Trouble with Tupperware

Tupperware is such a wonderful invention. What did we do without it? Many meals have been saved when they should have been lost because of tupperware. The only time I can remember the use of this evil stuff is when it gets caught in a dishwasher. The smell of the plastic burning stings your nose and your eyes.

When I think of tupperware, I think of Vic. We had just purchased a new gas stove. I never liked gas, because I grew up with electric. Things move at a faster pace with gas. Electric is nice and slow. I get on Vic all the time for piles of papers and stuff she leaves on the stove. (fire hazard number 3)

Vic was making meatloaf the night before, and to keep the cat away from the raw meatloaf, she stored the big plastic bowl in the oven. As things go,Vic gets busy, and she forgot about the bowl. The next day, I was in the TV room taking a nap. When dinner needed to be prepared, she pre heated the oven.

The next thing you know the bowl is melting and the plastic is dripping on the first rack, and then onto the base of the oven. As usual, Vic goes into panic mode. The smell was terrible, and the house fills with smoke. Vic and Shelby rush around the house to open all the windows, and fan the smoke detector to keep from setting off the alarm. "Keep Tom from waking up" was her goal. I think I remember waking up to the terrible smell, and walked into the kitchen.


Vic had put the rack outside. All the windows in the house were open, and the bowl was literally fused to the rack. The rack and the bowl were together forever. In my ignorance, I attempted to extract the bowl from the rack with a razor knife. I spent about 2 minutes on this and there was no progress being made, so I gave up. Vic had to call the manufacturer to get a new bottom and rack for our brand new stove. I thought we had a picture of the bowl, and if I can find it, I will post it.

There are many more stories about Vic and cooking, but this is a classic for all times. Did I tell you that Vic is a fantistic cook!

Ice Scream

"You scream, I scream, we all scream for ice cream."

I love Vic, but sometimes she just does some really funny things. This really is two stories in one, so hold on to your seat.

As you know, we now have three cars. I have a Mercedes beater (1995 E300 Diesel (260,000 miles), and Vic has two cars. She has a Toyota Rav 4 (Winter beater) and the Miata (her Summer love). This Summer on a shopping trip to Sam's (her favorite place to shop), we started moving through the store. She heads for grocery, and I of course go right to electronics. We usually end up meeting 30 to 60 minutes later for checkout. I beg for a big screen TV, and she says "No". After evaluation of her picks, that took up a whole shopping cart + some. (multiple gallons of drinks, watermelon, and large food items), I asked her how in the world are we going to fit this in our car. She answers quickly, this should be no problem, the Rav can fit this with no problem. I had to remind her the we drove the Miata, not the Rav. (She forgot what we drove in, she was driving)

Well if you know small cars, the Miata is one of the smallest. The trunk holds nothing but flat things like paper, and maybe a overnight bag squished down to a thick piece of paper. Vic started bailing on stuff, and the cart ended up being half full by the time she was done. The watermelon didn't make the cut.

After we were done, I told her I would pack the car, and she was going to get Ice Cream for Shelby. Shelby loves ice cream from Sam's, and Vic will bring a cup home as a treat once and a while. I packed the car and there was not one ounce of space in the trunk. The last thing I remember putting in the trunk was a large pack of flat bacon. Other stuff ended up under Vic's legs, but it was only a few items.

With ice cream in hand, I drove off with Vic and a very full car. We had the top down, and the early evening was a little chilly. I put the heat on the floor to warm our feet. The ice cream had started melting in the car and was a little liquidy. Vic, thinking that the cool air would cool off the ice cream, takes the cup and holds it up over the windshield. Now, you know what happens next, the ice cream splattered like a shotgun blast. It starts with her face, sunglasses, hair, clothes, car seat, car side window, top cover, trunk. It was one giant splatter!

I just could not believe she did this! I started laughing, and in a few minutes after trying to clean, Vic was laughing so hard she was crying. It was a scream of the ice type.

If the Shoe Fits

Vic and shoes. Vic has always made fun of all the different purposes of the shoes I own. I have shoes for golf, shoes for walking, shoes for driving (driving slippers), shoes for cross training, casual shoes, shoes for mowing the lawn, ect.

When Vic was growing up in Texas, she never wore shoes. Its not that they could afford them; kids in Texas just never wore shoes. Her favorite pair of shoes to do all purpose anything in is called a clog. Being in the vicinity of Holland, Michigan and her being "Dutch" most of the time is why I think she likes these shoes. They are also easy to take off and on in a hurry, which is what Vic is most of the time anyway.

After purchasing a new pair of clogs from the Bass shoe outlet in Holland, she was very proud of her purchase. She wore them bravely and proudly. In the summer, Vic loves to work around the yard. She creates a jungle of wonderful flowers, bushes, and other things which I think are just plain weeds. I do like her to cut the grass once in a while, which she loves to do(when she can get the mower started-power tool). This one time, she decided to cut the lawn, but she was wearing her clogs. To move faster, and Vic being in a hurry, she decided to remove her clogs and cut the grass in bare feet. (Not recommend by any lawnmower or power tool company, warning, don't try this at home!) Well rounding the corner in her cutting, she runs over one of her clogs and almost cuts it in half! She had a clog projectile flying around. Good thing is was made of rubber.

