This being “Wild Card Wednesday”, my choice of topic for today could be darn near anything that comes to mind. And it is. As I ponder what to do next, I have to decide what is trivial versus what is essential. But maybe, there is a category in between–the trivial essentials. So, I thought that I would explore that notion a bit today–the things in life that can definitely be trivial and essential.
Take the lowly door stop [(1) right]–its rubber tip is a safeguard against the door swinging 
back against the wall too closely and bashing its doorknob through the drywall. Our door stop stem broke after providing one too many safeguards. However, I almost feel that the broken door stop is mocking me as it lays on the bathroom counter as a reminder to buy a replacement–since its cushy rubber tip still has several more bashes left in it.
Another item that comes to mind, is the light inside the refrigerator [(2) left]. Think about it. Without a way to illuminate the interior of our fridge, how would we ever find that food item that got pushed back behind the bread and the pickle jar? Oh sure, you could use the tiny flashlight hanging from your key chain. Not! And even with the refrigerator light working we cannot always find and save our desired food–pushed out of sight from forgetfulness, until it becomes an unintentional science project. Yes, refrigerator lights are helpful–but not sufficient, it seems.
Perhaps there should also be a limit on the number of snoozes one is allowed with one’s
alarm clock [(3) right]. Since my car literally blew a gasket last week, I am driving my husband’s car to work. I know. We are blessed to have two cars and I shouldn’t complain. Except now, we’re down to one car. Anyway, I’m now having to wake up an hour earlier to do my shower, hair, and make-up routine before driving my hubby across town at 6:00am to drop him at work so that I may use his car. That is not a typo–6:00am! But I snoozed too much Tuesday and I didn’t wake up until 5:45am–rather than 5:30am. And that 15 minutes meant that my hubby was tapping his foot with his impatience and I didn’t get to put my hot rollers in my long hair–I barely had time to dry it– until I returned home. I over slept–all because I snoozed the alarm buzzer too much. I think my snooze alarm and I have a co-dependency relationship going. It “enables” me to sleep longer–and I like that.
And for some reason, the vibrate feature on my cell phone has been working on overdrive this week. I don’t use vibrate often because I usually just turn off my cell phone when I’m in a meeting and can’t be disturbed. But I was waiting for a call–that I would then step out of my meeting for. So, I put my cell phone on vibrate. But I can’t seem to turn the vibrate feature off. Now for every meeting that I have programmed into my phone calendar–or phone call that comes in–my cell phone vibrates in my purse with such 
fervor that I almost blush to reveal that it’s mine. And the vibrating doesn’t stop unless you open the phone and hit the okay button [(4) left]. But, if you don’t open the phone in time, the phone decides to remind me again in five minutes–not unlike the snooze alarm–and vibrate some more [(5) below]. I don’t know why I think that a vibrating cell phone is unseemly–it just is, in my mind. And god forbid that I would put my cell phone in a skirt pocket and it starts to vibrate! That sounds too much like the vibrating panties scene from the romantic comedy “The Ugly Truth”–with Katherine Heigl being the recipient … er … owner? … in that case. That is a funny movie, by the way.
One final trivial but essential item relates again to my driving my hubby’s car this week. When I went to fill up the gas tank after dropping him at work the first day–because he had let the gas level get low before he let me borrow his car, such a sweetie, hm!–I realized that I couldn’t figure out how to open the gas tank door fuel covering. The round gas tank fuel door plate on the exterior of the car was smooth, no finger indentation to hook into and pop it open. So, I tried pushing on the round surface to try to bounce pop it open. Nope again. I looked on the unfamiliar car key–but it only had a button to open the trunk. So finally, I had to break down and ask the next guy who walked out of the gas station lobby for help. This guy knew immediately where to look–it must be in the guy code book. It seems that there is a little gas tank fuel door lever [(6) right] on the floor board of the driver’s seat, 
near the car door jam. But this lever was covered up with the floor mat. Let alone, why should one look inside a car for something having to do with the outside of a car? I know, I ‘m rationalizing my stupidity. But really automotive engineers, when you design these cars might you also keep in mind the wives who have to drive their hubby’s car intermittently–and put important buttons on the dashboard or the key ring? Or just decide that no one is going to siphon gas out of the car and have the gas tank fuel door open with a finger flick. Just please don’t make me break a nail doing so because the edge is tight trying to maintain an aerodynamic smooth surface to save 5 cents in fuel costs a week.
Well, that’s been my week so far of the trivial essentials–door stop, fridge light, snooze alarm, vibrating cell phone, and gas tank fuel door. And when I complain? My hubby facetiously says that my life is “a calvary”. Of course my retort to him is, “I like a man in uniform”. *wink*
References
(1) Door stop image was found at http://www.amazon.com/Rigid-Door-Stop-Satin-Nickel/dp/B0019D1GBE
(2) Open fridge door image was found at http://darelldd.com/light/images/fixed_lighting/fridge/fridge_led02.jpg
(3) Alarm clock with snooze button image was found at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/results.aspx?qu=alarm+clock&ex=1&ctt=1#ai:MP900387950|
(4) Stock photo of woman disgusted with her cell phone was found at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/results.aspx?qu=cell%20phone&ctt=1#ai:MP900422327|mt:2|
(5) Cell phone vibration sound was found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJsSr403HOo
Lancer gas tank fuel door lever image was found at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/results.aspx?qu=cell%20phone&ctt=1#ai:MP900422327|mt:2|
Something About Love (A) 
