Let There Be Flashes of Light?

Hi All!

Sometimes I start thinking about the many things in this world and this life that we take for granted. We have many things our ancestors lived without. Dishwashers, garbage disposals, microwaves. Things we take for granted until . . .

Until the microwave suddenly decides to act up like mine did.

While my parents and my uncle were here, I was preparing dinner and decided to "nuke" some leftover corn. About three seconds into the heating cycle the microwave lit up with a bright white light and made some seriously scary sounds. I stopped it right away.

What in the world was going on? Did I put something metal in the microwave? I took the corn out and checked even though I knew there was no metal in the corn. I tried to heat the corn again and everything was fine. Weird.

Two days ago I decided to make myself some microwave caramel corn. If you haven't tried this stuff, it is wonderful! It is difficult to find but worth the hunt, in my opinion. While it isn't as good as the "real" caramel corn my Aunt Donna makes, it is good for those times you want a quick fix!

Anyway, I was bopping around (well, bopping as much as a person with a head cold can bop!) and put the bag of popcorn in the microwave and hit the "popcorn" button. Then I headed out to the living room to catch some of the show I was watching. My kitchen and living room are open to each other so I had a good view of the microwave from the couch.

Not more than ten seconds had passed before the microwave lit up like the fourth of July. I hustled back to the kitchen and opened the door stopping the cooking. Smoke trailed out the open door and there was a distinct odor of burned something in the air.

It wasn't the popcorn - it was barely warm and nothing had popped.

I checked out the inside of the microwave and found the source of the smoke and the smell. There is a little circle of what looks like cardboard in the top panel of the microwave. There are two little metal clips which come through the bottom of the cardboard circle and one of them is obviously a trouble maker since the cardboard around it is scorched and black.

How could metal which is designed as part of the darn microwave cause a problem?

I guess it doesn't matter since I am now without the use of the microwave until Hubby either figures out how to replace that part of until we get a new microwave.

Doing without a microwave, which I didn't think I used that much, is certainly making me appreciate all of the modern conveniences I have left!

Trisha

Voice Update: I am still a bit froggy and scratchy from the cold but my neck is surprisingly loose. Must be because I am done with finals! I am now finding that my throat is really, really dry all the time. I think it is because I am sleeping with my mouth open since I can't breathe through my nose!