Holy Cats!

I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment. So many new things coming my way!

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CUISINART

I researched like crazy (because that's how I do), found a brand of stand mixer that was NOT the one I had planned on, found a super great deal online and it'll be here Wednesday! Oh joy of joys! I went into it thinking, of course, KitchenAid! But alas, KA's in my budget (more than a candy bar, less than a good jar of peanut butter)  would not work for the bread I need it to do. Let me share the things I learned with you....

     If you plan on doing bread with it, and you want it to last,  you need a mixer with at least 600 watts.

     Fun Fact: 1 horsepower is equal to 746 watts.

     KAid mixers are overpriced. The cheapest I found in a 600 watt was one on Craigslist for $300. Used.

     There were pros and cons with all mixers I researched... except Cuisinart. I did not find anyone that had any issues with the brand and several pros recommended them for home use.

     Cuisinart has 2 models: The 5.5qt 800 watt and the 7qt 1000 watt. No gimmicky models to try and decipher what they actually consist of.

     The cheapest KA 5qt I found was $200. It was only 325 watts.

I chose the Cuisinart 5.5qt from my favorite tech site Newegg.com, for $275 with free shipping AND a $50 promo gift card. Oh yes. Nart will be home in 4 days.

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BIRCHBOX

My first Birchbox will arrive next week! For those that don't know, Birchbox offers a subscription of a sort. You tell them what you like, your coloring, etc. and for $10/mo they send you a box of excellent health & beauty samples! The boxes I've seen have been pretty substantial, so I'm eager to see for myself and judge its worthiness. I love to try new things but don't have time to wander department stores or grill other ladies. I'm not the type anyway to do those things but that doesn't mean I don't want to feel girly sometimes.

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CRICUT

I really enjoy reusing materials whenever possible and this year I thought I'd reuse the shipping paper we receive at my workplace quite a few times a week. I'm going to iron it and use it as wrapping paper. I bought hardback books at Goodwill and planned on cutting letters out of the pages so I can glue them on the gifts and spell out the recipient's name. This would involve buying/making stencils, tracing each letter and then painstakingly cutting each out. Not that I've got a lot of gifts to give but still, the thought was daunting. I thought I might have a line on one for less than $100 but the very nice lady suddenly stopped emailing me (after 17 emails!) and it didn't pan out. I posted on FB to see if I could borrow one and voila! A very wonderful person whom I've never met or previously spoken with, offered to give me hers (she'd gotten a bigger one) if I'd just pay shipping. Um... YES! It was a wonderful thing of her to offer and she's shipping it Monday. Proof that karma and genuinely nice people exist. This is the kind of thing I've taught and preached to my awesome high school Be The Change Team. It feels wonderful to have the circle come around. Hopefully THAT will be here next week also!

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VACATION

Next week is my last week of work for the year and I'll have 2 weeks off!! I'll be able to play with all kinds of new stuff!

It feels so good to have so much good happening, especially when I was so down a week ago.

Enough of my happy rambling, I will be posting another recipe tomorrow so stay tuned!