The Pressure Cooker Comes of Age, Not #InstantPot #KickAKitchen #QuickCook #HomeChef #SYWR

I'm certain you've heard of Instant Pot, a brand so dominant in its market that its name has become synonymous with "digital electric pressure cooker." In other words, Instant Pot isn't the only brand making these seemingly useful small kitchen appliances, but you wouldn't know this from all the brand's "free advertising" segments appearing on all the mainstream health, cooking and general interest TV shows and blogs touting the product. Instant Pot pretty much owned the 2017 small kitchen appliances market. But I didn't rush to jump on the bandwagon. My curiosity was peaked, however. So I investigated. Here's what I found....

First, do you actually need an electric pressure cooker or, more appropriately for these appliances, multi-cooker? This is why research is important. Don't run out and buy the "in thing" only to have it sit on a shelf collecting dust and eventually be relegated to the junk pile. (Please donate or recycle.) You should start by determining if this appliance will actually be useful for YOUR OWN NEEDS. Pressure Cookers of old (those manual, stovetop contraptions) were great kitchen appliances but required a lot of diligence to use. They were prone to exploding, and so were quite off-putting to any but the most dedicated cook. As technology progressed so did the pressure cooker. It became electric --- just plug it in --- then digital with clear LCD displays and eventually adding "smart" technology via micro-computer controllers --- with each iteration stabilizing the cooking process. Today's appliance is not your grandmother's. Safety innovations and task automation have transformed this appliance into a "must-have" kitchen gadget for many. Sturdily constructed aluminum or stainless steel pots with built-in pressure gauges & valves and lipless seals have all but removed the threat of explosion. And there's no need to slave over a hot stove watching the pot boil. Today's pressure cooker offers "set it and forget it" convenience, you toss the ingredients inside, pick a setting and allow the machine to do the hard work while you go do something else. Like read a book.

Second, merely because a brand dominates a market does not mean it's the only viable option. There are numerous brands making "digital electric pressure cookers." In fact, many recognizable small kitchen appliance brands have their own version. Performing a quick search for "electric pressure cooker" on a site such as Macys.com or Kmart.com returns items from brands like Presto, NutriChef, Pressure Pro and MegaChef to name a few. Yes, Instant Pot has the name recognition, but other brands options garner ratings that equal or surpass those of Instant Pot. (NOTE: Several well regarded cookery sites ranked other brands better than comparable Instant Pot cookers in tests.) As with any potential purchase, shop around. Evaluate your personal needs. For instance, think about for how many people do you typically cook meals? in order to determine the size gadget you'll need, as these appliances range from ~3QT to 10QT cooking vats. Pick a product that works within your budget --- while most versions are "$100 or less" there are, of course, pricier versions that may add options which you may find useless. Make a list of what features are important to you and then match it to any appliances at or around your price point.

As a vegetarian who hasn't met a grain she dislikes, the idea of a "digital electric pressure cooker" is exactly on target. I LOVE rice, quinoa, spelt, etc. I love stir-fry veggies. I love soups, and don't get me started on legumes.... Basically, anything this appliance is touted as being able to cook perfectly and effortlessly, I eat almost daily. So I figured getting one could change my kitchen routine in a positive manner. (It has been said that this appliance is a fast "slow cooker" --- and I live by my crock pots.) I wanted one! I decided I needed one. As a savvy shopper, I desired the BEST deal, I wished for a well-rated appliance with a decent amount of preset functions that would cost me as little OOP (out of pocket) as possible. I shop for quality and value. Brand is almost always an afterthought. Gone are the days when buying a specific brand automatically insured you purchased the best option. In today's marketplace, there are almost always many options and often "no-name" brands equal or surpass the known ones. So do your research and pick what is best for YOUR NEEDS. (I can't stress this enough.)

