Grocery Game Funny

In Oregon, the majority of the grocery store ads come out on Tuesdays (4 out of 5) - the other comes out Sunday with the rest of the ads. Since I started the grocery game this week, when the ads came out today I decided to take a look and see what's on sale this week and start to speculate on what might be on "the list" this weekend. As I was perusing, I came across an ad for "locally grown" chicken. INTERESTING. You GROW your chicken? Not sure if I want grown chicken... maybe next time type "locally raised" chicken. That's hilarious.

Two nights ago Geoff and I smelled a burning type smell in the house. We checked the oven and the stove and couldn't figure out what was going on, so we ignored it. Then yesterday we got home from work and turned the heater on (we often turn it off at night around 9 PM until the next day after work, since we're just sleeping and working during that time and it's just the 2 of us). It didn't come on! Uh oh! I turned it off again and then tried turning it on again... didn't work. It was flashing "filter" which is just a reminder to put in a new filter, so I reset that reminder in case it was doing anything. Nothing. I went to the garage and heard that the heater was ON, weird. Then Geoff realized it wasn't blowing air. So he called his stepdad to see if he had any ideas, and he said that he had the same problem recently and that the control panel was broken and he needed a new one - a $500 fix. Meanwhile, Addy and her boyfriend were coming over for dinner, so I texted them to say "bundle up!!!"

We had an opposite problem this summer with the AC - the fan was blowing, but it wasn't blowing cold air. From that experience, we found a great company called Faith Heating and Cooling. As far as I can tell it's a one man show - but the man is awesome! He answers the phone and comes and is just great... he's hard to understand (speech-wise) but is great at explaining exactly what the problem is, etc. He comes on time and works quickly. So I called my man and he asked him if I wanted him that night or tomorrow (which was today really) - I said either. He said "well, it's double time, so a minimum $220 service charge if I come tonight, plus additional labor and parts". I said "oh, no problem, tomorrow is fine" (aka I am cheap and we can freeze!). So he asked when we got done from work and I told him 4 but I could leave earlier... he said that he'd come at 3:30 so that we wouldn't have to leave work too early but he could be done by 5 and not have to charge us extra. See why I like him!!

When I got off the phone and told Geoff about the conversation, this is how our conversation went:
Me: "He said he could come tonight for a minimum of $220 or tomorrow for regular price. I picked tomorrow."
Geoff: "Good choice. We'd only need it tonight if we had little kids or something."
Me: "Are you kidding? I'd bundle them up... I'd tell them to put on their snow suit if necessary!"
Geoff: "But what if it was a teeny tiny baby? What if they kicked off their blankets and froze to death?"
Me: "Why couldn't it just sleep between us?"
Geoff: "I'd squish it!"
Me: "Okay, then we'd take it to your mother's! She'd be happy to have the baby anytime, and especially to protect it from freezing to death!"
Geoff: "Oh, yeah, good idea!"

Then later that night, Geoff gets a text message from his mom "Are you warm enough?" See, she was even worried about just US - she'd definitely be worried about the baby. I thought that was amusing.

So my man came today... he called before he got here, right about 3:20. He figured out the problem and had it fixed by 4. It was in fact the control board... and cost $499, exactly what Gary said! The board itself was $340, and since it was a newer board it wasn't compatable some other piece (can't remember and don't have the invoice in front of me) so that had to be replaced for $90, and then labor was $69. He's so reasonably priced for labor! So it's done and we are warm! Yay.

And I'm very thankful for how great this house has been to me/us. I have lived here for 2 and a half years, and this is only my third issue - the first was the disposal, which I just had to buy a new one for (found it online for about $90) and Geoff installed. Then the AC this summer, that was roughly $300. I hope my issues aren't going to increase by $200 every time, that could start to get pricey in a few years! But roughly one issue a year is NOT bad. YAY for our house. And yay for heat!