Love and eBay

When Ron and I first set up housekeeping together (back in 1987!!) we had to buy some necessary basics for the kitchen. One of the best things I bought was a set of 3 Pyrex bowls.


The blue one is perfect for mixing up cakes and frostings; the yellow and red ones are perfect for smaller tasks. The red one is also excellent for a "generous" portion of soup, chili, etc. I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that I use at least one of them (sometimes two or all three) almost every day.

A few months ago, I was in bed and almost asleep when I heard a crash in the kitchen. I ran out, not even pausing to put on my glasses. The small red bowl was on the floor, broken into many, many pieces. With my blurred vision, I thought some of the small pieces of broken glass were drops of blood. Ron had been standing holding the bowl, eating something out of it when Brutus jumped up on him, startling him, and he dropped the bowl. I put on my glasses and we cleaned up the broken glass. Ron felt bad about breaking the bowl, but I wasn't upset; we'd had the bowl for more than 20 years and had gotten more than our money's worth.

I didn't think anything more about it, but a few weeks later, a package arrived via UPS. Ron said, "This package has to do with Brutus," but I had no idea what could be in the package, so I opened it. And found a red Pyrex bowl, an exact replacement for the bowl that broke (exact down to a few minor scratches on the inside). I couldn't believe it! He'd gone on eBay and searched for that red Pyrex bowl and found several! The one he got came from Canada.

I thought that was so sweet of him and kept telling him that, but he didn't think it was anything unusual. His point of view was that he broke something and he replaced it. "But that bowl was more than 20 years old!" I said. "It's not something you can just go get at WalMart." He still didn't (and doesn't) think he did anything special. But I disagree.

Birthday Recap

I had a great birthday. Of course it helped that the Saints won the Super Bowl, but even better was that I got to talk on the phone with my mom and several siblings -- even Oldest Brother, a.k.a. No Handle.

After the Super Bowl revelry, I got to set up and play with my present from Ron -- an All-in-One Printer/Copier/Scanner/Fax. It's so cool! We've had a fax machine for years, but it was a cheapie model, prone to frequent paper jams, so we used it infrequently. (In case you're wondering, our fax number is the same as our phone number, so if you want to send a fax, call first.)

It's a Lexmark 6675, pictured below.



We like Lexmark printers; they don't seem to be the ink hogs that other ink jet printers are.

It's even wireless and connected into our home network, so visitors with laptop computers will be able to print things more easily than they could before.

Wishing warm weather for all of you who are snowbound.

That Extra Syllable

OK, it's my birthday. I'm 47, but I'm having a hard time dealing with that number. For some reason, 47 seems much older than 46. I think maybe it's that extra syllable. Does that mean 48 will be easier?

Yeah, I know -- "age is just a number" and "you're as old as you want to be" and "you're as old as you feel." Most of the time I feel like I'm 27; of course sometimes I feel like I'm 97!

Regardless of the number, this is a very special birthday for me. Not only is it Super Bowl Sunday, but the New Orleans Saints will be playing in their very first Super Bowl. I've been a Saints fan for years because of Ron, but they've struggled for years. And the city of New Orleans has struggled in the years since Hurricane Katrina. When the Saints reached 8 and 0 this season, it was the first time they'd ever been 8 and 0. Then they kept winning. And winning. It really seemed possible they could make it to the Super Bowl. Now it just seems like Destiny that they win.

Here is a picture of the birthday cake Ron ordered from me from one of the local grocery stores.



He picked it up yesterday. Last night he kept asking me if I wanted to start celebrating my birthday early -- have the cake, open my present, etc. I declined, saying I wanted to wait for my birthday. He admitted he wanted to start eating the cake, but I knew that. It's Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. Carrot cake means it's healthy, right? The decoration in the middle -- the helmets against the Miami skyline -- is something called an edible decal. The cake looks even better in real life and I wish you could smell it; that cream cheese frosting smells so good!