After deciding I could genuinely benefit from acquiring an "instant pot" --- I thought an "electric pressure cooker" would make a great Valentine's Gift to myself --- I looked at my budget and evaluated payment options. When shopping, I always look to use accumulated "purchasing power" like gift cards, rewards certificates, etc. FIRST and cash OOP as a last resort, of course. As a result, I buy a lot of things from Sears/Kmart. (I have discussed this before.) I am a long-time Shop Your Way Rewards (SYWR) member and this rewards program is still very good (it used to be insane). Though I worry about the ability of the company to continue to operate, I'm still "getting while the getting is good." So I started there, searching Kmart.com for "instant pot." I quickly discovered that Kmart doesn't carry the Instant Pot brand. It was available via third-party marketplace vendors, which would allow me to earn rewards points for the purchase, but not to redeem any points I had accumulated in my account. (One can generally only redeem rewards points on items sold directly by Sears or Kmart.) Preferring to use my rewards on an item from Kmart (or Sears), I next searched for the more generic "electric pressure cooker" --- and because Kmart's search function is temperamental to say the least, I also searched for the lowest common denominator term "pressure cooker" to be safe. Both searches returned items for which I could redeem rewards points. I refined those searches ranking the lowest price points and the best customer ratings in turn and came up with a short list of "electric pressure cookers" that were well rated, within my price range (based upon the amount of rewards points I currently had available) and that allowed for redemption of said rewards points.

Pressure Pro 4QT Electric Pressure Cooker

I refined this list further by evaluating cooking pot size and listed features, and decided that Harvest Cookware's Pressure Pro 4QT Electric Pressure Cooker (Model 20512) should well meet my needs. It had a list price of $59.99 on Kmart.com. I added the item to my cart to "hold" as a potential purchase and continued my research. I never fully trust online reviews, especially on shopping sites that I know can be easily gamed. As a result, I always read reviews across multiple sites and "average" the feedback. So I travelled to Amazon.com, to the manufacturer's own web site and to a couple of other shopping sites to see what was being said about this product. I generally pay more attention to "verified purchase" reviews and longer, more detailed reviews. I look out for features listed on other shopping sites that have potentially been omitted from Kmart's product description. (I don't know who handles data entry for the Kmart/Sears catalogs, but I've found this person often "shortlists" products, leaving out important details, so I'll go check to see what the manufacturer says is included, etc. on its own website.) Overall the item I selected fared well. It had a number of solid reviews across the various sites I checked. It also had a lower list price on Kmart.com than Amazon.com, and to boot, by the time I'd finished my fact-checking, Kmart.com had put kitchen appliances on sale for Valentine's Day (by the way, knowing when special sales will occur can be beneficial when shopping), so the price was now listed as $54.99 in my cart.

Due to my SYWR membership (and possibly my extensive online purchase history), I'd been awarded $10.00 FREECASH Rewards Bonus Points to use towards a minimum $50.00 purchase at Sears/Kmart and also had $41.93 Rewards Points amassed in my account. Thus, I was able to put a total of $51.93 in rewards points credit towards a $54.99 item --- and would only need to pay $3.33 OOP (the total with tax included, after rewards credit). For this balance due, I used a virtual VISA Debit Card with an approximate $5.00 balance that I'd received as a gift from a nameless company's "Thank You eNewsletter Subscribers" promotion, so even the OOP part was "free" money, earned with little effort on my part. Because I (still) have a Shop Your Way Max trial membership, this order also qualified for free shipping and is scheduled to arrive here on Friday. So y'all, I got me a TOTALLY free "instant pot" for Valentine's Day! Hooah! I'm so excited. Can't wait to cook sticky rice, a fond memory from my college cafeteria forays. Of course, I can't say whether this appliance will work as advertised or whether these gadgets live up to the hype overall; however, having acquired one for FREE, I am willing to chance it --- and test it out in my kitchen. (Stay tuned for the results.)

The #SundayFunday: #Recap and #Unwind #Keurig #Coffee #VeggettiPro #Spiralizer #Zoodles #Drinkwell

Sunday is one of my favorite days, the true weekend, I use this day to catchup and reflect on the week past. Pup and I head out for a leisurely constitutional to kick things off and then I make coffee and turn on the morning news programs --- I regularly watch CBS News Sunday Morning with Jane Psuley at 9:00a, but otherwise will flip channels between the different shows to find stories of interest --- when we return.

I might read a few magazines, do a little browsing online (often following up on news bits mentioned on the morning broadcasts), work in my garden (seasonally) and/or watch a movie or two. It's a day of rest, where I try NOT to set an agenda, but enjoy What Dreams May Come whenever they happen to arrive. (Sometimes I do work on a Sunday, but unlike Saturday, I aim for this to be the exception, rather than the rule.)

Spring Break is ending, which means my little niece is headed back home to prepare for school restarting. So we should have peace and quiet to contemplate and wallow. What's that sound? No thing. Not a creature is stirring --- exactly how we like it!

