After the storm (an update)

So I tried to have a positive attitude about this storm damage thing; really I did. That was easier, however, before I found out that my deductible is actually one thousand dollars, rather than five hundred. So much for the momentary relief from money worries during my month without a mortgage payment.

I was also not particularly cheered to come home to my still powerless house and see that the popsicles I had forgotten were in my freezer had melted and were dripping down the refrigerator door into a gross, sticky puddle on the floor. It was like a scene from Carrie in my kitchen, and it was not a lot of fun to clean up. Note to self: clean under and behind the fridge once in a while, and buy some of these to make the job a bit less arduous when you do.

I about had a heart attack while shoving the fridge back into place... not because of the effort and strain of it all, but because of the pointy little nose and beady little eyes I suddenly saw poking out from under the grate beneath the door. My logical and rational self knew that the face was not moving, and therefore could not belong to a real, living thing, and that if it were a live mouse or other critter, surely it would have scampered away when I first muscled the fridge away from the wall, not hang out under there during the whole process of moving, cleaning, and moving back again. I knew this rationally, but it still freaked me the hell out. The eyes and nose (actually, beak) turned out to be part of some dumb little plastic seagull magnet that's probably been stuck under my fridge for twenty years. Stupid Ralph and his stupid "we don't need to clean this place before selling it" children. Really.