$10 gift certificate to Everything Kitchens

Hello ladies and gents, and fellow kitchen gadget aficionados.

I recently found myself leaping from the couch to figure out what was burning, only to find my blender lid melted on the element in my dishwasher. That was the final (plastic) straw and I went on a rampage to declutter my limited drawer space of sippy cups and unwanted plastic containers. We have nice plastic-free water bottles and no-spill cups, and plenty of glass storage, but when both are available the kids and the leftovers seem to be drawn to the toxins. My drawers were finally empty enough to close without jamming everything in, but I was still down one blender lid.

I shopped around, and found Everything Kitchens. They have free shipping on almost everything. Even though their prices were about 5-8% higher, my usual online kitchen store charged me $7.95 for a $9 part. Not cool.

Click on the banner for Wusthof Cutlery, Kitchen Aid Mixers & more!

 
And if you have a blog, and mention their store, they will send you a coupon code for $10 off, hence the advertising on this usually-free-of-advertising blog. So, in the end my lid will be $0.95. Very cool.

ETA: They do not have free shipping on everything (my item, for example) and although they do claim to price match, they won't combine any offers. They were friendly, but really I could have just placed two orders for the items I wanted and received both discounts, so why did have to be so complicated? In the end, I ordered the other item from Amazon. 

12 bucks! And an advent idea

Medium Bag= $12 through October 7th

Check out this idea for blessing a friend with an Advent Basket. I'm still pondering over who should be on the receiving end, but this (not so) little tote would be the perfect place to put all the Advent treasures. 

the eternal optimist strikes again

Is the hope that comes with being optimistic worth the great falls when "the plan" doesn't go the way you thought? I'm not sure if it is (I'm beginning to think the pessimist totally got it right- he is always pleasantly surprised). My husband says he's a "realist" which sounds less negative. According to a friend, there are half-full people, half-empty, and also "so-what-if-it-isn't full" kind of guys. Seems like the last category would be the safest place to live.

I had one good day two weeks ago, and I decided I was up for painting my fireplace. If I had known I'd go downhill again so soon I might have...I don't know...made and frozen a meal for my family. Something more practical than changing up the house a bit.

Lots of uninteresting details, but I'm struggling with some health problems that will hopefully get worked out soon (at which time I'll tell you about whatever natural miracle cure was helpful). Most of it has been exacerbated by weeks of very little sleep, which is why I haven't been blogging.

Here are some rough before and after pictures. Thanks to my friend, Amy, who was staying with us when I got the crazy whim to paint. Do you know how hard it is to paint something in the middle of your house (a room with no doors) when your children are around? As soon as it was mostly dry, Thomas decided to climb right in and try out some soot foot prints around the hearth.

And the good news (?) is that the old wood stove isn't up to code, so it's just a Plain Old White Fireplace. I've just been informed that the stove not working is actually bad news we're trying to make good (see, Optimist vs. Realist). So the new goal is get a different stove in the basement, but that's still in the works.

Painting the door will have to wait until things stabilize around here. (But I'm sure it won't be long.)