FROZEN WATER

Saturday afternoon, the doorway to my laundry room knew how I felt. And I felt much better afterwards! Next month, I hope I feel even better.

A little over a year ago, my ice maker stopped working because the plastic line that feeds the water to it, broke. The copper tubing runs from the kitchen sink to the plastic tubing at the bottom of the refrigerator. Then the clear plastic tubing runs up the back of the freezer section into the ice maker. It broke at that connection and I have not been able to afford to get it fixed. The refrigerator is out of warranty and the Sears repairman bill was just out of the question.

I have been buying a small bag of ice every two or three weeks to manually fill the ice bin when I run out of ice tray ice. I like ice in my glass of water, and in my various drinks like Sunny D, apple juice, or pop (which I only have on occasion now).

So I went to the local dollar store now that they sell ice (FROZEN WATER). The price used to be $1.29 and they raised their price to $1.50 now. On top of that, they only had 3 well-worn bags in the bottom of their container - guess they need a new delivery.

Remembering that the last bag I purchased from Ev's (Community Market, but so many still call it Ev's) was $1.39, I decided to go there instead. While waiting at the Customer Service counter for a bit, the woman in the cashier cage was clearly ignoring me, but I was patient. An employee came by, clocked out and left. Another employee walked into the area and set her water bottle on the shelf and started to walk away.

I would have gone to the cashier checking out customers, but there was only one working and the line was not short. She didn't even have a bagger at her disposal.

Finally, after realizing that I was not going away, the woman in the cashier cage said, "Can I help you?" "I just need a small bag of ice please," was my reply. She hollered at the most recent employee that crossed my path, but was no longer at the desk, to ring me up. I put my $1.50 on the counter and she said, "$1.69."

I asked, "When did you raise your price for frozen water?" She could not answer the question. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, I paid for it, took my receipt and left the store. I pulled a bag of ice from the near full ice box. (I guess they got their delivery on time!)

When I got home, I dropped the bag onto the floor in front of the freezer three times. It usually takes that many to loosen up the chunks. I took the ice maker tub out of the freezer and noticed that there were two large chunks remaining from the last bag that would not process through the door dispenser. I set them aside and filled the box. Then I put the two chunks into the empty bag and proceeded to take out my frustrations on the doorway. I flung the bag back and forth, back and forth, between the doorway arch until those big chunks were shredded. Teenie-tiny ice granules are good too!

I felt so much better after taking out my frustrations on a bag of ice chips and it didn't hurt the wall one bit. Maybe this will be the last bag of ice I have to purchase. I'm looking forward to next month when the ice maker might get fixed - I have a wish. One can only HOPE!