YES, Buffalo!!! And New Appliances!

This afternoon, the Buffalo Sabres hockey team finished off their second round series by winning game four by a score of 5-4. This was a real nail-biting game, as the last three of the games in this round seem to have been. I am walking on clouds, so happy with this victory. The next round will be against a Canadian team, and I do not think it will be a walk in the park.....

We have been enjoying some very beautiful spring weather with bright blue skies and warmer temperatures. The trees and plants all seem to be coming so alive, suddenly!

This evening, our Sears store had a special "friends and family" sale. The sale was one we have been waiting for, so as soon as the game ended, we all sprinted out the door! We went right to Sears and ordered a new refrigerator and stove. I am so happy, as the units I have now are.....well, fairly *antiqued*! They are not that OLD, they are just antiqued!

I remember posting an entry on my blog previously, explaining about my strong-willed children. Well, their persistence caused both of them (little monkeys!) to open the refrigerator door and "climb" up the glass shelving inside the refrigerator to the top so they could see what might be hidden up there. I threatened them within an inch of their precious little lives, to no avail, as they recognized many years ago that I was not one of them! (IE, strong-willed!) No swat on the seat of their britches proved of value, nor taking away their treasures. (Have you any idea how belittling it is to take away toys from a four-year-old only to have them tell you they didn't want that junk anyway?) Life sometimes felt like an endless, never see the light at the end of the tunnel chess game!!!!

Fortunately, all of the climbing activities have curtailed, and some semblence of normalcy does reign! Oh, the stove...I remember when we purchased it. It had this little sticker on it of a child climbing on the open oven door with a bright red circle around it with the red line through it. When Mark and I built the house, there were no children yet, so we laughed at the thought of a child sitting on the oven door. Guess we shouldn't have done that, eh? We were fortunate that the stove never tipped over on a little one from climbing on the door....but the net result is that the door now "sags" and will not seal tightly when closed. So, a matching pair...refrigerator and stove will be grand!

Oh, and back to the refrigerator....I cannot remember how many years ago it happened, but one night, Ben awakened me in the middle of the night. I was so perturbed with him. He kept yelling for me to hurry downstairs! When I finally gathered my wits and went down, I nearly screamed at what I saw! There was about an inch of water on the kitchen (ceramic tile ) and dining room (hardwood) floors. I raced to the shut off valve for the ice maker, which had stuck in an open mode. When I went to the basement, I nearly cried, as water trickled through the floors, creating the illusion of rain in the basement. It took literally hours and hours to clean up the mess. Thank heaven, all of the "curved" hardwood eventually settled back down over the period of a couple of months and didn't need to be replaced! This event was totally caused by a faulty icemaker, and it has been disconnected since. A new refrigerator with a *live* ice maker will seem like a dream!!!

We plan to remodel the kitchen to go along with the new appliances. The formica countertops have also been antiquated and the sink needs to be replaced as well. Many of the poor ceramic tiles in the kitchen cracked after the water baptism proved to be a "lifting" experience, so the floor shall be done, as well. I am looking forward to all of this, as I have grown tired of trying to keep everything clean and looking nice when it is all a wreck! So, I think I will be quite busy over the coming weeks!