Well hello friends. Yes, SHE… is me.
My remaining gray cells have percolated a title for today’s post. Here’s what came: She Got Up Out of Bed.
If you’re new around here, I post mostly delicious during the week and muse on the weekend. Try to fill you in behind the scenes around here, write about family, whatever’s on my mind.
She Got Up Out of Bed might ring a bell if you’ve read Haven Kimmel’s childhood memoir A Girl Named Zippy. I love that book, she makes me laugh. Out loud. (More books to love here.) The sequel to Haven’s A Girl Named Zippy is She got Up Off the Couch which also makes me laugh. (Not quite as loud.) So thanks for the inspiration, Haven.
Yeah, so it’s been an odd month around here. A lot has happened and some of it involves me being in bed. And finally getting up. Involves other things too. Things have been a little stormy, and they’re hopefully gonna calm soon.
A few weeks ago now I ran out of Cover Girl Perfect Point Plus self-sharpening eye pencil in espresso. Don’t think that’s happened in nearly a decade. (Tho’ I did find a Mary Kay violet one from the 90’s in an old makeup bag. I know I know, pitch it every six months.) Didn’t really matter anyway. Didn’t need eyeliner because I didn’t go anywhere. However, I have been meaning to update my makeup and skincare collection. Maybe this is the perfect opportunity! I am definitely keeping my Cover Girl, but I’ve been reading a lot of The Ordinary reviews and I’m liking what I see!
One morning on the way down to breakfast I passed a very large black bug on the threshold of the stairs. A hundred legs. I froze, breathlessly bolted to grab a shoe. I returned to a long fuzzy black thread looped over. Yeah. Not sure if it’s the eyeliner that helps my vision or these 43-year old eyes are just failing fast.
There’ve been other things. Nearly a month ago I was making dinner. Spaghetti and meatballs for my boys. The water at a full boil, I drop in the pasta. I’ve done it a hundred times. This time the water surges up when the pasta hits. Practically leaps out of the pot. No kidding. My feet are bare, I jump fast. Water on the stove top. Water on the floor. Hear a strange noise coming from the oven below. It shorts out from the water. Automatically puts itself into auto-lock mode – like for the self-clean cycle. Here’s the weird thing: the auto-lock feature for my self-cleaning oven hasn’t worked in years. Crazy, huh? The digital clock starts blinking, then disappears altogether. The kiss of death.
We let it dry out for a week, flip the breakers, etc. Nothing. The stove’s fifteen years old. So the age-old question. Do we call the repair guy, pay the hundred bucks to find out it’s history? Or put that Ben Franklin towards a new oven? We opted for the latter because it’s a wall oven, has a separate gas cooktop. Width of the old styles are different than the new ones. Meaning a custom installation for a new oven, shaving down cabinets etc.
The GE guy arrives. Completely devoid of personality, informs me with deadpan face:
“No screws on the outside of this oven. No way I can even get inside for a look with it locked from the inside. You’ll seriously have to take a sledge hammer to get it out. Tape up the glass good with masking tape because the glass is tempered — the beads’ll be everywhere.”
Really? (That’ll be $100 ma’am.) I know I know, don’t shoot the messenger.
That, my friends, is how I found out I was in the market for a new custom-installation oven. And then there’s the month with no oven. Nada nada. Gotta get creative cooking for a family of six, let alone posting blog recipes.
So not too many days later my brother has a bad accident, falls off a ladder painting his house. From twelve feet up. Breaks three limbs. It’s been quite a long road for him so far, and he’s got quite a ways to go still. He’s making good progress and he’ll be ok longterm, thank God. (Learn more about the accident here.) So naturally I go to visit him in the hospital. As I leave, I purposely wash my hands in the last restroom I pass on the way out. Consciously think, “Sure don’t want to pick up any germs.” Seriously, the hospital’s the only place I went that entire week.
