Blog with Friends - Name your Poison 🥂🍾

Welcome back to another episode of Blog with Friends - this month's theme is Name your Poison Day.

However, for some reason I thought today's prompt was "pick your poison" which is a slightly different situation. Also what I'm writing about may be more of a "pick your battles" situation, but let's take it from the beginning:

Everybody knows my favorite alcoholic drink is Champagne, and since most places only sell this precious beverage by the bottle, I usually actually always show restraint and order Prosecco by the glass. One glass, that is. My late Grandpa used to say "mässig, aber regelmässig" which translates to moderately, but regularly. 

My husband does not drink at all, he thinks it tastes gross, and I respect that. For years, especially when I lived alone, I had a rule for myself, and that was to never drink alone. I didn't trust myself to stick to the moderation part of my Grandfather's motto. Because if I'm being honest, I can't just eat just one cookie, so how can I be sure I will stop after one glass of wine?

So I'm lucky to have a best friend to share a bottle with on special occasions. This one was for a photo blog challenge. I took pictures of song titles that include a color. And a challenge it was. 

Pink Champagne (Ariana Grande) was actually one of the easy ones. How does one photograph Purple Rain (Prince) though? Or Blue Monday? (New Order)  Read about it here.

By the way, I just learned what "drinking, European style" means. I had no idea this was a thing, but it makes sense, here goes:

In Europe, especially in mediterranean countries, kids are being introduced from a young age to responsibly enjoy a glass of wine along their dinner. That way they learn to handle alcohol consumption, and they won't drink secretly with their friends (because what's forbidden is much more interesting) and / or binge drink as soon as they turn 21. 

I tried to research if this approach helped in any way reducing chronic alcoholism. While it's easy to find data on average consumption by country, we don't seem to know if there is any correlation on how early in life people start to consume alcohol.

Here's some general facts I found about Switzerland:

5% of our population chronically drinks hazardously (up to four "standard glasses" of an alcoholic beverage every day)
16% (particularly young men) binge drink at least once a month (five and more units)

I'm glad I don't belong to any of these groups, and I think we have now covered name your poison sufficiently, right? Let's move on to pick your poison. 

Now English is not my first language, but I believe it means as much as both choices suck, but you're still gonna have to settle for one. 

In April we had water damage, our toaster and our water cooker went out of business, and the dishwasher started to behave bitchily. We replaced the small appliances and had two different repair guys come to our house to fix the leaking hose and the dishwasher. I was  advised of the risk that the dishwasher was going to break down for good in the foreseeable future, and sure enough this is what happened last week, just prior to the long Pentecost weekend. 

We had to unload all the unwashed dishes that had been sitting in there for two days (in a desperate attempt, I had just re-run the dishwasher, hoping it'd come to its senses, and it did run, just without water, I believe) and wash them by hand. Dried-up food residue, yay.

Now I had never seen hubby doing dishes, and while he has tons of wonderful qualities, and I was grateful he was not butting out, I didn't think he was doing such a great job actually getting these dishes clean. Plus there was a ton of water left and right and on the floor, and it was up to me to wipe and dry the place. 

So I had a choice: was I going to do the dishes for days to come, or was I able to let go of my high reasonable standards and accept the "cook a meal or do the dishes deal"?

And let me tell you, having him "cook", may be great for five minutes. Until you see the oil spatter all over the stove, the dried-up marinara sauce as far away as over at the coffee maker, the empty milk bottle that went back into the fridge... 

If I dare to say something, I'm getting this look that says aren't you grateful I helped you out?

Uh, nope. while I do appreciate the gesture, I'd rather do it myself. I'm an ungrateful bitch.
The new week rolled around, and thanks to a hockey Dad we are friends with, we got to order a new, but heavily discounted, dishwasher that was delivered a few days ago. 

It was supposed to arrive Thursday, between 10:30am and 12 noon. 

It was shortly after 9am, I was just getting ready for a leisurely shower, when the phone rang. "I'll be at your house in 20 minutes", the guy said. I guess I have to be grateful he didn't just show up an hour early without a heads-up. Do they just assume you're at home all day? What if I was at work? Or at the grocery store?

It was raining, and the mechanic who was delivering and installing it, brought the gigantic box using some kind of a wheeled walker, leaving distinct tire marks, along with those annoying little polystyrene pellets, all the way from the entrance to the kitchen and back. 

Did he offer to clean up after himself? Of course not.

So again, if I want a new appliance, I'll have to mop the floor. There's no such thing as a free lunch.

After sorting out my floor situation, I decided to just be happy to have a new dishwasher. 

Good thing I read the manual, because it said before using it for actual dishes, you're supposed to run the warmest program while it's empty. This process takes almost two hours. Why did this guy not bother to tell me that? Or better yet, just start it before leaving?

Deep breaths.

Due to Corona, production and deliveries of dishwashers are behind,  so I was actually lucky to get one that quickly. 

Interesting fact: In case you need a webcam, you may have to wait as long as till next year!! 

While the dishwasher was running, I remembered the last time a bulky appliance was delivered. It was more than ten years ago, and I asked to keep the box to make this adorable gingerbread house for baby Colin. I later added candy (canes) and icing decoration, and for a while he and his little friends were enjoying their playhouse:

Next up: dental repairs. 

The last day before all non-essential businesses were shot down mid-March, I had my teeth cleaning appointment, which usually is a good opportunity for the hygienist to find a cavity. 

A few weeks ago, actually the first week some businesses were allowed to reopen, I went in and had it fixed. Only a few days later, and probably totally unrelated, part of the filling of another tooth, along with half of the remaining tooth, fell out, and I had to go in for an emergency appointment. 

To be honest, I expected my dentist to tell me this called for a crown, but she said this was a simple fix. Well, unfortunately, the simple fix got unfixed within less than a week, and here I go again, a pricey crown procedure is in my calendar this coming Thursday.

Appliances and teeth, they are supposed to make your life easier, and yet, they will always keep you busy, asking for maintenance and replacement, won't they?

Looking at the bright side, I get to support local businesses. Boom.

What's on your plate these days? Let me know down below, and please visit my friends' posts:

Karen of Baking in a Tornado shares her recipe for Garden Vegetable Fettuccine

Lydia of Cluttered Genius boldly states I Choose Me

Tamara of Part-time working Hockey Mom claims I need a new dishwasher because of reasons 

Melissa of My Heartfelt Sentiments says a Spa Day is What We Need

Jules at the Bergham Chronicles writes about Skin, and I have an idea where this may be going.