Someday we will laugh about this, I think

Andy was roaring from the kitchen. I don't even remember what he was saying, something to the effect of "I don't believe this!" Clearly, he was not happy, and I sat in the dining room trying to ignore the inevitable. After a brief few minutes, curiosity got the best of me, so I entered the kitchen to find this:
 


 The rest of the burner was firmly attached to the bottom of a mixing bowl.  Yes, it is apparent that we need a new stove. No, this is not exactly the best of timing, and this is frustrating indeed.  We have lived in our house for three years, and one burner has not worked that entire time.  A few months ago one of the button covers fell off the oven controls, so I pointed out to Andy that at least this did not end the life of an oven in perfect working order.  We do also still have Jesus, and this is not a new form of crisis for us. 

So how did our trusty appliance come to this demise?  Andy's cheesecake was such a family hit on Mother's Day that he decided to make another one last night.  He had cream cheese in a metal mixing bowl softening on the stove top while enchiladas baked in the oven.  When Andy went to pick up the mixing bowl, a rubber ring on the bottom of the bowl had melted to the stove top, and part of the stove top came up with the bowl.  To answer the obvious question, no, there were no burners in use at that time.  The only heat being generated in that area was coming from the oven. My thought is that maybe this emergency stopped a more serious one as clearly the top should not have broken so easily.  Shortly after this fiasco, our power went out and remained out until sometime in the night.  I think that is a Thursday thing with this second power outage.

I offered Andy a challenge this morning..how about saving for a new stove and seeing how long we can hold out before breaking down and buying it?  We are not unaccustomed to living with broken things.  We have several non-working electrical outlets, some broken closet doors, and a few broken dining room chairs.  This broken stove is, however, considered an emergency as neither of us think it is safe to let this go.  This one won't go on the "to save for" list. 

In other family news:  Please pray for my mom.  She was admitted to the hospital today after being miserably ill and feverish for a week.  She really hasn't felt well since her surgery.  I am praying that this is something easily treatable.