Hot Izzy

Friday was an exciting day. I got my new Cuisinart mixer in the mail (I love you UPS man!). She's not pin up girl sexy like Kitty was, but Izzy is still sexy in the brunette with a harvard degree kind of sexy. If I had gotten a bosch I would have had to name her Helga or something equally beefy and German. Can't you just see Helga manhandling the dough? No, Helga would not look pretty on my counter. Izzy though, she's been a lot of fun. I've already made cookies twice and I baked bread yesterday. Se's a powerful, quiet little thing that has a timer on the side, so she knows when to stop mixing. She starts out nice and slow, then works up to speed, so there's no flour flying around. Can you tell I'm impressed? We even got G up there helping with the bread. The mixing guard not only keeps flour dust in, but it keeps little hands out, too.

Just one thing wrong, though. Jared thinks she's hot. Not THAT kind of hot. He thinks our ebay seller is running a scam. The seller has been inconsistent with her emails and the machine was actually mailed from Sears, not the seller. She also didn't want to use paypal, and has no selling record.  Jared called Sears today and tried to explain the situation. It took the service rep a while to understand what Jared was trying to tell her, but they are supposed to have a supervisor call him back. I hope we can get it straightened out.  I really would like to keep her.  I don't think I will be buying anything from untrusted ebay sellers ever again, though.

In other news, G is finally making progress with talking. It was starting to really stress me out that he didn't want to talk to us. But today he was saying da-da-da as we came down the stairs. I felt so bad that Jared had already left for work. I really should try to get up before he leaves. Then later in the morning, he pointed at one of the balls on the floor and said ball-ball-ball until I looked up and paid attention and then he went and got the ball and brought it to me.  Then as I was making cookies, I got him to say ook-hee.  Yay!  I have secretly been worried that he has had ear infections that I didn't pick up on or that something was wrong with his hearing. It never made sense though, because he follows directions just fine. I can tell him something very specific and he will do it. So, I guess we all just learn at our own pace. Either that, or I'm just not worth imitating :)! Maybe I haven't said enough cuss words in front of him- I'm sure he would pick up on that quick!

WFMW: a smattering of small tips

Tip#1:  Vinegar in the dishwasher

We have REALLY hard water in our area. We thought at first that the dishwasher that came with the house just sucked, but then we bought a Kitchenaid and even when we put a ton of Jet dry in, the dishwasher didn't really do its job.  A friend at work said she just puts vinegar in before starting the dishwasher.  It really works.  I always end up with clean dishes, no spots, and sometimes I don't even pre-rinse (shameful, I know!).  So there you go.  A little vinegar with your detergent goes a long way.  

Tip #2 Venus razors

I used to think all razors were basically equal, but then I pulled out one that I got from Santa a year or two ago in my stocking (thanks Abby!).  For a disposable it did a great job and I didn't nick myself at all.  And I have found that even when my leg hair is as long as the African Safari grasslands this razor takes it all in stride.  If you don't want to spend a lot of money on the starter pack, you can yank the top off of a disposable venus razor and use the replacement heads on it.

Tip #3

Scrubbing Bubbles toilet bowl gel stamper

I read this tip from someone else a few weeks ago and I love this product!  Not only does it keep your bathroom smelling fresh, I don't have hard water rings that I have to scrub away!  I don't know about you, but I don't treasure time spent with my head close to the toilet bowl, so anything that helps me do less of that is a great product.

As much as I love getting hits from people I don't know all over the world, I would love for some tips from friends close to home, too!  So even if you don't participate through Rocks in my Dryer, share something you've learned with me in the comments or on your blog!