Passing For Normal

Day 3, hot damn, I'm on a roll.

This year for the first time in more than ten years, I have done a bit of gardening -- something that feeds my soul and my joy, and I've missed it with a dreadful, yearning ache. I started much too late in the season, and my efforts were on the tiniest scale -- two tomato plants and some beans, four pots all told -- plus some sunflower seeds I tossed on a whim into a hole dug by visiting dogs. *g*

It has made me happy to go out and visit them every day, and within the last week or two they're actually doing some very rewarding things that make me grin like a fool.

( I grew candy! )

( And I grew sunshine! )

Day 3 bonus post, since this is apparently my year for aged electronics & appliances to die.

Latest casualty: My 12-year-old cheap-ass budget-brand countertop microwave just started making appalling noises. I think it's time for it to go the way of all things -- which is so say, to the next free electronics recycling event.

Consumer Reports seems to think highly of the various Kenmore (Sears) models -- not latest-bestest-mostest or anything, but good features, value, usability, and reliability at a relatively affordable price.

Question for the hive mind: Apparently there's a new thing since I last shopped for a microwave, where it has a built-in sensor to tweak cooking times for you... something about sensing moisture? That sounds pretty awesome, but it means spending around $140 instead of $80-ish, so I wanted to run it by you folks and see what you think. Is this feature as cool as it sounds? Because it sounds really, really cool to me. Would you go for the model with the sensor, or the basic, cheaper one without? (Assume that while saving money is always nice, I can manage the higher priced model and will be pleased to do so if the extra expense it's justified.)