Broken Appliances and a Smile that Saves

About a month ago Jamie and I were standing in the basement when the furnace kicked on. All of a sudden we heard this annoying high pitched squeal coming from the furnace. I narrowed it down to the induction motor, but decided at that point it was time to call in the pros. They came and fixed it, but not before leaving us with a nice hefty bill. And you know what they say, when it rains it pours.

We noticed a couple of days ago that the contents in our upright freezer were not frozen solid like they should be. I monitored the freezer for the next 24 hours and noticed that while it appeared to be running, it wasn't keeping the food frozen. Not surprising considering this freezer was made before I was born I'm sure. We ended up getting a brand new upright from Lowe's yesterday, and dang, those things are expensive!!! The only part that I was okay with is that we did get a "deal." They knocked off 10% right from the start since it was an Energy Star freezer (as a side note, since our old freezer was built in the 60's, the sheet says this one should save us over $80/yr in electric bills, another score). We also just got a $25 off card in the mail if you spend more than $250. So we cashed that bad boy in. We also got a $25 rebate from the local electric company for using an Energy Star appliance. And we paid with Discover, which is paying 5% cash back on purchases from Home Improvement stores right now. So, all in all, my miser side was appeased with all the savings.

Yesterday Norah and I went down to the farmers market with our friend Pico and something happened there that just absolutely made my day. I had Norah in our stroller and I was just pushing her through the market. She, like usual, was just waiving and smiling at everyone. At one point we came to this one stand with a guy who was probably 85 years old. He was just sitting on the bed of his truck with a bit of a scowl, but mainly just a dazed look on his face. He looked like an old guy that just needed a friend to be honest. Well, we come rolling by and Norah gives this old guy a huge smile and starts waiving to him. You could just see the fog lift off this old man's face. He just looked at her for a second, then scowl vanished, then a slight smile. Then he even started waiving back and saying hi to Norah. It was just one of those times where a dad hopes his kid always has the ability to brighten someone's day like that, it was pretty sweet.

And here's a couple photos from a couple of weeks ago when we took Norah in for pictures. Enjoy.

This is a favorite of mine since I don't think we've ever seen this face before.

Dancing, like she always does.

Dear Lord, please make them put the camera away.