What do you Mean the Economy's in the Toilet?

This has been an interesting week for us, and as consumers, my hubster and I have done our part to support the ailing economy by purchasing three new items. These aren't totally frivolous items, but replacements for current products.

1) Your remember my blog post about berry picking and the subsequent pie incident? Scroll down to the oven part . . . no, not the pie juice overflowing and nearly setting off the smoke alarms, but the part where there are loud 'BOOM's involved. We have a 14-year old gas stove and I cook a decent amount of the time, which means over time there are problems with the ignition switches. When regulating the oven temperature the ignition kicks in and send a fresh bolus of gas through the lines the electric starter ignites the gas. Well, that's how it's SUPPOSED to work, but we seem to have a sticky starter and the gas builds up before igniting, producing the BOOM.

Now, I like to think we all agree that this is A BAD THING. So hubster researched stoves (my input: Gas stove top). I do the majority of the cooking, but I'm not into the next best gadget, he is. All I want is a gas stove top that has a low simmer burner for sauces, soups, stews, etc and a super heated burner for boiling water.

So our first shot into the ailing economy's arm is a brand spanking new GE Profile duel fuel convection oven. We stuck with the Profile series as it fits the rest of the appliances in this house. When we move, I'll start thinking about that Viking Range I want. Hubster found a deal online with a $100 discount and my new stove is on a truck and should be here within a few weeks.

2) We are having family over for the Fourth of July, somewhere between 17-20 people for a pool party/ BBQ. I only smoke ribs when there is a crowd, as it's a pain in the butt to do it when there are only three of us eating. I had my old smoker pre-marriage, @ 18 years. In fact, I think hubster put it together for me when we were dating--along with all sorts of emotional memories: I was smoking ribs three days before my birthday when Hubster proposed. *sniff, sniff* *wipes tear from eye*

Well, anyhoo, Bass Pro shop was having a sale on electric smokers, so we bought one. Seasoned it two nights ago and I think it will work quite well. I'll be smoking three huge racks of baby back ribs and some brisket, so I'll have to report back on how well it works.

3) Last Sunday (laundry day, you know) when I was making the bed with fresh sheets, I noticed the binding unraveling from our mattress. This binding was on the bottom of the mattress holding the bottom layer of fabric to the side fabric and the thread had come loose--zzziiippp! Yeah, touch it once, and it keeps unraveling. Well, we bought this mattress five years ago and it had a lifetime warranty. Dude came out to inspect it. Agreed, that it was a defect and said we would get a replacement mattress

--a couple of things to remember, mattress warranties are voided if the bed has any stains. Of course, the sales guy used the term 'coffee' when we were discussing how warranties are voided, probably because my 8-year old daughter was with us. I'm sure it's there in the fine print, but you don't really think about it at the time. So, he sold us this 'special' mattress cover they sell.

--mattress styles come and go, of course our mattress style was long gone. We had to do the flop and lay. Yeah, like that's how it is in real sleepy time--not.

--this furniture company give a two week satisfaction guarantee. We used it last time. We forked out the money for a Tempur-pedic mattress--HATED IT! I got hot--really hot, burst into flames type of hot, this close to total combustion. When you lay down on a Tempur-pedic, the mattress encases you, so if you want to flip over, you have to wake up, push out of your hole and then try to go to sleep again. After three nights of no sleep, I said take it back!

--the cost has only increased for this product. To get the same quality of mattress as we bought five years ago, we are going to have to plunk some money on the table. One grand poorer, we have a new mattress getting delivered today.

So what have you done lately to aid the economy? :-)

Next week, I'll . . .

Write on!

This weekend I'll have a Happy Fourth of July and hope you all do, too! Stay safe!