After a relaxing morning, we plan to play around with our new toys later today. The furbabies' Drinkwell® Multi Tier Pet Water Fountain arrived via post yesterday; while I've got my Veggetti Pro Vegetable Spiral Cutter and a Nifty Home Products K-Cup Storage Drawer for my Keurig 2.0. (As I don't generally buy the prefab K-Cups as a rule, preferring to use a refillable K-Cup filter --- less waste and I can grind my own coffee beans fresh --- I figure I can store other coffee ritual paraphernalia in the drawer, which also acts as an elevated stand for the Keurig brewing machine.)

I got the storage drawer for free at Sears using SYWR points and I only paid $3.77 OOP for the Veggetti Pro at Sears after deducting SYWR points. The pet water fountain is a reward (freebie) available through the Purina Catchow Perks program for which I redeemed 275,000 points that I'd earned over the last year or so. (It states to allow 4-6 weeks for Catchow Perks rewards to arrive in the order confirmation email I received and yesterday marked a few days shy of "4 weeks" from the date of my order.)

Perhaps, we'll make zoodles for dinner....

Beware the #IdesofMarch It Comes for Thee Also Maybe. #WeatherGeek + #SYWR Score #Veggetti #Zoodles #AsSeenOnTV

Julius Caesar was betrayed and murdered on the 15th of March (the 15th day of the month is known as the "Ides" in the Roman era) and as a result, this day has henceforth been synonymous with misfortune. Beware the Ides of March!

Many have no doubt heard this warning, but might also be unaware from whence it comes. Because one dude bought the farm on this date eons ago, the rest of us are cautioned to tread carefully today. Yeah, right. Sorry, Caesar, perhaps you should have picked better friends or how about not be a "Caesar"? Dictators often fair poorly. Just saying.

Personally, I'm good with March 15th. In fact, any "Ides" is fine by me. Speaking of which, today is bear hibernation cold --- as was yesterday, and tomorrow is supposed to be more of the same before a warming trend kicks in on Friday afternoon --- but, considering the frigid and snowy weather conditions in the Northeast right now, we got off lightly down here.

The potential for blizzards was a major reason why I chose not to attend university in the Northeast. I do not love the cold. (Sorry, Ivies. If only, you would've moved to California. Oh, wait...) So pup and I are hunkered down again today. Though pup keeps trying to take meandering strolls outdoors --- just because she has a built-in fur coat!

On the house front, my Kick-A-Kitchen is continuing to develop nicely. As it was cold, wet and windy yesterday, after I finished work, I spent part of the afternoon browsing online looking for deals since I couldn't very well go work outside. The afternoon was not wasted. I scored an As Seen On TV: Veggetti Pro Spiral Vegetable Cutter [MSRP $32.98] for only $3.77 OOP.

Having researched "vegetable spiralizers" over the last year or so --- the gadget is was on my Future Shopping List, after all --- I knew that the Veggetti Pro Spiral Vegetable Cutter is well rated (earning approximately 4.5 out of 5 stars on both Amazon and Kmart), especially when compared to the handheld regular Veggetti Spiral Vegetable Cutter (which merely earns approximately 3.5 out of 5 stars on both Amazon and Kmart).

Having done SYWR product catalog searches for "vegetable spiralizers" and "vegetable slicers," I also knew that both the handheld regular version and the pro version of the Veggetti Spiral Vegetable Cutter were carried by either Sears or Kmart, so I realized there was a good possibility that I would eventually happen upon a deal for one --- preferably the pro version.

The Back Story: Sadly, I no longer enjoy pasta. This has been a gradual, yet fairly recent, seemingly unexplainable change in palate, as I absolutely loved pasta when I was a kid. (Oddly enough, however, I did hate macaroni & cheese as a child, which I could not have explained to myself if I had been asked to do so, because separately I loved pasta and I loved (still love) cheese. WTF? But perhaps, this strangeness was a precursor to my current food preferences.) Over the last several years, I've progressed from hating Mac & Cheese, to hating all "big noodle" pasta --- I could tolerate Angel Hair pasta, for a time --- to disliking pasta, period. I like the "idea of noodles" --- just not the taste or consistency of pasta, apparently.

But I, of course, love veggies. (I'm vegetarian.) As such, I decided that what I craved was a noodle-like alternative to pasta. Enter "zoodles" --- or in this case, the ability to turn vegetables, like zucchini [zucchini noodles = zoodles], and fruits into noodle form. It's all the rage! I figured I could continue to enjoy "noodles" without my increasing distaste for water cooked dough (pasta) making me gag. Thus, I've been wanting a vegetable spiralizer or spiral cutter, the kitchen gadget which turns veggies and fruits into noodles, for a minute.

