Remember the ring I won from the Blind-Pig-and-an-Acorn blog, made from a half-dollar? I have tracking numbers for it, so of course I've been tracking it like crazy. Well, here's the status; apparently, my ring has either disappeared entirely or is languishing in a corner of the Kansas City, Kansas, facility. This, of course, is no fault of Tipper's; things are crazy right now with the postal service. But I had been worrying about it, feeling very disappointmented. Yesterday I had a little talk with myself: "Were you having a nice life before you won the ring?" Yes, yes I was. "Do you think your life will change if you don't get that ring?" No, actually. I want the ring, but it won't change my life in any way after I get it (if I do). "Did you lose any money in this transaction?" Not a penny. "Then quit thinking about it; if it shows up, you'll be surprised. If it doesn't, the disappointment won't kill you, so count your blessings." Below you can see what the tracking shows me; it's been the same for days:
Then, on a brief visit to Facebook this morning, I saw this at the top of my status:
I actually smiled at the thought. It isn't all about me. There are hundreds of people waiting for a package right now; I'm not the only one worried. I'm sure many of those folks are waiting for much more valuable packages than my ring. So I'm appreciating everything I have right now, especially my new Samsung Kitchen range! The last time I bought a stove, which wasn't that long ago, I bought the cheapest one I could find. I don't need bells and whistles, all I want to do is cook and bake. Well, in the old days, that would have worked, because most products had quality built in. Times have changed; the cheap Kenmore was terrible: The burners all had "hot spots" where the flame was orange instead of blue, and was hotter. The oven took over 20 minutes to preheat, and didn't brown biscuits on top, even if you practically burned the bottoms. I was the one who made the mistake of buying "cheap", so I intended to live with my mistake. I'm 76, how much cooking am I going to be doing between here and the grave?
But the other day as I was complaining about my baking results, Cliff said, "So buy a new stove." I told him it was my mistake, so I'd live with it, yada yada. I don't know what all was said, but I did decide to take Cliff up on the offer. It's a good time to buy a kitchen stove, because they are on sale everywhere. If you want to see the one I bought, click HERE, although we paid about $75 less than the current price. The flames of the burner are all BLUE! The oven preheats in five minutes! I'm going to experiment with the convection oven, too.
It's all in the perspective: Here I am with the stove of my dreams, and I've been worrying about a ring that might or might not arrive. Sometimes I can't see the forest for the trees.
I digress briefly to show you what I have to put up with when I'm trying to write a blog entry.
I'm leaving you with a video from a talented man who was born and raised in our school district; would you believe at one time he was deaf, or near-deaf? Josh's father once told me the story; I wish I had it for you, dear readers, but I'd get it wrong if I tried to tell it now. Long story short, he got a cochlear implant, and all is well.
What an age we live in. I hope you enjoy Josh's playing as much I do.
My stove is 24 years old, so I'm expecting to need to replace it fairly soon. I am letting go of a lot lately, mostly my own expectations.
ReplyDeleteWe have to have a gas stove because electricity goes off quite a bit, and in an ice storm can be out for days. With a gas stove, at least we can turn burners on for a little heat. Also, we can cook without electricity during an outage. Consumer Reports said Samsung made the best gas stoves, so that's what I went looking for.
DeleteHave faith, I've had many packages over the year that were more than a week late and they didn't arrive during a pandemic and holiday rush of packages.
ReplyDeleteI have a little faith: I bought my sister a special Christmas card a while back, wrote her a letter with my left hand to show her how I was progressing: Her daughter-in-law gave me the address and today she told me she gave the address to me wrong! Wrong zip code, wrong house number. She just realized her mistake this morning and told me about it. "Well," I said, "I'll at least write her another letter." She shortly answered back, "She got the card!" Unbelievable.
DeleteJust about a month ago, we received a letter addressed to my wife's name and below it the town we live in and that was it. No house number or street number. I told my wife, I guess that means our mailman really does know us personally.
DeleteWhat great wisdom you gave yourself about expectations. And not only you; it was just what I needed to hear today.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad it helped you.
DeleteWe are waiting on packages as well, one that was ordered way before the Christmas rush and is needed so hubby can proceed with a winter project. Hoping he gets it done. I have an electric Samsung stove and am happy with it. So, you can cook on the stove top even if the power goes out? but not the oven? My Samsung frig died after 10 years and was persuaded to buy an American built Whirlpool. What a disappointment, I could write a book about why I hate this frig compared to my Samsung. Talk about buyers' remorse. If I was wealthy I would give it away and buy a different one, but that is not the case so will live with my mistake.
ReplyDeleteYou can light the burners with a match without electricity. You can probably light the oven with a match, I don't know... but even if you did, when it stopped because the heat was at a certain level, you'd have to re-light it all the time. There are no pilot lights now; that's why you can't just turn on a burner and expect it to light. Also, the manufacturer says it can mess the oven up running it with the oven door open. I've ignored that advice for years, but I really like this stove, so I'm taking no chances.
DeleteBTW, no video shows up in your post. Do others see it?
ReplyDeleteMy husband saw it on his computer, and I see it on mine. I'd like to know myself!
DeleteMy daughter sees the video. I told her, "Maybe Josh doesn't have his passport, so he can't sing in Canada.
DeleteI'll see if it shows up on my ipad. There are certain videos that can't be played in Canada, something to do with CRTC rules, but this shouldn't be one of them.
DeleteYup, shows up on my ipad. Weird!
DeleteWe have customers waiting for packages that were sent via Priority FedEx (should be delivered by 10am the next day) and they're taking 2-3 days. All carriers are struggling more than ever. You'll get the ring.
ReplyDeleteLOVE your new stove! My stove is a 1940's O'Keefe and Merritt bought brand new by my grandparents who I never knew. Quite a state of the art thing in it's day--4 burnrs, griddle in the middle and a "grillevator" ....actually just a broiler separate from the oven....still going strong.
ReplyDeleteMy old gas stove is from 1956 and it has pilot lights that burn all of the time for the burners, but for the oven I must get a match and light the pilot light each time. We have had to use the oven to keep us warm before in ice storms. I always just use the oven, but only with the door close, so the thermostat can control the temperature.
ReplyDeleteIf the electric is off I may boil a big soup pot of water to make more warmth and humidity in the air. A couple of years ago I thought I was going to have to get a new s
Stove I found two brands that were easy to light without having to get down on the
floor to light it because I have mobility issues with my legs. The stoves I was looking at looked so cheap compared to my old Kenmore gas stove. It was top of the line when it was new, the old lady who lived in our house when we bought it said we could have the stove, after we told her we didn't have a stove yet since we were living in an apartment. We where thrilled to get that stove, and I am still very happy to have it.