draining board for hand washed dishes at the moment. 

The fridge/freezer combo never dispensed ice through the door like it is supposed to. But I could deal with that. However, over the past 3 years it would go through periods where the ice maker stopped making ice. Then it would start up again after several days/weeks. And as an iced tea maven, this was very disturbing. 

Slowly over time, the fridge kept getting warmer and warmer. Just not up to par.

This week has gone like this...

(1) Wednesday morning I get a call from Foxy. The power was out and I needed to call the electric company. This was very upsetting because not only had I paid my bill a week early, but I had paid it at 9:48 a.m. that morning! As I was ready to come home from work and wreck havoc on the power company, she calmed me down and explained the entire neighborhood was out of power. (And they all said, "but I just paid my bill!")

(2) Several hours later, getting home from work with a new gallon of milk, I opened the fridge door. There is NO cool air. F***!

      In fact, there was zero power to the fridge/freezer at all!  I unplugged and plugged back in and it started working - sort of. 

     By this time, it is 9 p.m. Foxy is having a stroke from seeing the bill from her surgery a couple of weeks ago and panicking about payment. (They are still working on it at the insurance end, so it's all ok.) And now I'm having a stroke, because I know in my heart the fridge/freezer is kaput!

(3) With input from cooler heads (who is snickering at the two of us), the fridge/freezer situation is under control and a new one was delivered on Saturday. It's a bit smaller than the huge one I had, but it works and makes ice. My only requirements!

(4) Thursday morning, as I am hauling off the contents of a packed freezer and a semi-filled fridge to the dump (my trash was collected that morning and I didn't want a trash can of food sitting in front of my house for a week), I had a bit of a scare. 

     Driving to the dump, which is on a country back-road, I come around a curve in the road, nearing the entrance, and there are 4 cop cars, lights flashing, pulled over talking to a guy in a white work van. As I neared, thinking they were blocking the entrance to the dump (they weren't, it was still a quarter mile away), they all ran back to their cars and took off, sirens going, lights flashing. 

(5) The little portable air conditioner I bought for Foxy's room wasn't delivered on Thursday because I was at the dump site and Ruby was outside in the yard. I don't blame the UPS man at all, but it is annoying. 

     Just a note, Foxy's room upstairs has only one tiny window. It is not 'regulation' size. Therefore, we have to have a portable unit. And because of the way things are situated, we needed one that didn't need to have hoses hanging out the window. We had one of those before and it had to go out the window on the landing and leaving her bedroom door open. It was barely OK. This one does not need to be vented. I have high hopes for it. If, and when, we get it. Luckily, the temperatures dipped this week, so she is OK for now. 

(6) With all that has gone on during about a 24-48 hour period, Foxy has 'pulled' something and is having a bit of a setback on healing from her major surgery a couple of weeks ago. She is fine, but needs to take it easier for the next few days. 

Anyway...

Seeing my 'Baby' lilac having flowers really makes me happy. And sometimes that's what you need to make it through some troubling times.