Our Unexpected Weekend

This past weekend we had plans to spend Saturday and Sunday doing fun stuff as a family since Tate had been out of town for a week and a half.  He was looking forward to spending quality bonding time with Jace and I was looking forward to having an adult to talk to around the house!  Tate got home late on Friday and was able to see Jace just before bedtime.  The next morning we all slept in and when I went into Jace's room I found him covered in vomit.  Well him, and the sheets and the floor, and the stuffed animals, and the blankets, and the pillows...  Poor thing had thrown up during the night and just fallen back to sleep without crying so we had no idea.  The day immediately changed directions and turned into a day of relaxation... and carpet cleaning, instead of our original plans. 

That afternoon while Jace slept I made a huge batch of Taco Soup to freeze for later meals, give away to friends, and to eat along with our mexican dinner that night.  That night all was going fine and Jace seemed to feel better so after he was in bed we put in a movie and took out some ice cream.  When we opened up the ice cream container it was almost entirely melted.  Not a good sign...

Our fridge had gone out at some point that evening and we hadn't noticed.  Tate was able to get the compressor to flip back on and keep things relatively cool overnight, but by morning it had shut off again.  Our fridge was getting old and I'd noticed it was taking alot more energy for it to keep things cool.  That morning we were in a mad dash to find a new fridge (a "fun" unexpected expense...) before all of our groceries spoiled.

As I signed on to the internet to start browsing for fridges, a link caught my eye.  Publix grocery store recalled it's ground beef due to an e. coli outbreak.  I looked at the list of sell by dates and products and realize this is probably what I put in the taco soup the night before.  I dug the container out of the garbage, and sure enough the sku# matched.  All that time and money put into a huge batch of soup that I had to pour out.  Ever since I started couponing I've become so much more aware of how much money we're spending at the grocery store, and to throw away $20 worth of food, and several meals, bothered me more than it would have a few months back.  To make matters worse both Tate and I had eaten some of the soup the day before.

I didn't have much time to think about it because Jace woke up covered in throw up again.  So back we went to cleaning up and giving him a bath.  Right before we put him into the bath tub, he threw up again all over the place.  I felt horrible that we had to bring him out in public this sick, but we couldn't waste any time getting a fridge.  We spent the next two hours searching from store to store, trying to make the best decision on what kind of fridge we should get, not just for this house we're renting, but for the long term.

After a couple of hours I took Jace home and Tate went out to make a final decision and get the fridge picked up.  I had no idea what fridge he was going to get, but at that point I wasn't feeling well and just wanted to go home.  Several hours passed and finally Tate pulled up and so did his friend Chad to help him move it in.  I don't know what we would have done without Chad here to help.  Home Depot, where we got the fridge, doesn't even have a delivery option for the same day, we would have had to wait until Wednesday and all of our food would have spoiled long before then.  Tate and Chad got our huge old side by side fridge out the door after taking off the doors, and then had to do the same to wrestle our new fridge in the house.  At this point it was downpouring rain outside and Tate's broken toe (oh I forgot to mention that earlier...) was swelling from all the moving around he was doing with the fridge.  All we could do was laugh at how our "family weekend" was going at this point.

Tate had to leave for work the next morning at 4 am so thankfully we got the fridge hooked up and all of our food survived.  Well, except for the e. coli filled taco soup that is... that was flushed down the drain.  By the end of the day Jace was feeling better and after a long, stressful weekend we finally got to sit down and relax for a few minutes.  If it wouldn't have been such a whirlwind weekend I would have been more excited about our new fridge.  Tate surprised me by coming home with the one I wanted.  He wanted another side by side, but I wanted a french door.  When we were shopping I had explained to him that I though a french door was nicer for "this, this and this" reason.  He didn't seem impressed with my reasons so I was surprised when he brought the one I wanted home.  I asked  him what changed his mind and he explained that the sales lady told him he could put full pizza boxes in both the fridge and freezer.  Ummm... seriously?!  The lady apparently knows her target market, because that was reason enough for him.  ;)

Ignore the finger prints and sticker marks :)

My favorite part is definitely the full size deli drawer on the bottom.
I need to start couponing more to fill this puppy up!  ;)

Love all the freezer space with the sliding drawer too.

Yesterday I got a call from Publix that they're refunding me not only for the meat I purchased but also giving me a $25 gift card to say sorry for the effort and wasting of all the other ingredients in the soup.  How awesome is that?!  Doesn't hurt to ask I guess.  So unfortunately it wasn't the family fun weekend we were hoping for... but in the end, we're all feeling better, we didn't get e. coli poisoning, we have a new fridge we shouldn't have to worry about replacing for several years, and I can make another batch of taco soup.  :)