Thursday, October 16, 2008

My Nephew Reagan



YAY! I'm an aunt now! My sister Rachel and her husband Mathew had their first baby--a boy! Reagan Mathew Eliason was born on Friday, October 10, weighing 7 pounds, 3 ounces, and 20 inches long.


Congratulations Rachel & Mat! I can't wait to hold little Reagan (probably at Thanksgiving time)!

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

La Cocina sin Microwave

It was an interesting week in the kitchen at home. We Americans get so used to the amenities we have readily on hand: electricity, running water, freezers, microwaves. For instance, can you imagine life without a microwave? I can! It's really easy after this week!

We get so used to throwing something into the microwave to heat up for a meal. But last week I had something going in the microwave for a couple of minutes when suddenly the microwave started making this buzzing sound, smelling bad, and not heating anymore. Astute as I am, I realized that the microwave was not supposed to be doing that. So I gave it the quick fix test: unplug it and plug it back in; maybe it will reset itself. Didn't work. So I hoped leaving it unplugged overnight might be the remedy. Nope. That didn't work either. So, after a phone consultation with my dad, I realized my final recourse must be to buy a new microwave. So we went for a whole week without a working microwave in the house: no quickly reheating food, no microwave dinners, and, horror of horrors, no microwave popcorn. We had to either eat cold macaroni and cheese (which I did--but I do that anyway, so that was no big deal) or figure out a way to reheat something in the oven (or bring it to work and use the microwave there).

I am very thankful for good church friends who were able to install my new over-the-range microwave yesterday (I didn't want to pay H.H. Gregg the $119 installation fee).

I know people in other countries or in times past have gone without microwaves, and it IS possible, but I am very thankful to have a working microwave!