Birthday SCORE
All of my parents' kids (there are four of us - not counting the halfs) have birthdays between August 10 and November 5. My brother, the favored one, kicks off this birthdaypalooza in August.
Now my parents have this interesting thing where they have to spend the exact same amount of money on each of us. If they spend $100 on me for Christmas, everyone else gets $100. Exactly. Now, since my brother's birthday comes first, he dictates how much we all get for our birthdays. (That and the fact that they spoil him as the only boy, but whatever...)
Unfortunately, brother doesn't care much for things and never asks for anything. So he usually gets a gift certificate to Wal-Mart. Which means WE all get gift certificates to Wal-Mart. Hooray.
Except this year, for some odd reason, brother decided he wanted a $250 toy crane. (What the...?) So, my parents dutifully got it, and that meant that all us girls got $250 birthday gifts!!
SCORE!!!
My mom donated $50 to NaNo toward the Night of Writing Dangerously in my name, then shot me a gift certificate to Amazon for the rest. I have been frozen trying to decide. I was pretty sure I wanted kitchen stuff, but should I get all cookbooks? Or blow the wad on an expensive pot? I couldn't decide.
B. solved my dilemma by blurting out "Ice cream maker!" the minute I mentioned it. I've always wanted one, but could never justify it, so what better for a birthday gift?
I decided to combine the cookbook/cookwares theme, and got matching cookbook for each piece of equipment I bought. Here's what I got:
--The Cuisinart ICE-30BC Pure Indulgence Ice Cream Maker
--The Perfect Scoop Ice Cream recipe book by David Leibovitz
--Wilton's revolving cake stand
--The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book
--The Kyocera ceramic blade mandolin slicer (for slicing potatoes)
--Great British Cooking: A Well-Kept Secret (for using potatoes)
--A Tramontina tea kettle, since mine looks like I tied it to my car
Not a bad haul at all!!
Now my parents have this interesting thing where they have to spend the exact same amount of money on each of us. If they spend $100 on me for Christmas, everyone else gets $100. Exactly. Now, since my brother's birthday comes first, he dictates how much we all get for our birthdays. (That and the fact that they spoil him as the only boy, but whatever...)
Unfortunately, brother doesn't care much for things and never asks for anything. So he usually gets a gift certificate to Wal-Mart. Which means WE all get gift certificates to Wal-Mart. Hooray.
Except this year, for some odd reason, brother decided he wanted a $250 toy crane. (What the...?) So, my parents dutifully got it, and that meant that all us girls got $250 birthday gifts!!
SCORE!!!
My mom donated $50 to NaNo toward the Night of Writing Dangerously in my name, then shot me a gift certificate to Amazon for the rest. I have been frozen trying to decide. I was pretty sure I wanted kitchen stuff, but should I get all cookbooks? Or blow the wad on an expensive pot? I couldn't decide.
B. solved my dilemma by blurting out "Ice cream maker!" the minute I mentioned it. I've always wanted one, but could never justify it, so what better for a birthday gift?
I decided to combine the cookbook/cookwares theme, and got matching cookbook for each piece of equipment I bought. Here's what I got:
--The Cuisinart ICE-30BC Pure Indulgence Ice Cream Maker
--The Perfect Scoop Ice Cream recipe book by David Leibovitz
--Wilton's revolving cake stand
--The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book
--The Kyocera ceramic blade mandolin slicer (for slicing potatoes)
--Great British Cooking: A Well-Kept Secret (for using potatoes)
--A Tramontina tea kettle, since mine looks like I tied it to my car
Not a bad haul at all!!