Guilty Pleasures...

Retail therapy. The only thing that makes me feel better than that is a vacation, and because that involves spending money in itself I think it counts towards the same thing. It's a sick addiction and cycle. I go for long periods where I don't buy anything because I'm pretty content. Then I get mad or depressed and nothing brings me back up like mama gettin' a newz paira shoez!

I am not going to even feign being a penny pincher. Not one of those "oh me, oh my, I comparison shop every item I buy at the supermarket and only buy things on sale because I always say 'waste not, want not!'" Nope - I have a bad habit of buying things I hadn't looked at the price tag for because if I do I'm afraid I won't buy it (I do usually look at prices at the supermarket though). Now mind you, I'm not talking about people who are in situations where they have to be careful with their every dollar - that is very different. I'm talking about people who are overly thrifty for their own good - my dad falls into this category. It took me a long time to accept and embrace the fact that I can be materialistic ("can be" are the operative words here - not always. Defensive much?).

Tangent: I actually had a silent protest against my husband for the last year in regards to my materialism when it comes to brands. When we were packing up in CA to move to Australia, I sold my Kitchenaid mixer because the voltage/plug was American and he promised me a new mixer when we settled in. Apparently "new mixer" to him means any ol' new mixer, and to me it meant exact replacement (or better). When we got here and he saw the price of Kitchenaid mixers (higher because of of the cost to import them - around US$500) he just about had a heart attack and asked me to pick something else. My reply was something like, "what am I, chopped liver?". I brought it up often for the next year ("wow, isn't this pie I made tasty? I could've made cake instead but I HAVE NO MIXER" - this included his birthday, although he wanted pie but I said it anyways). I made it abundantly clear I would accept no alternate replacement and I would be not making anything yummy because there would be no large amounts of hand mixing just for the principle of it. A YEAR. This is a long time for me because I love to bake.

Guess who got a shiny new five quart pistachio colored Kitchenaid mixer a month ago? Moral of the story: Sometimes you need to be patiently annoying to get what you want. Like water torture. Except there is something to be wanted in the end.