more bad appliance karma but good stuff too

In one of those freakish coincidences that make me believe that god hates me, my oven broke today, the day I was planning to start baking cookies. It broke at exactly the same time last year, December 20th, just as I was about to bake cookies. This could be god's way of saying LAY OFF THE BUTTER AND SUGAR, FATASS, but I suspect it's mostly divine spite and meanness. Or I would, if I were a believer, but whatever, my oven is broken, and I am so pissed I can hardly stand it.

Fortunately, the guys who repaired it last year are coming tomorrow to fix EXACTLY THE SAME PROBLEM tomorrow, but you know, I don't blame them, especially since, as it turns out, the "manufacturer" of my oven stopped actually manufacturing ovens a few years ago, and went into the business of putting their badges on cheap, shitty ovens instead. My oven is a piece of crap, and this is the last time I'm going to put any money into it. Next time it breaks, we get a new one. I just want to get through Christmas on this one. It's just the heating element, and it was cheap to fix last time, so I'm not that worried. Phil is going to stick around during the morning tomorrow, since he's waiting for his Christmas present to arrive, and I won't be tied to the house waiting for repairmen, so I'm OK with it.

He's getting a new lens for his camera, which he picked out himself, because we are old married people and long past the point of trying to surprise and delight each other with our holiday presents. He's surprised and delighted that I'm willing to let him buy yet another lens this year, and that's good enough. I will be getting jewellery, not sure exactly what, but I showed him a bunch of stuff I like, so he has the general idea.

I finished up my Christmas shopping this afternoon. We went downtown, I pointed to some pretty, sparkly things I liked, and then we split up. I went to get what I needed, and he took his camera up the hill to take photos of Liverpool. Liverpool has quite a beautiful and interesting waterfront, and he spends a lot of time photographing it. Things weren't too dreadfully crowded downtown, it being Wednesday and still not quite the final, panicked rush point for most people, so I had a relatively easy time getting what I needed. We hooked back up after about an hour, had a cup of coffee, and then went to dinner at our local Italian joint. We haven't been there in a while, and given how good the food is, and how nice the people who run the place are, I have to wonder why. There was an error in the wine order; they brought me a full carafe instead of half, and as this drunken rambling probably indicates, I opted not to send it back, but to drink it all. And now I am merry and mellow and not all that bothered by my crappy oven's inconvenient breakdown. because I've just spent an hour and a half enjoying good food and my beloved's company, and damn, forgive me for being semi-drunkenly sentimental, but I really do love the guy I married. He's sexy and smart and good-looking, and he makes me laugh by quoting Half Man Half Biscuit lyrics to me while I'm trying to drink too much wine, and there is no Christmas gift in the world I could ever receive that would be better than him, not even a pony or Barbie's Dream House.