Cheers

Give three cheers for all of the good things that have transpired in my life over the past week, starting with the most important first.

1. My new position at work was approved to be full time! If you didn't know, I had been half time for well over a year (our decision). We knew that eventually, once the financial reality of it hit us, I'd have to go back to full time, but figured whatever extra time I could have at home with Sam was worth the short term strains. This past November, my position was essentially cut due to the state's budget crisis, but thankfully, in the same breath, I was asked to take another half time position that was expected to be fully funded within six months - and it has in just 2 months!

I feel fortunate because it's still an 11 month out of the year position, I actually LIKE it a lot and am a real official Academic Advisor, which I had been working toward. I like the department chair (my new boss), and considering the current economic climate, I'm darn lucky to have what I have.

Besides all that, this enables Tim to finally quit his silly part time job, which had become a complete nuisance to us all. While I will deeply miss spending all that time with Sam, we'll have more time together as a family, and we'll be making more money. I'd call that a good shift.

2. I found 2 pairs of fabulous, butt-tastic (to me this means butt-minimizing) jeans in one brief shopping trip! Can you imagine?? I can finally retire the shredded, stained pairs I'd been sporting.

3. Our new coffeemaker - top rated on Consumer Reports (you know I do my homework). Sells for between 80 and 100, we got it for $64. Our old one was just a wreck. Isn't our new one all classy and fine?

4. We decided to finally buy the mother of all small kitchen appliances - the Kitchen Aid stand mixer. It was always on the fringes of my cooking consciousness, and it remained there because of the $300+ price tag and the fact that I don't bake very much. When trusty cooking types told me that it was oh-so-much-more than a baking tool, I paid more attention.

Tim was always a fan, I'm guessing because it's got wattage being cranked out by like an engine or something, so he didn't need convincing. I also suspect that he's thinking he'll get more home made desserts this way. Maybe, but more importantly, I'm fascinated by the dough hook for my pizza and bread.

But you know me, I can't spend the typical going rate. To do so would probably make me break out in hives. So we started watching. The 325-watt Artisan series seemed to suit our needs and is very well rated, and occasionally, Amazon runs specials for $249 or even as low as $229, but only on the basic colors - black, red, white. So we kept on. At the moment, my favorite color is Boysenberry, but that never goes on sale. Sigh. Note that a nice color is important to me because it would have to sit out on our counter top - I have no convenient place to store it. Black would be ok, but just ok, not sassy and sexy. You know? Yea.

Yesterday we were in Binghamton. We went to Kohls (were I found the jeans, by the way), and they were having a CLOSEOUT on the Kitchen Aid Artisan series mixer in Cobalt. I like Cobalt, but it wasn't my favorite, but the closeout price of $179 was making it my total fave. Then, to our disappointment, they didn't have any left. We offered to take the floor model (for an additional 10% off), but when they couldn't find the box and the paddle and whisk, we said never mind.

After we got home, we decided to find out if they could check other stores for the same deal. The Kohls in Horseheads has one sealed in a box, and they are shipping it to Binghamton. When it arrives, it is being set aside for us and we'll be able to pick it up for $179...but there's more good news...Kitchen Aid is offering a $30 manufacturer rebate until March. Yep. ONE FITTY is my final price. I love it. Like Jill would say, "I win."

So when I get the thing, I'll post a pic of it in its new home, and I'll tell you all about my first experiments with it.