Two days later, I get a tickle in my throat. Grows and grows into the full-blown flu. And then I land in bed for five days straight. Headache, terrible headache. Fever. Congestion. Cough. Never had the real flu before. No fun and I don’t recommend it. And seriously, who gets the flu in September?
A kind friend offers to shop for me, so I finally venture out of my bed to check the pantry, refrigerator. Pen a grocery list. Bleary eyed, sit at the counter, paper in hand. And that’s when little Hudson spies the nearly full, uncapped 30 oz. jar of roasted peanuts on the counter. (Hudson’s five, has Down syndrome.) Quick as a wink he flips it hard. Watches with interest as the contents pour down fast, like a rainstick, hit the floor hard. It all happened so fast.
Friends, it’s been an interesting month or so around here. I’m so glad to be feeling better, but maybe I’ll just crawl back in bed after all.
(And set my alarm for when the new oven arrives.)
Ellen says
Oh dear! Sorry to hear about your illness and oven trouble!! I must call you ASAP!
Allie says
Thanks friend, we need to catch up very soon. Miss you!
Bresca says
Well, we’re really very glad you and the family are all still alive! I think I’ll go out and get that flu shot….
Allie says
Ha ha, many thanks Bresca. It’s good to be alive! 🙂 October is bound to be an improvement!
Sheryl says
Oh, Allie, I am so glad that you are starting to feel better. THAT was a long time of being down for the count! Now, maybe you can start to enjoy all fall has to offer this year. 🙂
Allie says
Thanks Sheryl, sincerely hope you’ll somehow be able to enjoy fall too. We gotta grab the little moments of joy when they come. xo
Leslie says
Sorry about your hard month but you make me smile.
Get Sheryl to make you my mom’s tacos. (As if she had spare time right now). Mom always used an electric fry pan to make them. No idea why but it might be put to good use sans stove.
Leslie says
And I really meant “sans”. Not sure why mom uses that for “no”. Must be her extensive French training. Hehe. ?
Allie says
Thanks Leslie, glad I still make you smile even with all the doom and gloom today. October’s bound to be better. Yes, I’ll definitely ask Sheryl to whip up some of those tacos for us. She’s got so much spare time these days…
Barbara Child says
What a terrible month! So sorry! So glad you’re finally better–guess I was away through most of this!
Allie says
Thanks Barbara, October is bound to be better. I’m so grateful to be well. The good part about your being away is that you couldn’t catch the flu from me. I’m glad you’re safely home now. xo
Kristen says
Ugh!
Allie says
My thoughts exactly Kristen. October is bound to be an improvement.
Linda Jenkins says
Glad to see you are feeling better and that you can still see the humor in life. Sometimes it really better to stay in bed. You have the material here for a sitcom.
Allie says
Many thanks Linda, I think humor is sometimes the only thing that keeps us going on the hard days…XO
Christina @ Christina's Cucina says
Oh my goodness, Allie! You’ve had much more than the “bad things that come in threes”, you poor thing! So very sorry to hear about all your bad news and hope your brother heals very quickly and glad you’re feeling better.
Would you believe I’ve not had a working oven since May? I know, hard to believe, right? It decided to completely die on the one day of the year that I’d have 40 people over (for my daughter’s high school graduation party)! Murphy’s Law, right? Then I was working on getting a certain brand and was 90% sure and then decided against it. Then I went to Europe for 6 weeks and when I returned, the weather has been in the 90s and was even 100 yesterday, so who’s thinking about an oven in these temps!? Good luck in getting a custom made oven! Ours is also a wall oven and hope a standard one will fit as my husband custom built all of our cabinets too!
