An Early Christmas Present for Me!!!

I've curbed my shopping addiction over the past few years. Something about the holidays just makes me want to shop. I bought myself a new pair of black snow boots, red pumps, and nude colored pumps. I did promise to rid myself of some shoes that I no longer wear. I have yet to do it, but it's on my "to-do" list. Now, my next purchase could actually be construed to be Mr. B's fault. It all started when he was making steaks on the George Foreman Grill one night. As he was cleaning the grill, he dropped it and broke it! So, of course we need a new one. Since we don't use it all that often, we really weren't in a rush to purchase a new one. So, whenever I got the chance I would browse Khols and Bed Bath & Beyond to see what deals they had. That leads me to today...I was looking at Khols since I had $10 off and a 30% off coupon. I found the grill for $55. But I saw my stand alone electric mixer on sale for $350 and $10 Khols cash for every $50 spent. So I did the math and found out with the mixer purchase I would have enough Khols cash to get the grill for like $15. I used my $10 off coupon with my 30% off coupon and paid $258 for the mixer. AND....I get a $50 rebate off the mixer. So, the mixer comes to a little over $200! Win for me. Win for Mr. B! While I'm thrilled with my new mixer, if Mr. B wouldn't have broken our grill, I wouldn't be searching for one and ending up with the mixer. The mixer would still be on my "wish list." Alas, I have it now. I will purchase the grill after Christmas.

 

I even purchased it in my favorite color...RED!!! And it so does not match my green kitchen (unless of course I am going for a Cinco de Mayo theme-which I am not).

 

I got right to work using my new toy. I had some holiday baking to do, so this came in handy. I started off making the cookie batter for my blueberry cheesecake cookies for the cookie exchange we are doing at work Monday. While the dough was chilling, I got right to work on my dessert for Sunday's potluck after church. I made red velvet cheese cake bars. I got the cookie recipe from Pinterest. I got my cake bar recipe from a blogger I follow- Mix and Match Mama. I made her pecan pie cake bars twice, and they were a huge hit. I hope these cheese cake bars are just as delicious. I decided I needed an inaugural pic of me and my mixer:

Yes, I am a spoon licker....don't judge!

 

 I must say, I have been so busy today. Mr. B and I woke up, made breakfast, and went straight into town. We had to drive all the way to south Arlington to the mall to get our jewelry inspected. CAUTION: I'm about to go on a soapbox....I think it is ridiculous that there is now only one jewelry store where we bought all our jewelry. There used to be a closer location, but they closed it. Now I am forced to drive 45 minutes to get my stuff inspected. Needless to say, future jewelry purchases will NOT be at that store. Anyways....after that, we headed back to our part of town to purchase some K-cups at Bed, Bath & Beyond, then on to Khols to get my mixer. After Khols, we ventured to Sprouts to get some produce and yummy chicken parmesan sausage. We went home to unload our goods and headed to Boomer Jacks for a huge burger before heading back home for a quick nap. Mr. B had to go to work, and I had more errands to run. I braved Walmart (not something I do often) to get some last minute Christmas shopping done. I was smart and did most of it online. Just about everyone will give you free shipping this time of year. While at Walmart I came into some obstacles at checkout...all due to the Walmart gift card.

 

Register 1: Lady in front of me wants to purchase a Walmart gift card but can't find any envelopes to put it in. She walks up and down the registers asking other cashiers if they have one. Of course, she comes up empty handed. She tells our cashier she no longer wants it since there is no envelope. The cashier says he can get her one. What does he do? He walks up and down the registers asking the other cashiers if they have one. Like, was he expecting a different result? Did he think the other lady asked in a foreign language? So I move up a register thinking it was moving along nicely.

 

Register 2: The guy in front of me is paying with his Walmart gift card, and the cashier is telling him there is no money left on it. It isn't working. So what does this guy do? He takes the card from the cashier, shrugs his shoulders, takes his bags and walks off. Apparently he thought it wasn't his problem that there was no more money on his card and he could have the items anyway. Poor girl at the register tries to chase him out the door, leaving me stranded once again at the register, but to no avail....he is gone! So I move on to my next register....

 

Register 3: The lady in front of me is paying with what? Why yes, a Walmart gift card! The cashier scans it several times, as does the lady in front of me, but you guessed it....it doesn't work. The customer argues with the cashier saying how she's used it before and doesn't understand why it won't work. I'm still standing there patiently thinking "what are the odds?" At least this lady doesn't think she's entitled to the product with or without the money like the last guy. She decides to not take it and begins to walk away when he friend offers to pay for it. They step right back in line in front of me and make the purchase. At least the friend has a working credit card. Now, I can pay for my ONE item in peace. And would you believe it, my card didn't read the first time! Seriously? Lucky for me, my card took fine the second time and I could finally leave that place.

 

I figured I deserved a drink at Starbucks after all that nonsense. So I treated myself to a coffee while I grocery shopped. I came home and unloaded my stuff and got to work. Pretty much from 5pm till this very moment (after 10pm) I've been baking, wrapping presents, preparing for my Bible class lesson tomorrow, and blogging. I even stopped to take my shower. Now, all I have to do is prepare for my Holidays Around the World lesson for Tuesday. I got this! This is what happens when you are lazy during your time stuck at home. When you can go amongst society again and be busy, you have to play catch up. Oh, well! I will leave ya'll with pics of my final products of my baking....well, and this blog post:)