Day 1 - Here we go!

Newly moved into an older home in a lovely part of Louisiana, our family of 7 has discovered the joys of a double oven. As a former non-baker with a repertoire of about 10 dinner ideas to my name, this new fascination that I have acquired with baking and meal-planning has been a little bit of a shock to everyone...especially me!

I am work-at-home mom. Our active family life has always been patched together with meals on the go, frozen lasagnas, housework, sick kids...you know, the regular Mom Stuff. Our new move has slowed life down just enough for me to discover this new, very surprising passion for creating good, low-cost meals in the kitchen. Baking bread has become a regular twice-weekly event, with delicious results! The only problem was, with a husband, four teens and a tween, even 3 or 4 loaves of Cinnamon Raisin bread barely lasted a day or two. My dream became owning a KitchenAid Stand Mixer, something that could pump out a dozen loaves in one day and be ready to work again at a moments notice.

But how to afford it? It seemed my ambitions would have to be put on hold until the kids braces were paid off, school clothes replenished, and all of the necessities of life provided for a growing group of girls. And then, the surprise:

Rooting through our old house as he prepared it for listing with a realtor, my husband found several unused items from a past home-project. DH secretly returned the items to Lowes hardware for a credit, waited for a Christmas sale on appliances, and last week proudly brought home a brand-new KitchenAid 4.5 Quart Stand Mixer to an ecstatic and grateful wife! Thank you, Bob! There's no stopping me now...