Real Life Gets in the Way

Sunday was supposed to be the day when I sat down, finished inking CB's illustrations and started the color work. Supposed to be is the operative word here since Real Life got in my way. On Saturday night DH and I settled down to watch a few more episodes of Game of Thrones 2nd season on DVD. About midway through we decided to have popcorn and DH went down to do that. Shortly afterward he was walking up the stairs to ask me if the microwave was supposed to make strange noises and look like flames. Flames?!? I immediately went down and he showed me. Well, it might not have been actual flames, but it was not what was supposed to be happening either. We unplugged the microwave from the wall, declared it dead, and ate cupcakes instead.  But that set up our Sunday errands.

This is what we ended up buying. Pretty, isn't it?

We have to have a microwave; it is our primary appliance in the kitchen. Most things in my kitchen are cooked either on the cooktop or in the microwave. We had been planning to go and buy some eyeglasses for DH (desperately needed - his eyes are really bad) so we added "buy a new microwave" to the list. I spent a bit of time searching Amazon and comparing prices and ratings to our local store, Warner's Stellion Appliances. Stellion's actually came in at the same price or even less for almost any model I looked at, so I decided we would go there for our new oven. After a lovely omelette breakfast we put the old microwave into the car and headed out.

I have a cooktop, not a range, but I would love a top-mounted microwave oven.

I've wanted a microwave for over the cooktop for several years now and we could fit it into the cabinetry,  but we would need an electrician to wire a plug and a circuit for it before we could put one there, and that is an expense, etc, that we didn't want this time around. So we ended up with another countertop model. The last oven lasted almost exactly 13 years (purchased on Feb 24, 2000) and I have hopes that this one will be equally long-lived. At least it's pretty, is the right size, and looks like something that DH can figure out how to use. All plusses - oh, and also less than $200 - a big plus for the budget.

After trading out my old oven for the new one at the appliance store's warehouse, we went to LensCrafters to order some glasses for DH.  He wanted two pair - one pair for bifocals and one just for distance. They were doing their 50% off lenses sale, which did help, but we were still looking at more than $700 for the two pairs. Ouch!

DH's new glasses will be similar to this style.

The glasses aren't cutting edge, but they are nice frames, similar to the picture above, and the lenses are some new type of plastic that will decrease the weight of his lenses which are always quite thick. We should be getting them by mid-March and then DH will have to force himself to wear them every day for several weeks to adjust to them. It'll be a struggle, but if he can adjust to the new prescription and to bifocals in general, his vision will be much better. The lenses have a 90-day guarantee so he can have them remade if he needs to as long as he's given it the tryout that he should.