Out with the Old

It seems that 2013 wants to leave a memorable impression on us.

Christmas morning, as my in-laws were walking in the door, I reached into the stove to steal a home fry and realized something peculiar. They were ice cold. Our 18 year old gas range died, on Christmas Day.

Only the day we were supposed to cook a ham dinner and have 6 people over...

Steve and I looked at each other. I think we thought the same thing: "We can let this ruin our holiday, or we can just roll with the punches." We decided on the latter, poured Mimosas and Bloody Marys for us and his family, and continued on with the morning. Steve's parents ended up dropping the ham off at my aunt & uncle's house, which was conveniently on their way home. My aunt and uncle cooked the ham and brought it with them that evening. Everything worked out.

I should have remembered that things come in 3's.

The next day, after reading review after review and looking at deal after deal, I ordered a new gas range online from Lowe's, then headed off on my big after-Christmas shopping day. It was slow-going as it was snowing pretty steadily. Suddenly I get the first flat tire of my life, and had to wait for my father-in-law to come to my rescue (I do not know how to change a flat and need to rectify that). Then I was on my way.

Yesterday (Sunday) I went up to the Council on Aging office to print out the January newsletter. 18 copies in, the copier says it's out of toner. Toner that's locked up in a cabinet that I don't have access to because it belongs to the town. The only thing I could do is pack up my bag and be thankful that, because Steve is on Christmas break, I have the ability to go back today to finish it.

There have been so many little things in the past few days that I could really let bother me if I let them. I'm not going to let them. The gas range dying, the flat tire caused by a nail, the toner being out- these are not things that I could have done anything about.

In fact, it has reminded me of something that I really want to keep in mind for 2014:

Let go of what you can't control.

Wise words, right? In the mean time, I have started to get excited about the thought of my very own brand new stove. It's our first major appliance purchase. I'm hoping it's a good one.