Oh man, some of these are SO GOOD. I think my recent best splurge was a Dyson V8 animal cordless vacuum to replace my Dyson Ball upright (Animal, I think.)-- I bought the Dyson ball over 12 years ago for under $300 refurbished. It still works, but it's so heavy and such a chore to haul up and down the stairs, and it smells weird despite cleaning, due to the millions of cleanups i've done (e.g. cleaning rat bedding messes with the hose for a couple years). I gave in and bought the V8 (they're on V11 now) when it was $100 off, and HOLY MOLY I love it. It sits on a charger I attached to the wall. I bought an accessory extender holder thingie and that clips in and holds all the accessories. It's so easy to just grab and clean up a little mess. Or to clean the stairs. Or run upstairs and quickly vacuum my upstairs bedrooms and office. I swap out the stick with the floor cleaner for one with a brush and then i have a handheld one to quickly vacuum the couch and get my dog's hair or snack messes off of it. I worried about the life of the battery or the quality of suction, but I saw that you can replace just the battery, and the suction works well (and has a max setting). Worth every penny. And I'm able to still donate my fully usable old Dyson to one of the local charities.
I'm very curious about all the lasik love. I've been tempted a bunch of times-- my vision isn't awful, I only use my glasses for night driving or for distance, like watching a movie in a theater (which I haven't done in I dont know how many years). I sometimes wear them to watch TV to see more detail, but it's not necessary (yet). I'm so paranoid about all the stories about how you can really eff them up if you rub your eyes or aren't careful, and I just feel like I'd be that person. The thought of screwing up my vision is so terrifying to me.
I was able to get the 6qt bowl-lift professional model for $249 at Costco late last month, and she uses it every other day. It's facilitated a budding interest in sourdough everything (bread, pancakes, pretzels) and definitely does way more than the tilt head model can. We'll be able to sell the old one for $50-$75 so a net <$200 is a huge win.
I don't have a mixer because I don't usually eat grains or anything, but DID YOU KNOW the paddle attachment shreds chicken in like a minute??? I am fascinated.
It's beyond small, but I think it qualifies. I recently bought a new kind of cat toy, the yellow banana catnip toy. I'm sure it was just a couple dollars, but this one toy has provided SOOOOOO much entertainment for the cat, plus has made various humans laugh as well because of how the cat has been going at it. She made a surprise appearance yesterday on the family zoom call because she flung it around enough and landed on the keyboard. So then Arwen made a flying leap onto the keyboard.
hahahaaaa I love this. My dog does the same with her burrow toys. Those are the toys that have some kind of central soft/stuffed piece with holes in it, and you stick like 3 or so little squeaky stuffed animals in it, so they have to stick their snouts in and dig out the pieces. Like my dog has one that is a fish tank/cube and it has 3 stuffed squeaky fish that go inside it, and another one is some kind of tree thing that you stuff 3 squeaky giraffes into. My dog LOVES it. She will get a grip on one of the toys on the inside, then shake her head furiously and the outside piece launches across the room. I'll be in the middle of doing something and then a toy comes flying by me. It's entertaining for both of us. A+ purchase.
We got ours from Ticor. We love that it's big (30? 33? inches wide - sorry didn't measure) stainless, deep, quiet, comes with a grate to keep things off the bottom. It also did not cost a million dollars (have you priced sinks????) The one that was here before was overmount (which I find impossible to keep clean), shallow (which means things were still visible if they were soaking), rounded corners (meaning everything sloped down and the sink was even smaller than it seemed), and a double sink. A double sink is one of the things I find incomprehensible (lots of people love and swear by them; I am not one of those people.) We gave up some counterspace to have a large sink and love everything about it. I wish I could put the same one on the boat, but alas no space.
We do have a dishwasher that we use regularly, but when I do dishes by hand I just have a drying mat that I set out to the left of the sink. Drip dry for the win!
I have one of those rectangular undermounted sinks in my current place I rent (I just call it a trough sink cuz idk), and you just described why I like it so much. All my other sinks have always been double sinks, and/or a single sink but with rounded corners, or too shallow, etc. My dog has had toe pad issues after playing too hard at daycare before, and it was convenient to just stick her in the sink with an inch or so of water in it and have her comfortably fit and not slide around, (before I realized how much water I was wasting and it was actually easier just to use warm water in a bowl and soak her paws one-by-one, I digress.) Also, I've had a dishwasher in pretty much all 9-10 places I've lived as an adult, and it wasn't until my most recent house that I ever used one. I didn't grow up with a dishwasher, and i'm a single person, so I've always just handwashed dishes, but often used the dishwasher rack to dry, which is super convenient.
But also, probably my electric standing desk I purchased a few months ago is the best money I have spent in a long time. I had one at work, and it seemed excessive to buy one just because we are suddenly working from home, but it has made my life so much better. I use it all the time, and not just for work.
I LOVE working from home, but I super miss my electric desk, for sure. Now I've been just sitting at a regular desk with a regular chair, and it sucks. Especially compounded with not being able to go to the gym and strength train or attend my aqua spin/bootcamp classes. I'm doing what I can at home, but it's definitely not the same.
Our kids loved every game from Gamewright they ever encountered. Also Set is a favorite. You likely already know of these but in case not, I thought I'd share!
Omg when someone mentioned Phase 10 i was thinking of how much i looooved that game when I was young, and then I vaguely remembered some online daily game I used to play like 15 years ago, and i could NOT for the life of me remember what it was to try to google it, even though I could picture it. As soon as you said Set I was like THAT IS IT. And then I went to google it and re-found the online daily game. Thank youuuuu!
Since lockdown started, I've been buying these froofy fancy Japanese health food donuts and cold-brew cream coffee from a tiny family-owned bakery. They're clownishly expensive by MMM standards (around $3 per donut), and I've been driving ~30 miles to get half a dozen to a dozen every two weeks or so.
They are SO FSCKING GOOD... seriously, I save them for days when I'm feeling kind of down about the State of the World or to reward myself for Getting Stuff Done. It's ridiculous how happy a single donut the size of my palm can make me, zoning out while slowly sipping a cup of coffee or tea and savoring it bite by bite-- and they're even healthy(ish), so I don't feel greasy or put off by too much sugar afterward. Luckily, they keep really well in the fridge so I can ration them out for the course of two weeks. The bakery owners are super nice, and I'm also happy to support them, so it's a win-win all around.
I need to know more about these donuts. What are they??
Dog DNA test... I laughed for hours when I got the results. Still makes me smile every time I see the dog
YESSS. I don't buy anyone christmas or birthday gifts (except my parents), but anytime someone gets a new dog I send them a DNA test.
I just bought myself a new pillow. I prefer natural latex pillows as it means I wake less congested from dust mite allergies (they won’t live in latex). Ridiculous to spend $65+ on a pillow but it is comfortable and I feel better.
I was just diagnosed with dustmite allergies. I put mattress and pillow protectors on. Do you feel the latex matress works better than just covering memory foam?
Update: I just googled to see how much latex mattresses were, and I saw that it's a myth that dust mites can't live in latex O_o Well, dang, I was excited.