Quirks, Quarks and Qurap

So. I dunno if anyone noticed, but I've been a little absent on the myspace scene of late. I know, I know; you all missed me horribly and were worried sick. Don't fret, I'm okay. It's autumn and I do this every autumn, it's just one of my things.

Speaking of "things", I have a thing. More specifically, I have a husband. Whom I love, who loves me, blah blah blah, we're livin' the dream, but really: at what point is it okay to smack someone upside the head and ask "What. The. Fuck?"

We got a new refrigerator. Which, in our household where the general philosophy is to use something until it dies a painful death, is pretty major. We stopped at Sears one night when driving home from the grandparents' house, which is also major because we never go anywhere that might involve shopping, but the husband had some fun money burning a hole in his pocket and was itching to sacrifice it to the Manly God of Craftsman. My husband doesn't do porn, it's all about the garage toys with him. So, the daughter and I left him happily fondling wrenches and other metal manly things and went to find the appliances. The fridge we had came with our tiny little house and was also tiny and had no crisper drawers nor ice maker but did come with annoyingly bendy wire shelves, which I was okay with, I'm no princess and can make my own fucking ice. But still, looking at the shiny new fridges with the adjustable shelves and the humdidity-controlled drawers, well, let's just call that a little bit of housewife-porn, shall we? Ditto on the front-loading washer and steam-cleaning dryers. Oooooohhhhh…..must…have….more….But; we are the people who live simply with what we have until it sends out smoke and bangs, so when I mentioned that I found a really nice fridge ON SALE, I nearly wet myself when he said "Okay." The fridge was delivered, the husband drilled holes in the kitchen tile floor and plumbed that sucker and viola! I am in ice, baby. My gimlets are chilled, mo' fo'. And my lettuce is not wilted, either. It does what I want it to do and I am happy.

He, on the other hand, has spent the last three weeks making minute adjustments to the refrigerator temperature settings with several different measuring devices, including the remotely read hygrometer/thermometer he had to pry off the outside of the house. He's moved that wheely-thingy inside the fridge a hundredth of a millimeter until the temperature holds steady at 34.4 degrees Fahrenheit. Which is fine, it's just one of those quirks that I've grown accustomed to over the years. My husband gets into something and cannot let it go until he knows every detail, has every aspect exactly where it seems he thinks it should be. Did I mention he's German? Not that I like cultural generalizations, but let's just say he might have made a mistake marrying an Irish girl who could give a rat's ass how something works as long as it does what she needs it to do.

Before, when I said that he said "Okay" to the new fridge? That was after a week of him researching EXACTLY which model would be right for our needs. I would buy the cheapest one that made ice. This fundamental difference between us is quite pervasive: His garage is immaculate with a place for everything and everything in its place, mine has a flattened soccer ball in the middle of the floor that I try not to run over every time, and if you move something on a shelf be prepared to have things fall on you. I can never find my keys or cel phone; his never leave his body unless they are precisely placed on his dresser for the morning ritual. I don't check voice mail until someone calls back asking if I got their message, he diligently reviews the saved messages every day and repeatedly tells me how many of them are for me. How we don't kill each other, I don't know.

What else….

I finished reading the His Dark Materials books by Phillip Pullman. Ate them up, actually. Remember the Golden Compass movie that came out last year? These are the reading-thingies that go with that. I'd not seen the movie, although it looked really cool, but I for some reason prefer to wait until something isn't cool anymore before I see it. That's how I roll.

Anyway, I LOVE THESE BOOKS. If you've been to my page, you might have noticed the What the Bleep? graphic posted under my movies. That movie was my religious epiphany. I've never gone into my personal religious convictions in here because, eh, who cares? But here's a hint: I believe that there is no Heaven, there is no Hell, there is only energy and God resides in quarks. So to find a story supporting that, my goodness, I was a happy little bunny. I would recommend these books to anyone who wants to be mad at the church, anyone who thinks physicists are on to something big, and anyone who ever thought it would be really, really cool to have a talking animal accompany you everywhere.

On the personal dilemma news: I'm here, writing. The book is eeking its way out of my head at a pretty darn satisfying rate right now. It might be a pile of crap, but it's mine and it won't be bugging me all trapped inside my noggin for much longer.

Hope you all are well, sure enjoyed talking with all of you and getting supportive messages while I was mired in a pit of despair and depression…oh, wait….;P