Our new fridge!

Way back when I wrote that post about the kids playing in a refrigerator box, my sister -- she's a thinker! -- asked, "Hey, if that's a fridge box, did you get a new fridge?"

And yes, as a matter of fact, we did. It's the biggest thing that's happened around here since Amelia was born. 

We bought an LG from Best Buy on mega-sale over Memorial Day, and it's been nothing short of life-changing. 

You might think that was hyperbole, but I assure you, it is not. We'd had our old freezer-on-top white fridge for 17 years -- our entire marriage -- since well before we had even one child. To say we'd outgrown it would be quite an understatement.

So we went big. Very big. So big, in fact, that although it fit the width of the space we had available, it was too tall. We had to cut the bottom of the upper cabinet off to fit it in the space. FINE BY ME, as Ross Gellar would say.

What follows is basically Fridge Porn. I mean, I could stop with the exterior picture I've already shown you, but I know you, Internet. I know you want to see what's in there.

First of all, there's lots and lots of LIGHT.

Whoever came up with the idea of putting an overhead light AND sidelights in a fridge instead of one single, tiny appliance bulb is a FREAKING GENIUS. Give him the Nobel Prize for Refrigerating. So the light is great. I'll go ahead and say that I don't love the French doors ... I know which one to open to get what I want out of the doors themselves, but to get what you want out of the interior of the fridge, you generally have to open both French doors. I'd be fine if it were just one large door on top.

There's GOBS of space in there. That's the technical term. Also, there's about 31 cubic feet if you want layman's terms.

The icemaker doesn't take up any space in the fridge or freezer area, because it's hidden behind this door. You can easily access it and even pull it out to dump in your cooler when you want to. (We've done it. It's easy.)

This door holds our larger items, like our gallons of milk and juice. The one weird thing about this door is that the butter is way up on top, and when you open the butter door, it slams back down. It doesn't stay open. Maybe it's just strange to me because I'm so short, but it's definitely less-than-desirable for me.

The center row of drawers is really deep, and we use it for produce and yogurt.

The long, flat drawer under the three middle drawers is for cheese and meats. I added a couple of plastic containers to hold our cheese for the kids, and they love that.

Oh, I took pictures of the lights because I love them so much. Look.

The freezer has three drawers ... the bottom one is separated into two deep compartments. We used the left one for frozen meat and the right one for quick kids' meals like corndogs, fish sticks and pizza rolls.

The middle drawer might be Grayson's favorite feature ... the pizza drawer. BIG selling point.

And the top drawer is for sweet treats and to hold our freezer blocks for the kids' lunchboxes and our coolers.

This is not a sponsored post and I'm not giving away a refrigerator! Sorry if you got this far and now you're looking for a Rafflecopter widget. Hint: If I ever do a fridge giveaway, I won't have taken the post's pictures with my phone.

I just wanted to share the tour of our newest addition with you. If you're in the market, I recommend it!

Uncomfortable truths, vol. 51

1. When we went to the beach earlier this month, I didn't shave until Wednesday. After we arrived on Saturday.

2. I wonder if Brian Williams and Lisa Myers have each others' cell phone numbers and if they text each other on the weekends. These are the things I think about in my spare time.

3. About once a month I tell someone in a dream that the ceilings in our house are too low. I guess when we build our dream home, I need to request 10-foot ceilings.

4. I brush my teeth with my eyes closed, so people walk up behind me and scare me to death roughly three times a week.

5. I have an eye infection so I'm wearing my prescription glasses. But I'm really light-sensitive. But I don't have prescription sunglasses. So, yeah.

Nothing I write brings people more pleasure than these Uncomfortable Truths. It seems as though people love to know the EXACT degree to which my brain has degenerated. So if you'd like to read more, please help yourself by clicking here.

Amelia's little blue dress

I mentioned, did I not, that Amelia wasn't a fan of the beach?

She PARTICULARLY hated the shifting sand.

But my mom had bought Amelia a little blue smocked dress, and I wanted to try to get some pictures of her on the beach in the dress.

She couldn't get off that dune fast enough.

So we decided to try the hard-packed sand down by the ocean.

Pretty sure she started wailing again before her feet even hit the sand.

