It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday...

Last week, I threw dinner in our crockpot, turned it on and ran out the door.

Five hours later, we came in to the interesting smell of burning wires.

That's kind of concerning.

But dinner was done so I turned every thing off in the kitchen, including the crockpot, and unplugged the only other thing plugged in, the toaster.

Then I forgot about it.

Until Sunday, when I turned on the crockpot, again, with our Sunday chicken lunch ready to be cooked.

The smell came back almost immediately.

So I did what any rational person would do.

Changed outlets.

The smell was still there.  Strongly.  

Although, it did change something.  The crockpot no longer worked.  

At all.

I broke the news to Chris.

Something delicate like, "Hey, so the crockpot burned out and died.  I'm gonna need to get a new one today."

Chris' reply was, "WHAT?!?!?!"

Then he went and smelled and felt and confirmed, um yeah, it looks dead.

He then said, "I think we can swing the fifteen bucks for a new one."

Me, "Or forty."

Chris got our crockpot while he was in college.  The year is sort of hazy.  Somewhere around 1996 or 1997.  He's not sure.  And he can't remember what prompted a male college student to invest in a kitchen appliance.  Although, I'm fairly certain some girl (not me) suggested it and he fell for it.

Boys will fall for anything over a pretty girl.

We didn't hold a funeral for the crockpot.  We irreverently threw the entire thing in the trash and took it and it's smell of burned wire out of the house.

And then we went out to lunch.  

So I guess it was kinda like a funeral.  There was catering.  That counts.

After lunch, Chris took the kids up to the band hall and I went on the search for a new crockpot.

DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY OPTIONS OF CROCKPOTS THERE ARE??!?!?!?!?!

Sweet mercy.

Who knew the market had just exploded like that?

I blame Pinterest.

I stood there for a seriously embarrassing amount of time.  Some have click-on lids.  Some are programable.  Some are oval.  Some are purple.  

It's a lot. 

And the price ranges.  From Chris' $15 up to $90.  

Them $90 ones.  They had all the bells and whistles.  Enough to make it nearly impossible for me to actually work the thing.

I opted for a 7 quart (the medium sized) oval without a clip on lid in a stainless steel.

It was on sale for $24.

That seems like a good deal to me.  

So please join me in a touching rendition of the Boys II Men classic, "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday."  While not '96 or '97, it WAS released in that decade.  1991.  That totally counts.

Goodbye, Crockpot of our Youth.

Hello, Crockpot of our Responsible Yet Still Totally Fun Middle Adult Years.

And you're welcome for putting that song in your head.  For forever.