Once upon a time, R and I got married (14 yrs ago now so almost Once upon a long time) and his parent bought us a microwave for a wedding present. This worked well for 13 years, and then one day when I woke up and went in the kitchen there was this electrical firey smell, and I guessed right, and it was the microwave. It wasn't smoking or anything scary so I unplugged it and took it and the fumes outside. About a litre of water came out of it while I was moving it - perhaps leaving coffee in it too cool, or forgetting you have cooked vegetables and leaving them in there was a Bad Idea. Condensation may not in fact be good for microwaves.
I was too tight to just buy another one - R found one that cost about $600 that he liked, and I wasn't paying that and didn't care enough to look myself. We lived without a microwave for a while, but then got given his brother's old one.
Do not accept microwaves that are rusty or that have distorted panels in them. Even if they are free. This time there were flames, which fortunately went out when I turned it off. It must have been more like those sparks you get when you leave metal in microwaves...
This time I went out the next day and bought a new microwave at a Large Chain Store. I got 1000W because I hate gutless microwaves, and this one also came with convection cooking, a grill and a rotisserie cooker thingy. It was cheaper than just a microwave. It has a handle on the door, which fascinated the littlest person in the house. All previous m-ovens had the button push door openers. This was New.
So he opened and shut it till it moved in its cubby hole thing, and then it fell on him. I was in the kitchen at the time and managed to 'catch' it by pushing it on the door and his feet were missed and the oven wasn't broken either. We need a new drawer though - there are lots of sharp bits on those microwave things, and it has left huge scratches... The littlest one went white and stood very still, terrified. We did tell him off - he needs to know that it wasn't okay, and not funny (he does think some scary things are funny, like walking on the rafters in the garage)(yes HIM walking, not us).
It gave us a hell of a fright - who ever imagined the littlest one getting squashed by a microwave? But you know, I am so pleased with myself for my reactions when I saw it falling. I tend to stop and assess before moving in these situations, which would have been wrong. This time I moved straight away. Go Me.
Posted by Toni at January 11, 2008 07:54 PM