If the shoe fits, wear it, as they say. Youall (Texas Talk) think I make this stuff up. Well, here is proof that these stories are true.

Here is the picture of the clog for posterity. She now cuts the lawn in shoes, and I never know what will be next in the line of "Vic and power tools".

A Trailer with a Hitch

As I've talked in the past, Vic has always been in love with whatever she drives. The one car she had a hard time getting rid of was the 94 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo with a brush guard on the front. I called it the cowcatcher, or the "Trees fear her" look. I was confident, that anything that impact the front of Vic's car would pay for it dearly. She would win. It would lose.

Well even though the front was covered, I didn't expect a rear attack. Ron our oldest son was moving to Kalamazoo to attend Western Michigan University. My company had a trailer that we could borrow and use without a problem. I borrowed the trailer; Vic came to work to pick it up. The only thing I told her was to drive the trailer home, "It's a straight shot home." Park it on the Stones. The stones are parallel with the road, and all she had to do was just pull over. I said, do not back up the trailer, because you have difficulties doing it, and when I get home, I will back the trailer up so we could get Ron loaded.

Vic is cheap, frugal, Dutch, cost conscience, Scottish, or whatever you want to call it. She loves to find deals in many different places. Well, one of these places is garage sales. To me, garage sales are another place to get rid of junk before you toss it. (Last chance sale) Well 1/2 mile down the road from my work, and she sees the 3 foot sign with orange lettering. Everyone knows what it is, except maybe me. Vic pulled into a garage sale, and the sale was in a half circle drive. When she pulled in, she thought she could swing around and out the other side of the drive. She was wrong. She tried to back up the trailer, back and forth, moving forward and back, but the trailer kept going in the opposite direction. Then there was a crunch! She jackknifed the trailer so bad; the front of the trailer dented the back quarter panel of the jeep. But the funny part was she did think anything had happened, so she went home.

Ron likes jeeps also. He now owns one. He would take our jeep on special off road trips, and would never tell either Vic or I about them. Ron had taken the jeep that previous night, on an off road adventure. Vic was so excited to show Ron the trailer that she ran in the house, and got Ron. To both their amazement, there was a huge dent on the back quarter panel of the Jeep. They both stopped in the grass, each thinking they had caused the dent.

This is it gets interesting. Ron thought his escapades caused the dent. Vic thought she had caused the dent. They literally had to measure the dent height to the trailer to see if Vic could have done it. But whatever you do, don't tell Tom. As usual, I find out later, and we all have a great laugh about the whole situation.

Later that year, a wind gust took a trampoline, and rolled it right into the dent and made it worse. Vic got the dent fixed for free, and the story closed on a happy note. Vic said "God was looking out for me, and he surly has a sense of humor.”

All I can say is that Vic has still not learned how to back up a trailer, and she still does a good job on keeping mishaps from me.

The morel of the story is this: Don't let Vic back up your trailer.

Square Peg-Round Hole (Vic's Van)

Vic and auto's has always been a love affair. If she can't feel it, then she doesn't like it, and will not buy it. The 1986 Ford AeroStar Van was just one vehicle in a long line of cars we have owned. It was a necessary evil, because on kids. I think every Mom with more than 1 kid needs a mini-van. (What did we do without them?) I always said, it was a choice between a van and a semi-truck, because of all the stuff you had to haul around for a weekend at grandma's.

We had many good times and many stories about this mini van. It was our home away from home, and it served as a mode of travel, hauler, and just about everything else.

One time, just before taking a trip to Florida, Vic decided to rent a roof top carrier from Sears. It was nice, since we could put up all that travel, baby stuff, and use the back for a play area for a the kids.

On her way back from picking up the carrier, which was put on the van, she pulled into our driveway. Ron was in the yard playing, and Vic drove right by him waving, and as usual, in a hurry. Well she decide that the Van needed to be in the garage, and proceeded to pull into the garage and rip the car top carrier right off the van. You should have seen the look on Ron's face. (ask him the next time you see him)

When I got home, Vic told me the story, and all I could do is shake my head (what else could I do?). Well this type of carrier was attached by straps and clips to the drip molding on the top of the van. Vic gave me the mangled, bent clips and asked me to bend them back into shape. There was no way this could be done with a vise and hammer, so we were stuck. We had to call Sears, and beg them to replace the clips so we could leave the next morning. (Very interesting conversation)

Vic has always been the square peg in the round hole kind of person. If you look at life from a different angle, then getting there can be half the fun. This time the peg didn't fit, but it did add to the dent on every side of the van stories.