My Priorities Are Fine, Thank You Very Much

Three weeks ago, we lost t.v. reception and the microwave just days apart. The t.v. cable company, located in Texas, evidently would not pay the asking price for the stations they wanted to broadcast so, after many warnings, everyone's reception was cut off. Everyone being the whole town. Then the company that had previously served us removed all the cables to each house, which they still owned. Huh. *blink* I didn't know that would ever happen. So now we have the choice of getting a satellite dish or putting up an antenna. Unwilling at this point in the recession to lock into a two-year contract, we are going with the latter. So far, we only have a small antenna hooked up to the t.v. in the living room. Sometimes the reception is decent, but mostly it is barely acceptable. Don has been looking for a large antenna to put up outside, but I guess we will have to order one online.

The microwave was ten years old; a Christmas gift from our kids. When I put a potato in it and turned it on it cooked normally for a minute, then suddenly groaned loudly and lit up the inside like a lightning display. No, I didn't leave any metal inside it and, yes, it did it a second time. Once was enough for me, but brother-in-law Bob wasn't convinced until he tried it again. For me, the microwave was a much more devastating loss than the television. Thankfully, Danielle's was nearby and served as a temporary until we got another one. (I won't mention what might have blown up in Danielle's before she packed it away that needed cleaning up first.)

Three weeks later, I am still dealing with t.v. static and sometimes holding the antenna at a certain height and angle by hand so that I can occasionally watch Ellen. However, life is okay anyway because I can fix my little pizza in the brand new microwave at lunch and sit down and watch a favorite DVD that produces a very clear picture without any antenna at all. And since I worked two hours in the flowerbeds this morning and then walked for half an hour, I have earned just such a respite. Happiness is all in the perspective.