It was a long time ago that I first learned of Galileo thermometers and immediately put it on my mental wishlist (and then my blog wishlist). After many years of waiting, I was super excited when Panda treated me to one – that was four years ago. I proudly displayed it first at my apartment and then in my room at home when I moved back. But just two years into my ownership, Missy managed to break it when she was jumping from a cabinet to my desk’s shelf. Due to the height, and perhaps an impact with part of the desk on its way down, it shattered and left quite an odor in my room. I was bummed and vowed to get a replacement someday.

I’m glad I waited, because I had no idea I would relocate to the east coast and it sure wouldn’t have been easy to transport it on my own. Turns out it was another 2 years before I decided it was finally time to reward myself with that replacement. At first I was sad that I couldn’t get the exact same one I had before. Attempting to reorder gave me an error that none were in stock. I had meticulously compared options and found the 17-inch height with 10 temperature globes inside was the perfect combination for me. I don’t think I would have been satisfied with anything else. I saw 21-inch ones with 10 globes, 17-inch ones with 7 or 8 globes, but not my ideal one. So, I waited.

One day, I just happened to notice they were back in stock! It was pretty thrilling. But then the challenge was that I didn’t want to pay shipping and I was $5 off from the minimum charge to get free shipping. Right around that time, we decided to take a look at headboards, since the furniture store ones were way more expensive than we’d like. Panda found an awesome one for a very good price, complete with shelf space for me. We got that and tagged on the thermometer – yay, free shipping!

I was super excited when it came, in the same box I remember.

I carefully opened the box and considered a safe place to display it.

I found my spot, but then noticed that strange blue tint. Was it supposed to be like that?

Turns out one of the globes completed shattered inside and dyed the whole thing blue. Sad times!

Luckily, it only broke on the inside and it wasn’t leaking. I had to file for a return and spent some time trying to figure out how to do a straight exchange. Turns out you can’t when the item is sold by an individual vendor like mine, versus by Amazon itself. All I could do was return and reorder. I printed out a label and a UPS guy even picked it up from my front door one day! Unfortunately, due to the shipping charge, I’d have to order something else to get that free shipping again. I found myself waiting yet again… the item went out of stock, but then eventually came back. I figured out what I could order with it that was around the $5 price range, so I ordered it a second time and hoped that it wouldn’t get thrown around during shipping. About a month after getting the previous one, this one arrived.

So I got my second one and all looked well until… hey, what’s that pink one doing so low?

Upon closer inspection, the tip of it was broken just enough to leak.

I got a lint roller in this shipment to pad the cost. I’ve wanted a large one for years!

See the tiny globs of pink liquid escaping? I considered keeping this and having a non-functional globe that looked ok from afar. I couldn’t do it. So again, I returned it. This time UPS even printed the label and applied it! I just packed it up and left the box outside my door. I quickly found another $5ish item to get – a hand boiler toy. I reordered once more before they ran out of stock on me. I almost didn’t dare hope. I mean, shipping had been rough and these things aren’t crazy delicate, but they can’t be thrown around. It might just take some luck to get an unbroken one. How many tries would it ultimately require?

Thankfully, this one came in mint condition! It is now on display with my other items.

I had to check and recheck this one over the course of a week or two before I truly felt like it was pristine. I was worried I might have missed something! But no blue tint and all globes float! So finally, I have my replacement. Isn’t it gorgeous? This one better last me my lifetime!