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Love Story – the Sequel

Last spring, Emily and I brought you the story of how we came to be. A story of how the young couple from the hills of Eastern Kentucky who would become our grandparents came to Dayton, Ohio to seek a better life for their two toddlers. A story of the post-war American Dream. A story of how our grandfather, like many “boys” just home from World War II, took a job at the busy, booming Frigidaire plant in Dayton.

vintage frigidaire
(Frigidaire ad from 1959, during the time our grandfather worked there.)

In that post, I told you how all my appliances are Frigidaire, out of a sentimental homage to our grandfather, whom Emily and I never got to meet. From what everyone says, he was a very quiet man. Kind of serious, and shy. But I am betting, despite that, he would get a kick out of his two goofy granddaughters and their blog. I sure hope so!

Because we kind of owe him even more thanks now.

In September, Frigidaire and Mom Central opened up applications for phase 2 of Frigidaire’s Test Drive Team, a group of bloggers who get to try out Frigidaire appliances and blog about their experiences with them.

So Emily and I applied!

And…WE’RE IN!!! We’re Frigidaire Test Drive Moms!!

frigidairebadge
And I am more than a little bit sure that our family history with the company helped us out in our application. So, thanks, Grandpa Laton! Forty years after your death and you are still helping your family out. We are grateful.

So here’s the fun part: Emily (because she is SUCH a good cook! I mean, look at her pumpkin cake, and her crock potting skillz) will be receiving and keeping and reviewing the Frigidaire range & microwave from their professional line as a member of Team Range/Microwave!
emily team range microwave copy

Because I tend to wait to do laundry until everyone in the house is wearing their last pair of underwear, and because my hubby does most of his own laundry we are both super excited to announce that I am on Team Washer/Dryer!
jenny team washer dryer copy

I will be receiving and keeping and reviewing a washer & dryer from Frigidaire’s gallery line. I am hoping they will magically transform my entire basement into looking like this laundry room:
Frig_Affinity_090427

Well, maybe it won’t look exactly like that, because mine are going to be blue. But I am pretty sure the rest of the room is going to magically take shape.

Ok, I am getting off topic!

We also want to tell you about Frigidaire’s Make Time for Change site. Frigidaire is working with Jennifer Garner (I always KNEW I had a lot in common with her – we could totally be BFF!) to raise money for Save the Children! You can spin the wheel on the site and have a chance to win a sweeet Affinity Washer & Dryer (like the ones I’ll be receiving! YAY!) – and every day you spin, Save the Children gets $1.
jenny and jennifer garner copy

So go check that out, and stay tuned for more fun appliance-related updates from Emily and me! She should be getting her range & microwave really soon! SO stay tuned for lots more cooking adventures from her. I’m getting the washer & dryer in the spring, but I’ll try to entertain you in non-laundry related ways in the mean time.

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Trash Talkin’

This weekend we had some intense Wii bowling matches in the Rapson household. I know, I know, we know how to PARTAY! You see, we had recently discovered that when you reach PRO status on Wii bowling, you get a shiny bowling bowl. It’s sparkly and beautiful and Joshua, Bobby, and I all wanted to get one and KEEP it! Because, alas, you can lose your shiny ball if you start performing badly.

So, we spent much of this weekend in pursuit of the shiny ball. I am happy to say that all three of us are now in possession of one.

Joshua is quite competitive and in his quest for the shiny ball, was starting to trash talk his daddy. Although, his trash talk was more along the lines of “You’re mean!” when Bobby would get a strike, or “You’re not gonna make this shot!”

Bobby decided to up the trash talking ante. He rolled a strike, pointed at Joshua and said, “IN YOUR FACE!”

Joshua thought it was the funniest thing he had ever heard. So the “IN YOUR FACE”s echoed loud and long for awhile. Even when Joshua missed a spare by just a little, he turned and said to his daddy, “That was ALMOST in your face, so IN YOUR FACE!”

Bobby and I both collapsed in laughter of course! We are such good parents.

Here’s hoping “IN YOUR FACE” didn’t make it’s way to kindergarten today…and if it did, that it won’t make it’s way into the teacher’s earshot!

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The Referee Has Left the Building

It is 1983. I am six years old, and like every other girl in America, all I want out of life is a Cabbage Patch Doll. I want her round head, adorable dimples, and signatured butt to be mine all mine. And like every other suburban parent, my folks make it happen for either my birthday or Christmas that year. Hallelujah! My kid life is complete! Her name is Dorena Monica. Dor-eeeee-na, how beautiful to my six-year-old ears! I could not have chosen a more lovely name if I’d tried.

But my brothers, they had a great idea for a better name.

“Doofus”.

That’s right, the joy of parenting Dorena Monica was pretty much instantly dulled for me by my brothers calling her “Doofus” whenever they got the opportunity. I am sure my indignant shrieks of displeasure were music to their ears. I should have known this would happen, as for the past two years of my life they’d been deriving great pleasure from shoving my favorite stuffed animal’s (Bob the Bear) head down into his body repeatedly. When I’d regain possession of Bob, and pull his head back out of his body, there would be not stuffing left in his head, and I’d have to painstakingly work the stuffing from his belly to his head so it wouldn’t just flop there like he’d had a stroke.

I’m getting an anxiety attack just thinking about it!

And I have a point. The point is, for a long time, I have thought my parents were a little lax when it came to defending their precious baby girl against those monsters they had previously spawned. I mean, honestly the most I can remember being said on the subject was “Well if you don’t cry about it they won’t do it anymore.” Seriously!? They just stuffed my bear’s HEAD into it’s BODY and you don’t want me to CRY about it! I’m four years old, you want me to be STOIC!??

Ok, again, I have a point. The point is, I have always believed that although every parent makes mistakes, my parents did about 99% of things right.

And last night, when Joshua and Sophie were screaming at each other over whose turn it was on the computer, and I told them I was not going to fuss about it with them and they needed to work it out themselves, I had a light bulb moment.

Sibling arguments are a pain in the butt to resolve. And I am not all interested in being a referee. No wonder my mom just let Andy smack me around (while Charles watched)! I guess she got that one right, too.

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