How'd I get this great low price? (Less than 1/8 of the MSRP.) Check the step-by-step breakdown:

1. I started at Sears. The regular price of a Veggetti Pro Spiral Vegetable Cutter on the sears.com website is only $19.99 (versus $24.99 + $7.99 p&h, which is the amount I would have paid by ordering one directly from the manufacturer's website, veggettipro.com). It pays to shop around and compare prices.

2. Sears was having a Friends & Family Sale on Sunday in stores (but the sale continued through Tuesday online) which discounted most small appliances by 10%. Thus, Sears regular price of $19.99 instantly dropped to $16.99 on sale.

3. Next, I used a coupon. I'd previously loaded a "Member Exclusive" coupon to my Sears account which offered "15% Off Any Item in the Home Department." With the coupon, the $16.99 price dropped to $14.44.

4. Then, I redeemed my rewards. I had rewards points in my account, accumulated from small sweepstakes wins over the last two weeks. This sweeps loot totalled $10.92, which brought the pre-tax item price down to $3.52 when deducted. (I could've opted to find an item that was $10.92 or less and in turn get said item totally free with my rewards points balance, of course. For instance, the handheld Veggetti Spiral Vegetable Cutter is only $9.99 at Kmart, so I could have bought it and paid zero out-of-pocket. However, being able to score the very well rated pro version instead is a big win on a useful tool I actually wanted.)

5. Finally, the tax was 25-cents. Making the total due $3.77. I selected Free Store Pickup as the order didn't meet the recently increased $30 threshold in order to qualify for SYWMax Free Shipping.

So while it will take a trip to the local Sears store to get my grubby hands on the Veggetti Pro Spiral Vegetable Cutter, I'll have spent less than 1/8 the cost of purchasing it online directly from the manufacturer, which makes this a great deal in my boo7k, in spite of having to pick it up at the store.

BONUS: I paid the OOP cost with my "free" money stash (discretionary income earned from taking random surveys online). Not a bad afternoon. Winning! This is like an early birthday gift to myself. Yay! I get to enjoy "pasta", again.

Oh noes! The Gravy Train Dried Up --- #SYWR + SYWMax

Sears Holdings Corporation (SHC) is finally making self-salvaging moves. The minimum order amount to qualify for the Shop Your Way Max shipping program was recently bumped up to $30.00. (When I first started my "trial" of the program it was only $5.00, then moved up to $10.00 about a year later, where it sat for roughly two years.) I often remarked on the fact that I would order a $5.00 or $10.00 item for free using rewards points and the shipping would have cost nearly as much as the item --- if it wasn't free also.

In other words, there is now way the program could continue bleeding loss like this. So it had to, of necessity, adjust prices to qualify for the free shipping. While this is a good business decision, it means that it will be more difficult for me (or other consumers) to score free items and have them shipped to me for free. I didn't say impossible, it will merely take more effort to stack up at least $30.00 value in rewards points (without making a purchase/s).

Alternatively, I can use the free store pick-up option to get low cost items (nearly) free, as I did yesterday when I ordered a coffee grinder for free using my rewards points and first discovered the minimum order price bump. Store Pickup is unfortunately a hassle due to inept store employees --- it's always a bad experience at certain stores --- and it uses time and gas. Besides, it's not nearly as fun as getting packages delivered right to your door. The freebie times are a-changing. Le sigh.

In all honesty, I'm surprised the freebie gravy train that was SHC lasted as long as it did. I have been a SYWR member for at least 5 years and have gotten hundreds, if not a thousand or so dollars worth of free merchandise. Compared to having spent approximately $20.00. It was a consumer bonanza for a long time. Way to crawl out of the red SHC...

Playing Fun #Sweeps - #SYWR Points #ShoppingList #VeggieSpiralizer #Coffee Grinder #MyWants #Rewards #Prizes

I'm not much of a gambler. I don't like having the odds stacked against me. As a result, you can forget about my playing the lottery or table games in Vegas. (I play penny and nickel slots for the fun of it.) The only "gaming" I tend to throw my hand in are the contests which require no initial outlay on my part (free entry). So I will "spin the wheel" for sweepstakes at Shop Your Way, because it's free to enter. I earn random rewards points and use these to get free and nearly free merchandise.

