My good karma must have arrived at the wrong house. Last week we started FREECYCLE - ing like we were possessed by recycling gods. In my infinite wisdom I decided that we, in fact , did NOT need 2 microwaves. DH decided to get rid of THIS one in favor of the microwave that was left by the previous owners. We thought by making the switch our days of hockey pucks and fiery popcorn were behind us. Well in one way, they are. We sent our old microwave off to live with a new family and happily started nuking things with our new-to-us microwave. Two days into our new joyous experience I was melting butter for the strawberry cupcakes. CRACKLE! POP! A blue flame appeared inside of the microwave. The distinct smell of burning poultry filled my kitchen and the microwave started making spaceship noises. I was terrified by the disco light display. I danced around screaming for a minute before I got my head on straight. Diving under the dining room table, I tore the plug from the wall. Disaster averted, we didn’t get blown to KingdomKung. We are now without a microwave.

This all came on the heels of a tragic loss. Our 5 disc DVD/CD/CD-R/MP3 player headed towards the light. As I tried desperately to get it to spit out BlockBusters’ Sleeping Beauty DVD, it gave a shudder and died with it’s mouth hanging open - that is to say it’s loading door was jammed in the half way open position, Sleeping Beauty still trapped inside. Not to be beaten by Toshiba, DH pried the cover off and cussed while he disembowled our beloved friend. Computer chips were ripped from their rightful places, cuss words were flung and needle nose pliers became our hero at last - Sleeping Beauty was set free and returned to BlockBuster several days late… So now we mourn. It’s a double wake. We are sitting Shiva, please bring food (nothing that needs to be nuked). We would watch some flicks to commemorate Toshiba’s life but alas a suitable replacement has not yet been found. RIP. And could the neighbor that stole my GOOD Karma please return it…?