I’m trying to embrace all of you but your flaws are getting on my nerves
23 VIPs have spoken »
TO: The refrigerator in my basement
FROM: Cardiogirl
RE: Your freezer compartment
Hey thanks for all you do, buddy. You have been loyal and true all of these years, just hanging out quietly in the basement keeping my extra coffee cream, milk, pop, etc. cold and ready. I appreciate that, I really do.
You know I’ve been your biggest fan since we signed the mortgage papers. Mr. C was ready to cart your ass to the curb. Remember? But I told him I thought you’d come in handy and he relented. Between you and me, a few years ago he did say he was really glad we kept you in the basement there.
Oh I know you’re getting up there in age. You look like you might have been born somewhere in the 50s — that plastic egg holder inside your door is so cute although you’ll never see me using that thing. I prefer my eggs in the carton front and center where I can see them.
And your freezer compartment — oh you know I love your freezer! Especially in the summer when we have popsicles coming out of our ears. So handy and such a part of our daily lives.
But you have one huge flaw that has been getting on my last nerve since the day we moved into this house. Your freezer is old school. It actually has to be defrosted. Gah! That is so annoying.
I know. If we’re going to live together I’m supposed to accept every part of you — flaws and all. I just talked about this with my therapist last week. I know I can’t change you, I have to learn to live with your foibles, just as you live with mine.
Dude, it
shouldn’t
snow in
the freezer when
I shove
a box of
chicken nuggets in there. You’re like an expanding waist line that won’t accept with the worn notch on the belt. Why must you create snow and ice like the tundra of the North Pole.
It’s not endearing, that’s all I’m saying.
And I’m not even sure how I’m supposed to deal with this problem. I’m a child of the 70s. Growing up, I don’t ever remember our freezer growing glaciers. It just didn’t happen.
I’m nervous, just like you are, every time I hit the screw driver with the hammer to chip away at the ice. I know one wrong move means we’re both screwed. Am I supposed to leave the door open and let nature take its course?
Mr. C cleaned your clock last night by boiling pots of water and letting them sit inside with the door closed. And I just have to add that this is one of the instances where his neurotic, first-born tendencies really came in handy. That freezer compartment is stripped down, baby. No frost, much less ice, in there. Just shiny metal on each side.
You and I both know it wouldn’t look like that if I were doing the job.
So in short I appreciate your steadfast loyalty. Your refrigeration abilities are top notch — way to deliver. Yet your freezer compartment, while often used and greatly appreciated, leaves a lot to be desired.
Check the door seals. They often perish. Put a piece of paper half in and half out of the freezer, then close the door on it. If you can pull the paper out, the seal is weak. The icing is caused by humidity in the air.
Also, make sure that your freezer is full at all times. Stick some bottles of water in there if there’s space. It’ll be cheaper to run that way.
I just ran down there to do the paper test, Solomon, and… the freezer FAILED!
Interestingly enough, however, the seal on the side is better than the seal on the bottom, isn’t that weird? The same is true of the newer refrigerator upstairs in the kitchen. Although the fridge in the kitchen is probably from the 80s and it has white plastic insulating all sides rather than exposed metal like the one in the basement.
I’m not sure if that’s an issue or not, but the freezer upstairs does not need to be defrosted.
Thanks for the tips!
p.s. For some reason I can’t get to your blog today. When I click on your link here it goes to your WordPress log in page. And then when I click on the top left to go back to the blog from the log in page it just goes in a loop to the log in page. What’s going on?
Naughty freezer.
The blog is now log in only. Email if you want to know why. ;)
I promise not to sell your email address if you want to sign up. :)
lol…Basement/garage fridges and freezers are wonderful. Especially if you have lots of kids or entertain alot.
I know you don’t want to think about it, but one of these days you may have to hit the garage sales to find a replacement basement fridge or buy a fancy new one for the kitchen and retire the kitchen one to the basement.
@ Sol…FYI, I tried to go to your blog as well and had the same problem as CG.
