Tuesday, December 9, 2008

I just wanted to melt some butter

Sorry for the brief and yet depressing post last time. I’ll try to be a better form of internet entertainment from now on.

Really, though, life has been dealing some pretty stinky hands to us lately. At least that is how it feels. I think the best way to describe it is like this: have you ever wrestled with one of your cousins or a brother or the mailman? And when you were wrestling, you realized that they are stronger than you are and suddenly it isn’t fun anymore, it is starting to hurt? And they are twisting your arm right out of the socket? And then you have to say, all defeated, “Uncle!” which of course means that they need to stop. Well, lately, I have felt like looking up at the heavens and screaming, “Uncle, already!!!”

Monday night was the ladies’ Christmas party for our church. So I found myself in the situation of needing to make some kind of food for the par-tay. I looked through the cabinets and found that all the makings for my old standby were available – puppy chow. I gathered the peanut butter, chocolate chips, butter, vanilla, powdered sugar, and all the other ingredients that fall into the “not really recommended” part of the food pyramid and put them in a bowl. I stuck them into the microwave to melt until smooth. As it was melting, I measured the cereal put away dishes. Two minutes later, I checked the bowl to find that it wasn’t quite ready. I put it back in the microwave. Two minutes later, still not ready. Two more minutes and the stick of butter was still hard as a rock.

Okay, it shouldn’t take six minutes to melt half a stick of butter. Something was obviously wrong with the microwave and it was time to accept it. I put my head down on the counter in utter despair. How could our microwave be broken? We NEED the microwave. We use it every day. What was going to happen next – the Christmas tree goes up in flames? The wheels fall off the car? Or the ultimate (I hesitate to even write this one as it might tempt fate), the TV blows up?

Fortunately, the story has a happy ending. Someone who shall remain nameless came to the rescue with a brand spankin’ new microwave for us right before I had a nervous breakdown.

Life is definitely on the upswing.

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