The cooktop part works but without an oven, my meal prep options are limited. And lemme tell ya: I cook. Alot.

So "Happy Mother's Day!" to me: Hubby said I can pick out a new range - within certain price limits. And (whoo-hoo!) a new range hood, too (ours is barely functioning).

Off to Sears we go - and lucky for us, they are having a free delivery/0% financing deal right now on cooking appliances.  There is a Sears Appliance Store about 5 miles from our house, but we are heading to a store in the city since one of our friends is an appliance salesman at that store - not that we get a discount but at least we'll know the commission (i.e. the markup we have to pay) is going to a friend.

I decided to NOT go with the cheapest range on the market since the one feature that irks me about my current range is the broiler "drawer." I broil with surprising frequency - steaks, lamb chops, turkey tenderloin and cremes brulees, to name a few. However since the broiler is on the bottom of the range I literally have to crawl on the ground to get to the drawer and cook the food there.

When I noted my desire to move up to a different broiler setup, hubby crassly noted, "Oh, but I like you on your knees!"

Grrr. No soup for him!