Yesterday, I won 10,000 rewards points or $10.00 in one of the SYWR sweepstakes games, which added to my "pot of gold" (the amount of rewards points available to redeem in my account). My earliest won sweeps points won't expire for a few days yet (most sweeps prize points are only good for 14 days after they're won), so I'll keep playing and (hopefully) adding to my stash. Then I'll cash out for a nifty gadget on the last day possible to maximize my rewards discount.

So now I'm thinking about low-cost kitchen gadgets --- I love small kitchen appliances! I'm torn between a coffee grinder and a vegetable spiralizer. Hmm...

#Nostalgia 2-Speed #Milkshake Maker Kmart Score #MyBar #Carnival Concessions Stand #IceCream Parlor #SYWR #SavvyShopper

This is so cool! Yesterday, I scored a Nostalgia 2-Speed Milkshake Maker machine from crazy Kmart for $0.35 OOP (out of pocket). It will be perfect for the concessions stand in my "Carnival - Circus - Fair - Old Fashioned Ice Cream Parlor - Old Timey Soda Shop - Old Picture Show Cinema - Novelties" themed basement barroom come home theater entertainment center. (That's a mouthful!)

How I Did It: I won 10,000 Surprise Points or $10.00 (off a $20.00 minimum purchase) in Kmart's Billion Point Giveaway Super Bowl LI promotion. I got another $2.00 SYWR Points for downloading and installing the Fount app, a Sears Holding Corp (SHC) outlet, and registering for an account using a special SYWR promo code. And then over the last week or so, I also won a further $9.53 SYWR Points total via various SYWR sweepstakes (including some "Spin to Win" ones via the Win It! app, another SHC outlet). Altogether, this gave me $21.53 SYWR Points available to spend at Kmart.

After a rough week, I needed a fun pick-me-up, so I searched Kmart's website for small kitchen appliances in the $20.00-$25.00 range (the "what could I get for nearly free" price range based upon the SYWR points available in my account) and my eyes fell upon a spindle milkshake blender almost immediately. The regular price is listed as $29.99, but I caught it during Kmart's Home Goods savings event, so it's on sale for $21.86. After my SYWR Points discount, this price was decreased to $0.33 plus $0.02 tax for a grand total of $0.35. I also get it shipped to me for free ($6.29 shipping fee savings) due to my SYWMax trial.

Nostalgia 2-Speed Milkshake Maker via Kmart.com

Just like DJ Khaled says, "All I do is win!" (Yesterday, at least. And I needed a bit of that.) I love, love, love ice cream in all of its incarnations, so I am a certified milkshake fiend. The shipment should arrive by Monday the 20th. I'll probably commence making old fashioned milkshakes approximately two minutes after it gets here. I've got my colored straws ready and my milkshake glassware standing by.

For now, however, we'll have to see what today holds...

New #Football #Batman #BarGlassware! #SYWR #Deals #StorePickup #Guarantee #Kmart #BadCustomerService

After Christmas, being that I was on holiday, I played a few games, entered a contest or two, and caught up on the telly. (I am the epitome of a time-shifting viewer, with the exception of news and sports, I seldom watch anything at the time it first airs.) One of the fun things I like to do in my spare time is to enter Shop Your Way Rewards Instant Win Sweepstakes, because these contests give one a chance to win random amounts of rewards points. Catching a Doorbusters period on a specific sweeps is even sweeter because points are earned merely for entering.

I can usually earn several bucks worth of rewards points per week just by fooling around. Add to this any surprise points I'm awarded and any relevant coupons I load to my account, and I can easily end up with a free $5-$10 worth of points available to use on a near weekly basis when time permits. Combine all this with free shipping on items $10+ as a perk of an ever-renewing Shop Your Way Max trial or free store pickup for items under $10, and it becomes very obvious that I get a LOT of free merchandise from Sears and Kmart. (And I'm not the only one, if the various freebie and deal sites are in any measure accurate.)

It's no wonder Sears Holding Corp (SHC) has been flirting with bankruptcy for years, it gives away far too much money value! Don't get me wrong, I love free stuff as much as the next guy and I've surfed the freerider wave along with all the other deal hunters. But you'd have to be obtuse to not recognize that giving away multiple times the amount you take in is not a sound business practice. I'd crudely estimate that I've gotten at least one free $5-$10 item (and often greater value ones depending on sales and promotions) from Sears and/or Kmart every other week for the last two to three years without even trying too hard. (Think of the deal hounds that actually work at it.)

