Microwave Oven Blues

My microwave is out...

Sigh.

It's dead. There was a lightning storm inside. And no, there was no aluminum pan or utensils mistakenly placed inside.  I figured I best turn it off before it exploded and burned the house down.

It lasted 9.5 years. And I guess that's a good thing. And now there's the hunt for a new one. And that should be relatively easy, right?

Humph. NO.

I am having trouble because I want one JUST like the one pictured above.

Long ago, my sister Kentucky figured out how to do all that special stuff with the microwave, like hit one button to cook rice. You know, that type of fancy stuff.  I thought it was all silly at the time, but for the last 9 years I have gotten use to all that.

Now, I'm doing some old Color Purple type of thing. I'm having to cook my grits, rice, and everything else in a pot or skillet. And I can't forget about this small aluminum pan I use to heat up random food in the oven. I buy those for twenty cents a piece at the local distribution warehouse. I usually throw them away. I only have one left now, and I treat that flimsy thing like it's  made out of solid gold. I will wash and reuse it. Really.

I never realized how convenient the microwave oven is. I remember when microwave ovens first became available to the public. I believe we first got ours in 1983. It was a big boxy thing. It was also very loud.

Now, we can't live without them. And I don't think all the electromagnetic waves they emit are all that healthy.

My sister said "Why don't you just order that same one off the internet?"

"NO!" was my answer. "I wanna go on to the store and buy it. I have to touch it and play with the buttons."

She is quiet. She doesn't waste anytime arguing with me.

I've come a long way over the years. The conversation use to be:

"I need to look up a phone number!"

"Why don't you just look up the phone number on the internet, Lisa?" My sister would calmly suggest.

"NO! Hand me the telephone book!"

She'd retrieve the phone book from my bookshelf and watch as I flip through the super thin yellow pages.

"It's easier to look it up on the internet," she'd say again.

"NO! That's what the phone book is for!"

(My goodness. How has she dealt with me all these years. Yikes).

So... I've been on the hunt for a microwave like the one above. I finally found a similar one, brand Sharp and all black to match my kitchen. But the electronics store was all out of them. Even the warehouse was out. And I drove FAR down some 30 miles to the Southside to find it. I paid $90 for the one above all those years ago at that same store. This one will be $109. I made them print out the information, and I will call down there before I drive out there. (I didn't really mind, though. I had to do a yarn run, so I killed 2 birds with one stone).

I will drive back down there when it comes in. 

But as for now, I will cook the way we cooked back in the 70s and early 80s.

I will warm  my food in a pot. And in my old skillet. And in  my flimsy aluminum pan.

High class problem all day.

Our stoves are better than they were in Color Purple days. In those days,  you had to go get wood for the stove.

Can you imagine doing that now?  Hmm.