I’ve had that thought as well — that we might be living on borrowed time. And then what? Although there were six kids in our family and we only had one fridge. I’m sure I can live without it, even though I don’t want to.
My MIL uses a dorm fridge when the family is over so everyone has access to drinks without going into the kitchen while she’s cooking. It works really well around the holidays.
That’s a great idea, Liz. Snaps to your mother-in-law.
She makes Martha Stewart look like a novice.
“boiling pots of water and letting them sit inside with the door closed”
i remember my mom used to do this. guess now i know, thanks to solomon, why. fortunately i don’t have to do this myself, but i so need to organize the fridge, it’s messy and this morning it really ticked my nerve.
That’s exactly what Mr. C said — it was something his mother used to do. I have no idea if my own mother did that since the fridge they had when I was growing up must have been frost free. Thank God for the frost free freezer.
Speaking of refrigerators, Melissa had a post at her place that had photos of the insides of refrigerators, it was really interesting and I’m thinking of posting a picture of ours.
Of course I’d want to clean it crazily and that’s not the fun of the photo, right?
I showed the inside of my fridge once. It was packed that day. I think there’s the water pitcher, wine and condiments right now. We haven’t been home much. I’ll play, if you will.
We all have dirty spots, it’s cool, CG. Did you ever see the Friends where it comes out that Monica has one really messy closet? I know someone who takes one shelf/drawer out of her fridge every day and wipes it down. Um, I only do that if something spills. Something sticky.
I’m impressed Liz that you shared a photo.
I have considered it on and off and I had a similar thought — do I wait until it’s jammed after shopping or do I show it mid week as it’s dwindling? Again, when I over think things I start to stall out.
Yes, I did see that episode of Friends and enjoyed it thoroughly. I’m very much like you regarding the cleaning of said refrigerator.
My Mom used to do the boiling pots of water method too. She also commandeered a plastic ice scraper from my Dad.
We have a large dorm fridge and a small dorm fridge that we use for adult beverages. We also have a small freezer which ended up being much smaller than we thought, but it’s better than not having one.
Now that’s a great tip, Lola — using the plastic ice scraper. I have mine in the trunk of the car. I’m going to share that with Mr. C who, unfortunately, has to finish the defrosting effort that I begin.
Whoa, whoa gingah. You only have two dorm fridges?! For all of the stuff in your house? I get having the extra small one for the cocktails — fun idea — but the other one is just a large dorm refrigerator?
Wow.
Wow indeed.
Unless you lived in Italy somewhere and went to market every day, that would be so cool.
I’m feeling very commenty today. I think it’s because I don’t want to go to Home Depot…again.
The boiling water thing is the fastest and easiest way to defrost.. and also theres no chance of hitting something important with that screwdriver. *ouch*
Yeah, that hammer and screw driver make me nervous every time. Honestly, if I were more diligent and on top of things, I’d defrost more than once every two years when the tiny igloo inside is just big enough for one box of popsicles. And using the boiling water would be faster and easier if I defrosted more often.
Alright, I’m going to attempt to defrost more often from now on.
What your appliance really needs, and your therapist would likely concur, is a nice, two-week vacation to a tropical paradise.
Anyway, would it help to wax the inside of the freezer compartment so that ice would be less likely to stick?
(laughs heartily) SPG I think you’ve hit upon something here. It could be that Freezy (thanks for the awesome name strugglingwriter!) is simply acting out to get attention.
My kids are the same way, they want attention and will settle for negative attention when there’s nothing positive to spare.
As you can see, you’ve earned today’s Gold Star of the Day; Freezy thanks you.
That’s an interesting idea about waxing the inside of the freezer. I’ll have to see if we have any car wax. Does anyone still wax their car? I remember doing that once, I think, when I was a kid. Bo-ring. (Waxing the car, not the idea of waxing inside the freezer.)
