BROKEN.

So, my sweet, generous, selfless mother-in-law is coming to babysit Kavella for a few days while Dust and I head "Down Under." (I don't know if that should be capitalized, but it's a proper noun, so I went with it.) Australia. I'm talking about Australia, people. Anywhoooo, since Eloise will be staying in our home to watch Kavella, I began compiling a list of all the things she might need to know concerning our home. I started with the WASHER, which requires a "push-start" now and again during the spin cycle....then I moved on to the MICROWAVE--only three numbers work, along with the "start" button....continuing on, I mentioned the OVEN that shuts off whenever it feels like and without warning....almost finished, I noted the HEATER that can sometimes lose its ability to produce heat when the flame goes out....and finishing up with the fact that POWER to our entire house can go out, due to the ridiculously old "breaker" we're equipped with. I should have mentioned our shoddy DIRECTV (television, Mom...you know, cable?) unit that goes haywire at its own discretion. Basically, we have ONE appliance that works consistently in our home--the FRIDGE we recently purchased.

I know I'm not the only one with less-than-perfect surroundings. You know how you sort of get used to working with broken things (or overlooking shortcomings) as a way to save money, be frugal or avoid the steps to repair it? I can do that really well. In fact, I had never really considered it all that much--until I started actually listing out all the faults for someone else to read! As my list kept growing, I thought, "geez, it might be time to take action to fix, repair or replace some of these appliances! Poor Eloise might think she's stepped into some sort of appliance-related comical joke episode." No, no, that's just my life. Oh, and enjoy hand-washing every plate, bowl, utensil, cup and measuring spoon you use! I can't afford to fix all of these things at once, but maybe I could work on repairing just one. Perhaps I shouldn't post this blog until AFTER Eloise gets here.....

As easy as it's been to live with these marred appliances, I think it's been equally as easy to overlook my own shortcomings. I mean, I'll go through these phases of wanting to improve EVERYTHING all at once--I'm going to start working out, I'm going to start reading my scriptures consistently, I'm going to remember my prayers every day, I'm not going to have road rage, I'm going to make Dustin lunch every day, I'm going to stop watching 'Jersey Shore' (don't judge me), I'm going to stop drinking soda, I'm going to floss my teeth every day and on and on and on! Naturally, when I try to fix everything at once, I fail. Then, I go back to living with all the "broken" pieces quite easily...until I am inspired to change again. What ever happened to self-discipline? Determination? Self-control? Fixing everything at once is clearly NOT the solution, so I think I'll try to improve one or two things and go from there. Yup, I think I'll start with the microwave and DirecTV. :)