Tragedy & Triumph

Tragedy: My husband, whom I love dearly, breached our unwritten marriage contract last week when he dared to purchase and bring home a scale. Many times in the past he has said we should get one and I said "not in my house." I came home from a 'girls night out' to find the atrocity in the middle of my floor. Wrong, wrong, wrong. The abominable contraption gives a person's weight (something I kept hidden from Kevin for many years) in pounds, kilograms and, of course, stones. He looked a bit sheepish but tried to pass it off as a gift so I could see just how much weight I'd lost since moving to Germany. Uh huh. Now it is in the corner behind the shower where it should be forgotten. But really that's the best location to get a good number just before I get in the shower in the morning, after going to the bathroom, before eating breakfast, and without clothes.

Triumph: In our area there are three 'Deere Families.' A fourth family returned to the States recently and gave us some good stuff they no longer needed and couldn't use in America. But they did not have the ultimate appliance, the one find all 'Deere Wives' (as we are known) yearn for and may spend their entire stays seeking. The venerable Crock Pot. The esteemed Slow Cooker does not exist here, in general, and American versions cannot be converted due to the high voltage needed and electrical incompatibility. However, there have been persistent rumors that European versions do exist... ("A lady in my church has a cousin who's neighbor once saw one!" and similar stories). Now, 145 kilometers away there are 20+ Deere families and they come and go frequently. One Deere Wife sent out an email with a 'for sale list' recently since she is headed back to the States with her husband soon. I usually don't even bother to read them as I have no need for more stuff but for some reason I did read it. And buried low in the long list of furniture, European appliances, and junk was a crock pot. It had been 2 hours since the email came but I hit that 'Reply' button and my fingers flew over the keyboard as my heart raced with hopeful excitement. And I GOT IT! She said 3 additional people asked about it after me (heh, heh). She wanted about $30 for it, is all, and somehow didn't realize that she could have gotten $hundreds$ if she'd simply held a mini-auction. It's mine! It's mine! I did have to drive 145 kilometers in terrible traffic and rain, tormenting my daughter and myself to meet her at the monthly 'Deere Wives' breakfast in order to pick it up, but that's a small price to pay for such a jewel. I acquired it this morning. We had BBQ wieners tonight.