Sometimes we do wish we hadn’t gotten out of bed, right? 🙁
Allie says
Dear Christina, I can’t even believe you’ve had no oven since May. And that it would break when you had forty guests for a high school graduation party. Blows my mind. Timing is everything. I once had a refrigerator die when I was having a family party. I also had a 6 week old baby at the time and my husband was out of the country on a missions trips. It was for a Sunday after church and the food was all ready, sitting in the fridge. Sometime during the night the fridge must have died. Chicken salad, deviled eggs, all the fixings for a picnic lunch, spoiled. So maddening. Sure hope everything works out for you on the oven front too. In many parts of the world an oven would be considered a luxury, maybe we’re just spoiled. I’m so glad you had the opportunity to go to Europe. I didn’t realize it was six weeks though! I loved seeing all your incredible pictures posted on Facebook. The trip of a lifetime. Hope you’ll keep posting pictures, I’ve loved following along. XO
Christina @ Christina's Cucina says
Thanks, Allie! It was absolutely the best trip!! Loved every second of it!
That is terrible about your fridge dying. It does always seem things like this happen at the MOST inopportune times! I did forget to mention that my stove does the explosive boil thing too. I’ve learned to put things in a bit at a time, or we could have a serious accident. I wanted to warn you that the worst thing is chicken soup. Twice we’ve had the soup look as though it’s not boiling or just coming to a boil and blow up like a volcano (serious eruption, as in chicken soup about 1 foot above the pot and coming down all over the cooktop and floor)! Luckily, both times, no one was in front of the stove or there would have been a definite trip to the ER! Super scary as nothing was being put into the pot, it just did it on it’s own. Did I mention I hate my cooktop and want to replace that, too! 🙁
Allie says
Thanks for the warning about the chicken soup Christina. Crazy. That’s never happened here. Yet. Ours is a gas cook top. Wonder if it matters gas or electric? Well friend, you be very careful, and I will too!!!
Tina sneed says
Sounds like you need another vacation down south!
Allie says
Just say the word my friend! Ha. Miss you. xo
Aunt Pinkie says
Oh my, Allie-life isn’t fun when mama is sick! But am glad things are finally looking up- October is finally here and perhaps you’ll be able to get your oven. You’ve certainly done well with your crockpot recipes. I don’t have one but do gave 2 ovens so can do extended cooking in one or the other of them! Thanks for sharing your muses! Love ’em!
Allie says
Thanks Aunt P – things are definitely looking up. So thankful. Two ovens must be handy. Did I remember correctly that you had three in Warrenton? That’s the only way you could’ve fed all of us at Thanksgiving. Love and miss you. xo
Aunt Margie says
Somehow those bleary eyes have kept our house simmering in new crock pot recipes, and smiling while we work. You always manage to do that, through the thicks and thins of your life. Reality softened with sunshine, even when it’s raining trouble. “THE” accident in the family has extracted more prayers for you all. So much love to you, and I’m glad you’re feeling better.
Allie says
Thanks Auntie M. You’ve always smiled through thick and thin. Guess I had good teacher. Love you. XXOO
Carina says
Oh Allie, it sounds like quite the month. You are such a trooper, though, managing to post great recipes, and hanging on to your humour through it all. As I have mentioned before, I love using the slow cooker, so recipes like the shredded chicken and the cranberry pork are truly a big help
– a wonderful inspiration for a culinarily challenged person like me. 🙂 Please take care of yourself, my friend. Xoxo
Allie says
Thank you friend, so glad that September is over!!! Thanks for the kind words and so glad you like slow cooker recipes! 🙂 That worked out well. Have a wonderful weekend! xo
Christy Smith says
Laughter is good medicine! Am guessing you weren’t too amused while under the weather for 5 days but you do have an uncanny ability to extract humor out of the everyday nuisances. Love reading along! I look forward to seeing pictures of your new oven!! I call that a blessing in disguise. ?
Allie says
No Christy, I wasn’t amused then, and it also hasn’t escaped me that I’m getting a nice new oven. Thanks for the love and hanging’ on for this ride. XO
Vicki says
so good to hear you are feeling better. I am working this weekend but think I will try your homemade vanilla recipe this weekend. Thanks for sharing your recipes and your good humor! Even in the midst of all that was happening?
