Warm Thoughts

Well, since Valentine's Day we have been virtually encased in ice here. I would rather have snow - at least I can shovel that out of the way. I long for warmth. I need green woods full of songbirds. I want to walk along a sunny beach and listen to the surf. None of this is happening in my near future, so I had to resort to looking at old vacation photos. I hope you enjoy them also, as I will be on "blog break" for a little bit since life and work have temporarily taken over.

Pretty in Pink! Hibiscus always reminds me of warm
. . .maybe because they don't grow where I live.

Jackie - this one's for you!
Cactus means warm and dry . . . although I'll pass on the prickles!

Once upon a time I knew what this guy was
. . . but he's handsome anyway, isn't he?

Aren't these three amazing shades of blue?
Let's go for a walk . . . on the warm sand.

How Many Repair Guys Does It Take to Change a LIGHTBULB? PART 3

Well, I didn't want to bore my loyal readers with more of As the LightBulb Turns (or is it All My Lightbulbs?) but since Jackie is waiting with bated breath to hear more of the KitchenAid saga here's an update.

Jackie, you are correct, the repair was rescheduled for Saturday, February 17th.

On Friday I received a call from a customer service rep.


Rep: Have you received the lightbulb yet?
Me: Nooooo. . . was I supposed to? On February 9th I was told that the lightbulb had been backordered to February 7th and had shipped out on the 8th. I thought it was going to the service center.
Rep: Well, now it's back ordered until February 19th. You should receive it 4-5 days after that.
Me: But when I spoke to the rep on the 9th, she said it HAD shipped on the 8th.
Rep: Oh, we do that sometimes, we just assume that it gets shipped the day after the backorder ends. In this case, the backorder was extended. Just call us when you get the lightbulb and we'll reschedule your appointment.

At this point the thought of replacing the microwave is starting to sound appealing. But since that would also involve changing the wall oven, as the two units have one control panel it would be a VERY expensive proposition. Probably not going to happen. Sigh.

Tune in next week for another episode of The Young and The Restless and The Lightbulb.

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Addendum - Really, dear friends, no need to leave comments (unless you really want to of course, LOL.) I think it's all been said. Just wanted to keep you all updated. Of course, if you really want to make someone happy, visit Dr. John; he has a wonderful blog and he lives for comments. Tell him I sent you ;-)

How Many Repair Guys Does It Take to Change a LIGHTBULB? PART 2

This is the continuing sad saga of replacing the lightbulb in our KitchenAid microwave. This Saturday was to be the day. I called the factory service center yesterday to confirm the repair appointment. The very nice customer service lady offered to check on the bulb status. She found out it had been on back order until February 7th and was just shipped out on the 8th. It would take 4-5 days to arrive. If you quickly do the math, as I did, you will realize that this would lead to a third instance of a repairman coming to install the lightbulb - without the lightbulb.

So the appointment was rescheduled for February 17th. Although now, instead of a "first thing in the morning appointment" it is an "anytime between 8 and 5" appointment.

Just thought you would like to know. Sigh.

Part 3 to follow . . .

I Love M&Ms, But Enough Already!

Many apologies for not visiting my favorite blog authors for several days. It will still take me a few days to catch up, but it was for a good cause. My husband and I, new empty nesters that we are, went into the city for a few days. We saw three terrific Broadway shows - Spamalot, The Drowsy Chaperone and Wicked. At discounted prices of course, because after all, we do have two in college now.

The tickets to Wicked were our most satisfying discount. The theater has a lottery, two hours before the show. We had tried five or six times before, since last spring, with no luck. We decided to give it another shot before coming home on Saturday. So we went to the theater, wrote our names on index cards and waited a half hour in the sub-freezing cold until they pulled out the lucky winners. Yes, as you have probably guessed, my dear husband's name was called so we "won" the opportunity to buy two FIRST ROW Orchestra tickets, valued at $110 a seat - for $25 each! Woohoo! The best part is that the show is sold out for months - and we were going to see it!

Well, we had an hour and a half to kill before the show started so we walked around Times Square a bit. Being chocoholics and slightly curious we went into a new "M&Ms World" store on Broadway. We walked in and all I could say was "I can't believe they based a two level store on a candy!" On the first floor we saw the M&M logo on everything - candy dispensers, pillows, onesies, tee-shirts, gym shorts, caps, keychains, collectibles - and of course, self-serve towers of M&Ms in 22 colors for $9 per pound.

Then we walked around to where we thought the stairs for the next level were and my husband stopped dead in his tracks, looked at me and said "You were wrong." I looked at him puzzled and said "What?" He said "It's not a two level store based on a candy. It's a THREE level store, based on a candy." I looked up past the stairs and by golly, he was right - there was level three, right above level two. My jaw dropped as we walked up to level two. We saw the M&M logo on oven mitts, kitchen towels, mugs, beach towels, car sun shields, kitchen canisters, luggage, tote bags, pajamas, jewelry, frames, party hats, playing cards, games, bibs, flip flops - and of course, self-serve towers of M&Ms in 22 colors for $9 per pound.

On to the third level where we saw the M&M logo on pens, lunchboxes, fuzzy slippers, magnets, pet coats, blankets, soap holders, toothbrush holders and toothbrushes - and of course, self-serve towers of M&Ms in 22 colors for $9 per pound. I have not listed everything available with an M&M logo - but I think you get the idea. What is more unbelievable to me than the fact that there were enough M&M logo products to fill THREE levels of a large store is that someone, somewhere actually thought this was a good basis for a store.

We did buy a small container of suitably colored M&Ms to send my daughter for Valentine's Day. My son does not like chocolate.

Oh - and Wicked was wonderful!