Just a guess, but based upon my own personal experiences, SHC probably gives away at least $15 for every $1 it earns. You can't sustain that sort of loss and expect to be a profitable business. But I'm not a company executive, I'm a consumer who likes deals. So while I shake my head, it's not my fault if the company is being run by idiots. The fact that SHC also outsources most of its customer service operations to a call center that seems perpetually staffed with incompetent fools further complicates matters. When your hallmark is atrociously bad customer service, eventually your (presumed) customer base starts rooting for your demise.

Libbey Football Tumbler, 4-pc set

DC Comics Batman Tumbler, 2-pc set

Meanwhile the fire sale is quite fantastic! My latest SYWR scores are some nifty themed glassware sets, a 4-pc Libbey Football Tumbler ($7.99 on sale) and a 2-pc DC Comics Batman Tumbler ($11.39 on sale). I got the football set totally free (excepting the time and gas required for store pickup) using $7.99 worth of points. Then because the local Kmart store pickup was an abysmal nightmare --- as always --- and Sears/Kmart have a guarantee that you'll get your order in 5 minutes or less, most of those points were refunded, by which time I'd earned some additional points, and so was able to order the more expensive DC Comics set for free, too. And as this second set cost >$10, it was also shipped to me for free.

Both sets will make fun additions to my home bar. I've previously mentioned that my "basement entertainment complex" is being developed around a carnival/fair/circus theme, so novelty glassware is just the ticket! Besides, it's a family bar room, so there'll be as many EANABs available as there will be alcoholic beverages, perhaps more depending on the event. Watching the upcoming Super Bowl is gonna rock while sipping soda or beer out of the football tumblers. And Mardi Gras? POW! BLAM! Batman!

Will it #Snow? Sounds Like a Good Impetus To Stock Up on Extra #Bedding. #SYWR #WeatherGeek

There may be an accumulation of snow in the metro Atlanta area this weekend! As Winter is finally upon us (for a spell), I thought it was a good time to acquire more stock for the bedding closet. It's always good to have extra blankets, quilts and throws at hand. Besides, I had some limited-time Shop Your Way Rewards (SYWR) points that were due to expire today.

Thus yesterday, using the SYWR points I'd earned from several Sweepstakes Doorbusters Prizes and a few (small denomination) Sweepstakes Prize Points Wins --- approximately $8.00 in points, when taken together --- I ordered two free Cannon Fleece Throws (50" W x 60" L), a Blue Plaid one and a Grey Plaid one, that were $3.99/ea. on sale utilizing the free store pickup service, and which will be lovely for snuggling while reading or watching movies.

Cannon Fleece Throw, Blue Plaid

Cannon Fleece Throw, Grey Plaid

I don't like being overheated, whether it's Winter or Summer. In Winter, I generally keep the thermostat set at around 64 degrees unless somebody is ill or we have guests, in which case I will adjust it accordingly. (There's a decent amount of research regarding how long-term mild cold exposure helps with metabolism by forcing the body to activate brown fat (BAT) in order to expend white fat as energy instead of storing it, which in turn works to keep one lean.) I'd rather snuggle in a blanket, if need be, or add layers of clothing, than be in sweltering heat any day of the year.

Scoring free blankies makes me feel a bit like Linus, though Schroeder is my favorite Peanuts® character. (It's all good, however, because I like Linus, second best. Poor old Charlie Brown.) Perhaps subconsciously, I gravitate toward the blue and the grey colors because of my avid interest in Civil War history. Then, again, I tend to like cool hues in home decor. Who knows really? The mind is a terrible thing....

All the #WorldsFair Game: A #Carnival Themed Room #FunFood #Nostalgia #Novelty #Cake

As a child, I loved it when the county fair came to town bringing its Calliope music, amusement park rides, games, ponies and plethora of concession stand foods. My mom would take us and we'd wander the fairgrounds for hours, imbibing all the sights and sounds. There were so many other worldly things to behold. It was heaven. A fair was such a place of magic for me that when I handed over my admission ticket and crossed through its gates being surrounded by hoards of people no longer fazed me.

I almost always won a little goldfish, which I would bear home excitedly in its water-filled plastic bag, my hands still sticky with cotton candy, my pocket bulging from a candy apple I'd tucked there to munch later. My closest sister and I would tally our spoils and regale each other with stories of how each item had been acquired, our tales getting taller with each retelling. We'd giggle long into the night, falling asleep with bellies full of mirth. The glow from a visit to the fair could illuminate me for days.