This is the picture where I think my sister might just up and die. I asked Grayson to pick her up to see if I could just get a picture or two of her smiling and happy. And I did.

She giggled and didn't seem to mind the wind whipping her hair into a frenzy or the sound of the waves crashing behind her.

She was just, suddenly ... content.

This might be one of those pictures of her that I carry in my mind forever.

Since things seemed to be going so well, we set her down on the sand again.

Would you like to know how that went?

I'll give you three guesses.

I MEAN, INTERNET. IF THAT'S NOT THE MOST PITIFUL THING YOU'VE EVER SEEN.

She was just seconds from her head spinning around on her neck.

So of course I let her keep coming.

Just kidding. Well, not really. But see? The closer she got to me, the more she pulled herself together.

She kept working that bottom lip, though, just so I'd know how horribly I'd wronged her.

HOW DARE I TAKE HER TO THE BEACH? Child abuse.

In the end, though, I suppose I got a few cute shots of her in the blue dress.

And they were certainly five minutes I won't soon forget.

Yes, five minutes. Perhaps less. She MIGHT be a bit of a drama queen.

The beach: Day 6

When we awoke on Friday morning at Ocean Isle, it was to the sound of rain. Not gentle rain; HEAVY rain. And we knew it was pretty much an all-day thing.

I suggested taking the kids to a movie, but no one else seemed to want to do that. They were all on board with just hanging out in the house. All day. All 26 of us.

So there was some reading.

There were some back rubs.

And a subset of really ambitious people who decided that one day was PLENTY of time to put together a 1,000-piece puzzle.

At the top of the stairs, several of the boys set up camp with art supplies and colored some complex masterpieces.

And the big girls helped Amelia practice walking up and down the stairs.

I was ever-so-grateful, because at home when I do it, it kills my back.

The girls, on the other hand, were quite willing to keep going for hours, it seemed.

AND AMELIA WAS QUITE WILLING TO LET THEM.

Some of the men enjoyed the storm from the comfort of the covered porch ...

Relaxing while watching the lightning flash and listening to the thunder roll.

Meanwhile, the puzzle.

The kids played exceptionally well together that day, all cooped up together inside.

Three years ago when we'd have a rainy day, it was a lot tougher. This year, it wasn't that bad. (See? Gerry looks like he wouldn't rather be anywhere else. He's having the time of his life.)

 Even my boys managed to get along all day. Love.

After supper, the rain had finally moved on, and I was desperate to get outside. I also really wanted the boys to get a LITTLE time on the beach the last night -- so we took a mile-long walk.

Not far from the house, we came upon some pretty drawings in the sand.

When we got to the one above, Jake asked, "WHAT'S THAT? CORN?" And Nathaniel said, "No, maybe a cactus." And then Jake said, "OR A BANANA."

Then Tiffany said, "Or a CROSS."

Yeah, I was gonna save that for the next Slices of Life, but I'm throwing you a bone since you've made it through all these beach posts.

I'm so glad we took this walk, because it ended up being one of my favorite hours of the week.

Although the roar of the ocean was loud and the clouds still darkened the sky, it felt so peaceful. There were just a few people out walking, but otherwise the coast was ours. Jake explored the sand crab holes ...

And we even saw several!

We came across a lone fisherman ...

And then we continued on down the beach, the only people in sight.

After it got fully dark, we ran across a dead horseshoe crab that had washed up on the beach.

I'd never seen one up close before. Or SMELLED one up close before. I can tell you with full confidence that you can go to your grave without ever smelling a three-days-dead horseshoe crab and be 100 percent comfortable with it. Truly. You can skip that particular smell.

When we got back to the house around 9:30, the puzzle was complete! Just kidding. It wasn't.

BUT. After another hour and a half or so of hard work, it was.

I say "complete," but it was actually missing four pieces in the end. But they finished it with all the pieces that were AVAILABLE. Quite an accomplishment for one day!

With that, we were at the end of Beach Week 2013. We were sad to see it draw to a close and were already talking about next year.

Oh, and I suppose this isn't QUITE the end of beach posts ... I have one little bonus post coming up, hopefully tomorrow. It will feature Amelia, Amelia of Amelia-Who-Hated-The-Beach fame.

So yeah, it's something to look forward to.