Technology

It is great when it works, but when it doesn't, it can be a little scary.  This past week, I was fixing my lunch as usual--heating up some acorn squash in the microwave and sauteing some asparagus on the stove top.  I pressed the button on the microwave to turn on the over-the-stove light.  The light came on, as well as the vent fan, and about 3 minutes was added to the cook time for my squash.  Okaaaay.  I stop the microwave, and consider my next move.  My squash needs a little more time to heat, so I push the number 4.  It shows up as 5 on the display.  Hmmmm.  Okay, I can go with 5.  I push another number and start.  The microwave tells me to enter a second cooking time.  All right.  It doesn't like 4 anymore.  I manage to finish getting my lunch ready and make plans to replace the microwave.  

Plan A:  Replace the mircrowave.  

Get on the internet.  Do a quick search at Home Depot, Lowes, and Sears.  The brand of the microwave we currently have has good reviews, so we decide to get basically the same thing we have.  Check on availability.  Alas, we want a white mircrowave, which is not the popular item right now and will have to be ordered.  No possibility of getting it until after Christmas.

Plan B:  Forget the microwave and just get a vent hood.

Certainly much cheaper.  Can I remember how to heat up food without a microwave? Worked through all those scenarios, even looking up how to reheat rice without a mircrowave on the internet.  (Everything is on the internet!)  Since there won't be a replacement until after Christmas, I will have to do things the old-fashioned way anyhow.   

Plan C:  Look at a countertop microwave/convection oven.

Dual purpose appliances don't get very good reviews.  Toss Plan C.

After going back and forth between Plan A and Plan B, we decide to go ahead with Plan A, since it would be something we would have to do anyway if we were to need to sell the house for some reason.  In the meantime, the thing that is driving me the most crazy is not having the light over my stove.  To make sure I don't accidentally turn it on, I did the Big X.

The one good thing is that over the stove microwaves are a lot less expensive than they were when we last bought one.  And that is a technological plus.