Espresso Depresso

Our espresso machine died tonight. It was just the black cherry atop a rainy, gloomy day full of small annoyances. Pouring rain. Dogs who didn't want to get their feet wet. Almonds knocked over all over the floor. Teenager temper tantrum. VCR not set (because of a circuit break black out last night) so I found out at the last minute and too late that I couldn't record something I wanted to watch later. Annoying cats. And did I mention the nonstop rain?

Not that it was all bad. I got a bag of paperwork and miscellaneous sorted and mostly tossed. Had a nice dinner with a friend. Managed to get my walk in despite the weather. Yes, I walked in the rain - in my long red raincoat with a big red umbrella (that William later broke being all huffy and trying to shove it through the door frame without being careful).

But most of the annoying stuff happened towards the end of the day and just started piling one on top of the other until I decided it would all be better when I finally ended the day with my new nightly treat. A cappuccino. Only the machine broke.

We've had the machine long enough that I can't remember when we got it, how long we've had it, or even who gave it to us. Although I'm pretty sure it was a gift from my mom and stepdad. And we used it a lot over the years. Sometimes Hubby used it daily for long stretches, other times we used it on occasion. I can't say we didn't get our money's worth out of it. Or rather, my parent's money's worth out of it.

A spring broke on the cap. It's an old enough model that it's not worth trying to find a replacement. So. I guess we research a new machine. I don't want to go back to getting my espresso based coffees at Starbucks. At $3-4 a pop, at even one cup each per week for Hubby and me, we could buy ourselves at least a mid-priced decent quality machine and still save money by the end of a year. We've fallen into the habit of making it every night. I don't want to give up my one new and allowable dietary treat!

Any suggestions?