My Oven Has Passed

My oven has passed; may it rust in peace. Last week I was looking at the poor old thing and thinking, “That oven is really looking dated.” Then, last Friday we turned it on to heat a loaf of sourdough bread and the heating element looked like a Fourth of July sparkler just before it completely fizzles out and dies. Thank goodness for the BBQ grill and the twenty-five year old microwave oven.

For the past two Thanksgiving’s, Jim has fried our turkey out on the deck—partly because we love fried turkey—but also because I really expected the oven to go at any time. I preferred the chore of unpacking and cleaning the fry pot and utensils, (not to mention the mess of cleaning up afterward), to dealing with a defunct oven half-way through the preparation of Thanksgiving dinner.

After checking Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Best Buy for new wall ovens, I’ve determined my oven dimensions are obsolete. Wall ovens the size of mine aren’t even made anymore. That wouldn’t be so bad except for the fact that the oven was built into a cabinet that’s attached to my computer desk and book shelf on one side and a pantry on the other. If I’m to have a new oven, I’ll need help from the professionals.

Fortunately, we have two kitchen showrooms in town and I checked out the Factory Builder Stores showroom first. When I explained to the product rep my oven had died, she asked: “how old was it?” I told her it was around twenty years old, and her response was: “Lady, it didn’t die. You killed it! They’re not made to work that long!”

Funny, but a fellow flight attendant said the same thing about us. This week I have to get busy and find a new oven. Maybe I can squeeze that in between car repairs, roof repairs, and the dentist. It seems some of my dental work wasn’t made to work this long either. Why is it everything seems to wear out at once?

Donna

"Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the floor each morning the devil says: 'Oh Crap! She's up!'"

My friend, Stevie, sent me the above quote a couple of days ago. It’s come around before, and this time I decided to Google it and try to find its origin. Google gave me well over 25,000 results for the full quote. (There were three quarters of a million sites listed for those who just like to write “Oh crap!”) I wasn’t able to discover when it first appeared, or to whom it is credited, but I did find it on one blog dating back to November of 2006.

And who likes this quote? Women! Women bloggers love this quote. I found blogs by young career women and retirees, environmentalists, wives and moms, health care professionals—women from all walks of life and fields of interest. Of course, there were enumerable religious and faith-based sites that used the quote, no doubt because of the reference to the devil.

I want to be that woman!

While the more spiritually-oriented blogs refer to Satan when they use this quote, I think of the devil, in this instance, as a metaphor for life’s struggles and setbacks, ills and woes, troubles and sorrows. It represents our enemies and foes. Well, I want to be that woman who rattles the devil. I want to look trouble in the eye and kick it in the teeth. I want to be Xena: Warrior Princess when it comes to Life’s problems. That’s the kind of woman the devil worries about. And apparently a lot of other women feel the same way.

Next morning: I stalled here last night while I thought about where this post was going. Why do I find this quote so appealing? Is it because I feel powerless to slow down the aging process? Is it tied in with empty nest syndrome, as in “my work here is done.” Or it just may be the realization that there’s probably not time to change the world now. But, like the old hymn suggests, I can try to brighten my corner.

Do not wait until some deed of greatness you may do,
Do not wait to shed your light afar,
To the many duties ever near you now be true,
Brighten the corner where you are. Ina D. Ogdon

To read about two incredible women, check out the sidebar.

Donna

For those who don't know the old Gospel hymns, and for those who do and want to take a stroll down Memory Lane, here's the entire "Brighten the Corner Where You Are."

Pam Ann Does Me?

If you haven't already seen or heard about Pam Ann, the comedienne who loves to spoof flight attendants, check out this video. You'll find many other Pam Ann videos on YouTube, but for obvious reasons this one is near and dear to my heart.

Donna

A Few Thoughts on Diapers

Yesterday at Sam’s Club, I noticed a young mother intensely studying packages of disposable diapers, her tiny infant tucked into one of those big, expedition-style strollers beside her. Since her baby was old enough to take shopping, one can assume she had already made the cloth vs. disposables decision and was shopping for the best value for her money.

Talk about disposable income.

Diapers are such an expensive necessity, aren’t they? Either you buy cloth diapers and launder them yourself, (economical, but time consuming); hire a diaper service, (convenient, but costly); or you opt for the convenience of disposables and throw your money away—literally. Don’t even get me started on the environmental impact of disposables. We lived in Southern California when Robert was born. We were thinking “green” while the rest of the nation was still calling us “the land of fruits and nuts.” You may call me a hypocrite, but at the time thinking “green” took a back seat to dealing with the “brown” of baby diapers. Yes, I’ve seen those photos of soiled Pampers blowing through the Black Hills of South Dakota.

While watching the young mom at Sam’s, my mind drifted back twenty-some years when I was shopping for diapers and later, big-boy pull-ups. The hospital where my son was born presented its new moms with a free month of commercial diaper service, but I didn’t like the idea of strangers handling my precious baby’s bottom wear. As a forty-year old with a new infant, I soon realized that washing, drying, and folding cloth diapers myself wasn’t going to work either. So, like the new mom at Sam’s, I wandered the diaper aisles, searching for the right fit at the right price, wondering when the day would come that I could stop flushing my money away.

“Diaper backward spells repaid. Think about it.” Marshall McLuhan

It was a satisfying few moments, watching New Mom and feeling grateful that I don’t have to spend my money on diapers any longer. Then a cold, hard smack of reality brought me out of my comfy little reverie. Next to the Huggies and Pampers section were the Attends and Depends. It occurred to me I might be shopping for comfort and value in the disposables’ aisles again before too long. Now I think I should have had my son when I was much younger. Then there would have been more time between diapers.

How did it get so late so soon?
It's night before it's afternoon.
December is here before it's June.
My goodness how the time has flewn.
How did it get so late so soon?
~Dr. Seuss

Donna