What did you get?

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Accckkk!!- I now only have four hand dipped chocolate covered cherries left from my christmas gift of a one pound box of them from DH.

[Aggie_Ama]

OMG - that was my Mothers Day gift in 2005. I LOVE it!!!!

OMG! Why ever did I wait 35 years?????? The difference and ease with which that machine masters heavy doughs and batters in just incredible. I whipped out heavy fruitcake, batter, endless batches of cookies, and even cranberry bread in record time. Of course space is a huge problem in my kitchen and now that I'm done with baking for many months, need to figure out where to put it. It IS heavy... but worth the hassle of having to move it around.

Yup, I am lucky I kept begging for one and only had a to wait about 3 years to receive. It handles my sugar cookie dough (thick and hard) with ease. Cheesecakes, cakes, cookie dough, pie filling, it just laughs at whatever I throw at it. I love that I put the cake mix in, turn it on and go grease and flour the pan then be ready to pour. I don't ever move it but to clean, I am thankful for the clear counter space to leave it on.

[Cataboo]

Accckkk!!- I now only have four hand dipped chocolate covered cherries left from my christmas gift of a one pound box of them from DH.

It's time to start celebrating 3 kings day so you can have another pound.

[Tuckervill]

Oh, I just couldn't in my own mind justify the cost of the thing! But I salivated over all my girlfriends' mixers. I went on Consumer Reports, and the Classic appeared to be the best value (do I really need a meat grinder attachment?--no), and hey, you can't miss what you never had.

My friend has one that has to be 40 years old, and it's basically the same as mine. (Passed down to her by a grandparent.) They bought attachments on ebay over the years and that thing's never going to quit.

Karen

[NoNo]

In past Christmases I've asked for and received the Kitchenaid stand mixer and food processor, as well as a real restaurant-style Belgian waffle maker. I use them all the time, but never would have gone and bought them myself. The waffle maker is required at all family functions as waffle sundaes are a long-time tradition. Everyone loves it, says they want one, but never get it. Maybe they should ask for one

[Aggie_Ama]

My mom got the Artisan because it is what Bed Bath and Beyond had and she had a 20% off coupon and $50 rebate at the time. Can't blame her for being thrifty those puppies are not cheap! My friend deer hunts and uses the grinder to process his own meat. If pasta weren't so dang cheap I would like the pasta attachment.

I got an electric wine opener for Christmas that is the coolest thing since sliced bread. I got to use it this weekend and that is one amazing gadget. Kitchen appliances are always a good gift for me. I have received a food processor, gizmo can opener, electric wine opener, an iron, cookie cutters (100 pack), cookie sheets, springform pans, an apron all for Christmas. I like to cook so they are perfectly appropriate!

[LBTC]

Ah, the Kitchen Aid. I've dropped the hint here and there, but DH thinks I have to choose it....so it will not be a gift. And I am too thrifty to pay that kind of money for a kitchen appliance for myself....it's not made of carbon faster and will not make my ride faster! heh

DH spoiled me, aslways. 2 pairs of very different slippers, custom jewelry in both types I like - recycled bike parts and semi-precious stones, CD's (we got each other the same CDs, even - Tool and Nine Inch Nails, but even the same releases!!), books about bike training, eating for bike training, and a martini recipe book, martini glasses , a sexy little black dress, a sexy chinese robe, a sheepskin handbag, leopard spot wallet gloves and scarf, the Dean Koontz book I wanted - my goodness, I'm sure I missed some things!! He was thrilled with his gifts, too, even liking the hoodie, and loving the bib shorts, bib tights, and the new tires for his road bike. I LOVE seeing that reaction!

And, of course, our house is overflowing with chocolate and assorted goodies! Yikes!

and then we did some boxing day shopping - he had to buy a new laptop since his died on Christmas day, and I found a beautiful leopard print Pashmina scarf (now adorning the bed) and a gorgeous buddha carving to hang in my zen den. All were on sale!

We've barely used the ipod nano from last Christmas, but he got me new earphones that fit the ear better, and he's got the new laptop, so I'm loading and copying CDs today. Hard to say which ones to leave out - we have hundreds of CDs to choose from!!!

And, yes, whoever said it, I really enjoy opening gifts!! The anticipation is so fun! And *anything* wrapped up is exciting.

Hugs and butterflies,
~T~

[Tuckervill]

Wow, your husband must LOVE to shop!

Karen

[OakLeaf]

Ooooh, I love my KA stand mixer but I rarely use it as such (only for pie crusts). I use the PTO for saucing tomatoes and apples, and running the pasta maker.

DO NOT try use the strainer attachment to seed raspberries though. The seeds are just the right/wrong size that they will jam it like you would not have believed possible. The whole thing will stop turning and you'll be lucky to get the attachment off. You have been warned.

[OakLeaf]

Hard to say which ones to leave out - we have hundreds of CDs to choose from!!!

Rip them all. If you don't have enough room on your internal hard drive, storage is cheap, and you can locate your default iTunes library on an external drive.

Then create playlist(s) small enough to sync to your iPod. You can include "date last played" as a criterion so songs scroll off your iPod playlist once they've been played. And you can specifically size-limit a playlist and tell iTunes how to sort songs into it.

I've got a large portion of my own library ripped in duplicate at two different bit-rates: hi-res for archival purposes and streaming over the Squeezebox, and lower res for the iPod. But that is a PITA.