What if God had meant for appliances, gadgets and household fixtures to have everlasting life on earth? We might not need any electricity or batteries, although everyone needs a re-charging now and again. (Can you imagine the Spa for Weary Appliances? Spin classes for washers and dryers. Toasters roasting in a tanning bed--#4, medium brown, please. Stove top massages. They don't even have a holiday, you know!) Everything would heat, cool, clean, light up, sound off and otherwise function according to expectations, right? But, that would imply that such items were without sin. Alas, even if God had planned for our appliances to have everlasting life, failure would still come into play sometime, figuring God made appliances a little lower than man and definitely lower than the angels. (The Bible also doesn't say that when Eve needed a helper(s!), that He crafted a dishwasher from her rib.)
I'm non-electrically shocked at how the lifespan of appliances is on the decline. The CDC surely must have stats to back me up, if not Sony or G.E. We had our last TV for 15 or so years. When its sound finally died, my husband declared it ancient anyway. "They only last a few years," he says. And when appliances die, you don't go to the appliance repair man any more. "Cheaper to buy a new one," he says. Not to mention the extras that come with the most current installment of whatever you're buying, (i.e., curling iron, version X.1 with free WiFi software).We've been fairly early adopters of technology at our house. Part of that comes from the two of us being television/radio majors and generally techno-curious. But, while my hubby easily parts with and replaces items, I will do anything possible to preserve their use. This is why we're putting all things toastable through the machine twice these days. The toaster's inner heating element is broken, so we have to flip the toastables if we want the other side toasted. As you can imagine, it's only a matter of time before my way is the highway to toaster heaven.
If you asked me, "Does your chewing gum lose its flavor on the bedpost overnight?" I'd say, "No." I expect things to outlast my expectations. Thankfully, a new type of technology has emerged--the new breed of fluorescent light bulbs. Longer life! Yes!! I just had to replace the over-the-kitchen spotlight. "Lasts 7 years," proclaimed the package. Wow! I won't have to change that bulb for seven years!! Take that one off my to-do list for a while. Give me a survey, quick, so I can check "Exceeds expectations." What will be next? (Or, maybe my new toaster will come with software to fix my car's "Check Brake Light" warning message.)
Your turn--What appliance has exceeded your expectations (if not its 'natural' life)? Who's going to the Appliance Hall of Longevity (besides my heating-challenged toaster)?
* * *
Postscript: I wrote this last Thursday for publication today. On Saturday, hubby brought home a new chrome-finished Hamilton Beach toaster. (Did I tell you?) But, true to my word, our old Cuisinart has new life as a bagel toaster--one side toasted, one side plain. Someone at Goodwill will love it (and have their name on the plaque of ownership in the Appliance Hall of Longevity instead of me).
Comments
All those things were in the Harvest gold (aka yellow puke) color so that gives you an idea of when they were originally purchased.I just wish they didn't all try to die at the same time.
P.S. I've tried those light bulbs. Unless they have improved them in the last year, then I know why they last so long. Minimal light. The ones I had made everything look dull. Maybe they're better now.
We bought the extended life bulbs too, and they didn't last 7 yrs. More like 9 months at our house. So don't get your hopes up too high.
And you should link back to your wholly jeans post - - I'm seeing a pattern with you and holding on to old stuff (not to mention the menagerie of childhood barbies & dolls you have.)
At least your hubby never has to worry about your trading him in for a newer model! haha.
I had to laugh. One day I was at a friend's house and she was making hot water for tea and she put a towel beneath the pot because it has a permanent leak. Every appliance she used had a special "something" that had to be done to it to make it work properly. We laughed heartily because I could so commiserate. It seems everything in our house has to be jiggled a certain way, tapped at just the right place, or otherwise babied for it to work right.
When you put something in the microwave you have to count the seconds yourself. Our toaster only toasts one side of the bread and one hole burns it while the other one barely browns it. The DVD player usually up and quits about 2/3 of the way through a movie (always at the best part) and you have to give it a rest before it can continue on. The iron has to be set at the highest temp to work and even then it no longer sprays steam. The vacuum cleaner rattles so loud it could wake the dead. The curling iron barely heats. The lawn mower has to be started about three times before it will actually run and then it spurts and sputters. The back windows in my husband's car can't be put up and down because they get stuck in the down position. My brake lights get stuck and won't go off without tapping the brake when I shut the car off. We have a woodstove in the basement with missing parts so we can't use it. We're just a mess!
And we're also the same people that lived in this house the first ten years, through ice storms that deprived us of power and heat, without using our fireplace because we thought the floo was broken. One day we decided it was high time to have the fireplace cleaned and fixed. The chimney sweep reached up pulled the floo and voila' it wasn't really broken at all!
V.K.
Thanks for visiting my blog. I enjoyed reading through yours and will be back to visit.
I'm not a big fan of those funny shaped lightbulbs. The color of the light always looks "off" to me. I'm more like you in that we keep our appliances for a LONG time! I'm still using a hairdryer from when I was single. That's a long time ago!
The one appliance we splurged on was a Starbucks coffee maker. The bummer was it broke after a couple of years and they had discontinued making them. It made the best cup of coffee!!
Blessings,
Kelli