Backup Gratitude & Fridgescaping

Hazel Thornton|June 30, 2024|

refrigerator

What are you always grateful for, if nothing else?

My friend Jane and I have been complaining to one another for over 50 years. But we also count our blessings. And sometimes, when things look bleak, and we can’t think of anything current to be grateful for, we have certain reliable backups, like each other and our cats.

Two of my go-to humorous-but-also-totally-serious backup gratitude items have always been “refrigeration and the use of all my limbs”.

Ironically, I have been without both refrigeration and the use of all my limbs for the past several months. And I’ve been pretty miserable about it. Ugh!

Thank goodness I still have Jane and Ziggy!

Yes, I’ve had multiple issues with my legs and knees, which may or may not ever end up being the subject of another post. (Did you know DoorDash delivers crutches? I made two medical professionals laugh by informing them of that fact.) Which reminds me: Please be careful about suggesting to someone else that at least they have their health. More and more folks have “invisible illnesses” and may not, in fact, have their health as a particularly reliable backup gratitude.

The Refrigerator Saga

I won’t detail the entire refrigerator saga here, except to say that my less-than-two-year-old fridge first died in March. It was resuscitated, then died two more times before I was granted a full refund. This makes it sound easy. It wasn’t. There were countless online chats, phone calls, and emails with Lowe’s Protection Plan service reps, and multiple food loss claims due to spoilage. Then, when it came down to it, selecting a new fridge proved remarkably difficult. (I really only wanted four things — stainless steel, a light in the freezer, a good fit for the designated space, and to not cost thousands of dollars. Sounds easy, right? Wrong!)

Anyway, the new fridge was finally, really, delivered yesterday….that is, after the order was delayed due to being lost in the system altogether, requiring me to — yet again — hand-paddle the issue and get multiple people involved at multiple levels.

I keep looking at it to make sure it’s really there and opening it to make sure it’s still cold!

Sidebar: I used the term “hand-paddling” in a few conversations recently and nobody knew what I meant. Do you? Googling it proved difficult because all the listings had to do with literally hand-paddling a boat, not figuratively hand-paddling an issue. So I turned to my friend Chatty-G, who knew exactly what I meant!

Here’s the full conversation, which I thought was pretty interesting:

https://chatgpt.com/share/08b2e402-3f28-4c19-9d68-64714bdcdd62

A couple of key paragraphs:

Yes, “hand-paddling” an issue typically means you’re addressing or managing a problem manually or in a hands-on way, rather than using automated or more sophisticated methods. It’s often used to describe a more direct and perhaps less efficient approach to solving a problem.

Overall, it conveys a sense of dealing with an issue directly and personally, sometimes out of necessity, and often with significant effort.

(Emphasis and italics are mine.)

Fridgescaping

Which brings me to a bit of fun: Fridgescaping

Have you heard of it? (Aka girl fridge, no-kids fridge, rich-people-with-time-on-their-hands fridge.)

I’m all for an organized fridge, but this is beyond-next-level.

No, I won’t be putting little vases of flowers or framed photos or baskets in my fridge. But if you want to, go for it and send me photos!

There are many videos online about this. Here’s one: I decided to try fridgescaping!

And here’s another: Ladies & Gentlemen I present to you Fridgerton

Much as I love the play on words — Fridgerton! — I’ve seen all three seasons of Bridgerton and do not recall a single episode in which we see the inside (or outside) of a fridge (or icebox).

For a bit of friendly backlash: Fridgerton commentary

More, if you want it. So. Much. More. https://www.tiktok.com/discover/fridge-scaping