Three Strikes

In a house there are all sorts of sounds and creaks and oddities that you have to get used to. And since everything is practically new around these parts, we're discovering all sorts of sounds.

Interestingly, some of the noises bother me. The Farmer ignores these. Others drive him crazy and I tell him not to worry. I guess this is what happens when you are married. And if we both were obsessed about everything...well, there'd be a lot of tears from one of us. Instead, we sort of balance each other out.

One said noise came from our new fridge.

Isn't it pretty? (And yes, we actually moved it back into the wall. Unlike the set-up before us, when the fridge was practically in the same spot as it is in the photo above. The middle of the room. 

See?

I didn't hear it at first, but then The Farmer mentioned it.

And went about his merry way.

"Oh, we'll get to it." "It's not that bad."

Of course he's not the one home all day, listening to the rattling sound of a ball or something caught behind the fridge. At one point I was convinced it must be a mouse making all the noise in between the walls. Chewing up important wires, of course.

But since the fridge was full I couldn't move it by myself. 

So I waited until The Farmer was annoyed enough as I now was.

It didn't happen. 

So in the middle of lunch I got up and started pulling things out of the fridge in an effort to move the dang thing myself.

The Farmer then realized I was serious.

We pulled the thing back and found...

One of those "do not remove" stickers fastened to the electrical cord. 

It was flapping in the fan behind the appliance.

The Farmer handed me the scissors and I broke the law.

At least that's what those stickers make you think you are doing when you cut them off.

So...

When we finally moved our freezer into it's new location...

...that sticker went too. The Farmer didn't ask any questions and just handed me the scissors.

And in case you were wondering, no, the "new location" for the freezer is not depicted in the photo above. We were still laying the flooring in the pantry and thus it looked like I had an appliance showroom for a while. 

Strike two. 

And just yesterday, after The Farmer convinced me that the rattling in the heat vent above the kitchen peninsula was a duct issue and we shouldn't touch it, I had had enough.

I pulled out the stool.

Pulled out my Phillips screwdriver.

Took apart the heat vent.

And found...

A dang sticker.

This one wasn't a warning label about how not to use your freezer in the water or let a small child climb up the fridge for fear of it toppling over, but still...

The irony.

So, as you can see, The Farmer had this mystery question sitting on the table when he came home for dinner.

And my life, for the moment, is quiet.

Until, of course, the cops arrive and haul me off. Because, yes...I believe that is three stickers. Three removals. Three strikes.

I'm in trouble.