Being an unique individual, an odd duck as it were, I enjoy variety, novelty and strangeness and the fair packed all this in a plenty. There was no place like it on earth --- a window to worlds far removed from the staid, conservative box walling in my small town life. Unbelievably, as young and impressionable little nerd, I got to attend the 1982 World's Fair (or the Knoxville International Energy Exposition) on a field trip with the school's gifted program. In my reflections, the World's Fair marked the first time that I was able to personally witness working large scale ideas, which up to that point I'd only read about in books.

Encountering "dreams made real" altered my entire concept of thinking like a "county fair x 1,000,000" the World's Fair proved an event so momentous it would inform much of my adult life philosophy, from my hard-core support of solar energy to my desire to build a video arcade in the basement of my dream home. To this day, I'm still not certain how my mother managed to pull off paying for the trip. As an adult, I can well appreciate the sacrifices it must have meant for our materially poor family to scrimp and save the funds required. (My mother would move mountains for her children's education. Thank you, mom.) Oh, what memories --- still so vivid in my mind's eye!

With such far out experiences warping my psyche, it should be no wonder that I collect World's Fair memorabilia, automatons, puppets, marionettes and novelty kitsch, or that I love stuffed animals, pet fish, target shooting and concession foods like funnel cake, nachos and popcorn. My basement blueprint (consisting of a barroom, entertainment center and home theater) is centered around a carnival theme. When complete, it will have a sizable concessions area where all manner of novelty food stuff can be made on the fly.

Mini Bundt Cake Maker

Mini Bundt Cake Maker

I keep an eye out for deals on nifty small kitchen appliances and too bright decor in order to outfit my concessions grotto. (At this point, I own a good number of zany carnival inspired food gadgets made by companies such as Nostalgia Electrics.) Over the summer, I purchased a flipping Elite Cuisine Mini Bundt Cake Maker, ostensibly because I didn't like the fact that it will overheat the entire house if the oven is turned on in order to bake a cake when it's 90+ degrees outside. In truth, I simply adore kitchen gadgets, especially ones that make food fun.

I got it for a steal. Regularly priced $39.99 at Kmart online; however, by combining a Sears Gift Card (earned via Recyclebank), SYWR Points, SYWR Surprise Points, and a coupon, I only paid $2.25 OOP using my free cash Bluebird card --- and it was shipped to me for free due to my SYWMax program trial!

Yesterday, while watching a movie, I also baked a couple mini bundt cakes, just because I could. (Well, Kroger gave me a free box of Pillsbury Cake Mix during its 12 Days of Deals Holiday promotion and that strawberry cake mix kept staring at me, so I gave in and baked it. 1 box of cake mix = 2 mini cakes) Pup, who is ever a ready sous chef, tried to eat an entire mini cake. It ended up being a great afternoon in spite of a lackluster movie rental (Florence Foster Jenkins). A good time was had by all!

#SYWR Holidays: Free #Velvet Throw + Free Toaster

Last week Sears/Kmart had several deals going for Black Friday, including offering free shipping on ALL orders with no minimum, no Max membership required (normally an order needs a $10.00 minimum to qualify for free shipping under the Shop Your Way Max program, which provides free 2-Day shipping on products sold by Sears/Kmart). It was possible to score some free products by combining points earned via the Shop Your Way Rewards (SYWR) program with the no-minimum free shipping promotion.

There are several ways to earn SYWR points, some of which require no purchase. In other words, you can score totally free points that can be converted into $ toward your purchases.

Using SYWR points earned from Sweepstakes Doorbusters (certain sweeps will award early entries free points) and a few Sweepstakes wins, I was able to get a free Cannon Velvet Plush Throw (70" L x 50" W) that will be great for snuggling while reading or watching movies and a free Proctor Silex 2-Slice Toaster --- which turned out to be a timely freebie considering that my sister somehow killed my toaster the last time we had brunch. (Unfortunately, she's accident-prone AND technologically inept which usually means gadgets in her vicinity often don't fare well.)

UPS delivered both freebies. My doggy loves Brown. So much so, she just wants to eat every UPS driver. Luckily, all the delivery people who come to my house know this. (The postman actually gets upset on the odd day that she doesn't fuss at him.) She is legend. You go, girl!