Living without modern appliances

Our microwave died a few weeks ago. It sounded like it was working, but it wasn't heating. We didn't bother trying to fix it. It wasn't my favorite appliance (I thought it took up too much space) and I occasionally wondered if the microwaves are harmful rather than helpful.

It didn't take long for the empty spot on the counter top to fill with...stuff.
I didn't think we used the microwave that often, but as it turns out, we use it multiple times a day. Sometimes I need to reheat my coffee in the morning if I don't get to it soon enough. And you know I'm the leftover queen so we've had to be creative in reheating.

We've been dirtying a lot more dishes and using more pots and pans. Leftover rice is steamed. Most other dishes are reheated on the stove, though some are reheated in the toaster oven. Mr. Fix-it thought it was all too much trouble, but I didn't mind. I thought we were eating less since we were portioning out what we wanted to eat. And I thought the texture of some of the reheated foods was better. No microwave took some getting used to, but then, I still could heat up my lunch in the microwave at work.

But, as it turns out, Mr. Fix-it really missed the microwave. And he couldn't wait for a sale (sigh). So now we have this sleek beauty:

ETA: The microwave went on sale and we went back to the store for a $10 credit, woo hoo! As it turns out, this microwave doesn't have all the bells and whistles that our previous microwave had, but since it was so much less $ and it is red!, I don't mind.