God, I’m glad I don’t have to defrost a freezer anymore! The freezer compartment in my Basement Loft-with-a-Sauna is most definitely frost-free. It’s one of those skinny little “mini-fridges”, though, so I can hardly fit anything in there. If I have food to be frozen, I have to sacrifice the ice-cube trays.
Are you talking about those teeny, tiny cubes of a refrigerator — the size of the one we had in the hotel room when we met you? That freezer was only big enough to hold a coupla ice cube trays, betch.
How can you live like that?
Wait a minute. Is this why you’re so thin?
ROTFL! Ummm….
No. It’s the same height as a “regular” fridge, just …. skinny. Not as skinny as me, though. :-)
We can live like that cuz we only shop every day or two. Cuz we don’t usually “cook”. Raw food is better for us. And we’re lazy. And we don’t know exactly what we’ll want in 3 or 4 days. And a larger fridge looks emptier when we don’t buy much at a time, so we feel obligated to fill the sucker up, and if THAT happens, next thing we know, the once fresh and nutritious fruits and vegetables become putrid and rotting and SENTIENT and crawl out when we open the door. And they are never friendly – they want to drag us back in with them. They do so.
As for your last question… No, dammit.
Oh, I hate to say it, but I think you and Basement Fridge may need to part ways. It just sounds like too much work and not enough enjoyment. Think about it. Anytime there are hammers and screwdrivers being yielded in any relationship, it is time to move on.
I knew it was time to part ways from this house. Damn sink.
@ Lin Perish the thought! The refrigeration part is top notch, baby. And I suppose the freezer is pretty good since it seems to work over time.
That is a compelling argument regarding the hammer and screwdriver, though.
@Liz It sounds like we both have some “growth areas” in our personal relationships with our houses, eh? Shall we drop the hammer in unison?
I’ll stand in the street and burn them with you!!
He he he. I have no advice for you regarding Freezy. Don’t listen to those naysayers, though, who are saying it’s time for Freezy to go. Sounds like age-ism to me.
I love the name Freezy, sw — stellar and now that is how he shall be referred to. And I have to agree, I think Freezy is far from retirement.
I may have to talk with HR and put him on a performance improvement plan, but I think we can salvage his career.
I have absolutely no clue about these freezers personally, but I know my grandmother still has one that I swear has to be from the 50′s. Very Madmen. It’s a plain old “ice box.” I wish I could explain it, but I’d be more than happy to call her if you need any other tips. I know if it goes out, you can replace the fan rather easily. Apparently, mice can get up in there.
hey now, Liz, we still call the fridge “the icebox” here in okie-ville. I never knew that was an archaic term until I went to college and encountered someone who laughed at me and asked if I was from Mayberry. I still call it the icebox out of old habit sometimes. OK, most of the time. OK, FINE! -almost all the time. *gzeesh* (for the record, Mayberry wasn’t such a bad place anyway.)
@Liz When I hear the phrase “icebox” I always assumed we were talking about the super old fridges that literally had a block of ice inside to keep the stuff cold. Although I have heard that phrase used casually to refer to a refrigerator.
And AUUUGGHHH regarding the mice. Had no idea about that.
@Soonerchick Damn woman, how old are you? :) Do you children refer to the fridge as an icebox, too?
I knew you would like that little factoid.
:)
Dude, it shouldn’t snow in the freezer when I shove a box of chicken nuggets in there.
HAAAA! Cracking up here, CG :D
I could not be doing with a non-frost-free freezer. That betch would be out on its ear.
I have to admit, I enjoyed that line as well Cate. I’m glad you liked it.
And if we had to live with it as our sole refrigerator that frozen betch would be out on our curb as well.
LOL CG. It sounds like Mr. Cardio needs to be in charge of this job!
And I just have to add that this is one of the instances where his neurotic, first-born tendencies really came in handy.
Love that! Guess what? My husband and I both have severe type A first-born tendencies. I’ve had to become the relaxed one, and if you knew me, you’d know that’s funny. ;)