Thursday, May 14, 2015

Rule of three

Are you familiar with the Rule of Three? Basically, bad things come in sets of three. For example, one year we had three people in our family lose their jobs.

We bought a television a couple years ago. It was a decent television, although not one of the major brands you would immediately think of. We cobbled together some funds for it through Amazon gift cards so that we could see the score during sports games again. Within the first couple months, the back started growing what looked like a plastic mold. The husband researched it, and it turns out that sometimes the fire retardant leaks out of the plastic and forms crystals when it meets the air. The husband stated, "It's probably not good for you," but we left it at that. Since getting pregnant, I'd been avoiding cleaning around the TV so I wouldn't disrupt the "crystals," which also fall off the TV occasionally and created a nice layer of dandruffy-looking dust on the console.

Well, the day I come home from the hospital, the husband took it upon himself to clean around the TV. I complained - "I've been avoiding touching that stuff for 9 months, and the day I bring the baby home and sit next to it, you stir it all up?" So the husband re-researched it and was horrified. He suddenly insisted that the television be evicted immediately. He treated it with more disdain and caution than our asbestos floor tiles, to put it in perspective. He wrapped it in saran wrap while we were outside of the house and quarantined it in the basement under wraps until he could decide what to do with it.

So we had to buy a new television. Even though ours worked perfectly fine.

A few days later, the husband attempted to mow the lawn. But the lawnmower will not run for more than a minute. It is probably the battery, but a new battery is 2/3 the price of a whole new lawnmower.

So we have to buy a new lawnmower. Even though ours MIGHT work perfectly fine.

The next day, I got in my car to see if I was recovered enough from my Mr. Smee Section to drive the kids to school. My car would not start. The battery was completely dead. It would appear it does not like to sit idle for two weeks, the fickle machine. So the husband attempted to jump the battery. He had not yet succeeded when our awesome neighbor gave him a jump with one of those battery pack jumper thingies (real name). Husband then attempted to drive around town to recharge the battery but stalled the vehicle because he is not an experienced stick shift driver.

Now the vehicle would not start again. The husband called me and told me we need a new car. I called AAA. They could not find the husband or the car - probably because we told them the wrong town. I called AAA with the correct address. They told me they'd be there in the next three hours. The husband walked home and we all got in our other car - me, Baby Z, a very sleepy E, and T. He drove to the "bad" car and spent almost half an hour trying to jump it. Hallelujah, it worked.

So for now... we don't have to buy a new car. Since ours works mostly fine. If you drive it often.
Knock on wood. 

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