Allie says
Thanks Vicki — so glad to be in the land of the living. Hope you enjoy the vanilla — I love mine. Don’t work too hard. xo
Tracy says
Oh boy Allie! Not a fun month. Mom’s are not supposed to get sick and when they do….. Well things are not the same. Glad you can find a little humor in your story. It makes us that have had a hard time of it feel not so alone. Although I sure wish none of it had happen to you! Good things coming for the Taylor’s, I can feel it!? So glad you are all better. ?
Allie says
Awwww…thanks Trac. We both know a good deal about sickness, healing etc. don’t we…. Hope you are enjoying this beautiful holiday weekend. SUCH a beautiful day. xo
Susie Mandel says
So glad you are out of bed! Even though you have had one horrific month, your stories are one of my favorite things to do when I open up my laptop. 🙂
Keep getting better and I hope that oven arrives soon. Did you get an extra special, I hope?? Can’t wait to hear about it!
Allie says
Awwww…thank you Susie. I’m so glad. Always a story, as in …right over by the Hahdee’s…. will NEVER ever forget Jac’s locksmith story… off of Ruuuuuttthhhhh……giggle
Susie Mandel says
Hahahaha!!! 😀
Lisa says
So glad you are on the road to recovery! Your oven story remind me of the time I called a plumber. Kim dropped a dolls comb in the toilet and it got flushed. After that only liquid would go through. I called a plumber to see if they could get it out. They came to the house and told me the only way they could get it was to take a sledge hammer to it. I told them I could do that ! And I think it was around $100 too.
Allie says
That is just so classic Lisa. Sledge hammers seems to be in vogue in the service industry. Ka ching. Ka ching. xoxo
Eva says
Heureusement septembre c’est fini! Je suis contente que toi soit mieux! J’espère qu’octobre soit un mois mieux pour toi! xo
Allie says
Many thanks friend. October’s got to be better, huh? 🙂 xo
Deb|EastofEdenCooking says
Well my goodness, I hope October is a much better month! I would be heartbroken without an oven, baking is a passion of mine. Our home came with two small built in ovens, with cabinets built around them. They only hold a full size sheet pan if I slide the pan onto the ledges that hold the oven shelves. So no more complaints from me! My ovens work and but I sure do need to get a flu shot…soon.
Allie says
Hey thanks for dropping by Deb, October can only be an improvement….:)
Anu-My Ginger Garlic Kitchen says
Oh, Allie, sorry to heat about your hard month, and happy to hear that you are starting to feel better. Glad to read this. And now you can start to enjoy all fall has to offer this year. 🙂
Allie says
Thank you for visiting friend, and the kind words. Yes, time to enjoy the fall! xo
Cheyanne @ No Spoon Necessary says
Aww, my lovie! I knew all this was going on from your email, but I want you to know you and your family has remained in my prayers… oh, and the arrival of the new oven too! You have such a beautiful spirit about you, don’t let hard times break that. I say stay in bed as long as you need too! And know that NONE of us are going anywhere, so if you need to take a break- TAKE ONE! Huge virtual hugs your way, Allie! XOXO
Allie says
Thanks dear friend. Loved hearing from you today. xo
Karen @ On the Banks of Salt Creek says
You poor thing!
Glad you are better. Let’s hope that it all came at once and you can go on with normal life.
I too have wall ovens and fear when one of them goes.
My free standing range in the canning kitchen died when we were making apple cider but that one isn’t really important.
Praying for an easier time of it for you.
Hugs,
Karen
Allie says
Thanks so much Karen, time for some sunshine around here….thanks for the prayers too. Sorry to hear about your canning oven, now I remember reading that in your apple cider post…I was thinking about your cider post today because we went apple picking. It was a glorious day in New Hampshire and we took my brother who had the accident along in his wheelchair. We plunked him under an apple tree while we picked around him. If you think of him, please say a prayer, he flies to MN tomorrow for reconstruction of his left knee and tibia. XO