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Temporary Diet

The new Mild Abode has had its share of fun, but it's also meant a fair bit of work. There was a lot of packing and unpacking to do, we had to handle a bunch of administrative details, and there's just the effort in getting familiar with a new place. There are pictures we want to put up on the walls, for example, so we have to figure out where to put them and how we're going to hang them up. Basically, it's not just fun and games.

In particular, we have a kitchen that is new to us. I mean, it's not like we were going to lift and transport the stove from our old apartment. For one, there was the small detail that we didn't actually own that stove. For another, could you imagine the cost involved in uninstalling, transporting, and reinstalling a stove? It's not like you can just pick it up and put it in the back seat of your car. So, yeah, we have a new stove.

For the most part, that's fine, unless the appliance or kitchen item in question has a quirk. In our case, one such quirk involved the fact that the hose from the sink to the garbage disposal wasn't installed properly. Did you know that you can do dishes and end up with water at your feet in that scenario? Well, I know from first-hand experience what that feels like (it confused me at first).

Now, having to deal with the plumbing issue was annoying, but after talking to the insurance folks, we were able to get someone to come out to look at it. The problem, however, was that the plumbing went bad on a Friday night, and we couldn't get someone to look at it until the following week. So, we knew before our weekend even started that we were going to be without a functional sink for several days.

If you're like me, you might think that you could simply switch over to a different sink to solve this problem. Alas, there's a reason why the kitchen sink is usually hooked up to a garbage disposal. Also, the bathroom sinks aren't necessarily built for handling things like oil or food waste. Luckily, the Mild Wife made me realize the error of my ways before I attempted such a feat, but the end result was that we could sort of cook food, but we definitely couldn't wash our dishes, pots, or pans. That would not have worked very well for very long.

However, we were not without resources. We still had a functional microwave, oven, toaster oven, and a small stash of disposable plates and cutlery. So, given what we had to work with, I made a grocery run. I don't think I've ever bought that many Hot Pockets, chicken nuggets, hash browns, or soda in one go before (I also hope that I don't have to do so again). We felt like kids again, eating all of the things that we had been capable of "cooking" for ourselves as eight-year-olds.

It was definitely a change, and we alternated between giggling like mad and cursing our kitchen sink every time we had to break out the paper plates. I think the ratio was much more in favor of the giggling, but that may be with the generosity of having the episode behind us. Also, I rediscovered the joys of Hot Pockets, only to rediscover that I can only handle so much artificial cheese a couple of days after. The whole thing was quite a change, made much more palatable by the fact that we knew it was only a temporary state of affairs.

That said, we now have a small stash of Hot Pockets, should the need ever arise for a quick, not-cooked-by-us snack. The Mild Abode sure has led to some interesting turns.

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