My unexpected gift to myself…

So last night, I went shopping for a special Christmas gift for a dear person in my life. I’ve struggled with what to get her and spent nearly two hours traveling up and down each aisle in Target trying to get an idea for a special gift.

I usually make my gifts that I give, but this year I have been so incredibly busy that October and November raced by and before I knew it, here it is 4 days until the big day. No time to make a quilt or piece together a scrapbook – I have to go commercial at this point.

In my hunt for a creative gift or even a grand idea for one, I came across a hand mixer that had three different attachments – one in particular was of great interest to the baker in me. It had dough hooks that would cut through cream cheese straight from the refrigerator!! I’ve used one and was amazed at the ease with which it cut and blended, and you can only imagine my glee when I saw that this particular hand mixer was on sale for $17.99. I caved and decided that it would be a gift to myself – and a time saver in the end, as I won’t have to wait for cream cheese to soften before baking a cheesecake. (I’m sure at this point you are wondering why on earth such ramblings about a hand mixer are important and questioning my own sanity and wondering how a person can be so excited by such a simple thing – but trust me, it doesn’t take much to make me happy : )

Defeated, idealess and feeling a migraine coming on that I’ve been fighting all week, I made my purchase and happily carried my new kitchen gadget to my car. Upon realizing that I had spent the time equivalent of a full-length feature film dodging shoppers and wondering aimlessly, I decided to call it a night and head home.

Now I have a reputation that I confess I am not proud of. I tend to drive a bit fast. And even though since graduating from college and being more settled I have slowed down, I still tend to chase pavement a bit quicker than I should every now and then.

Lost in deep thought and traversing I-164 for the Bluegrass state apparently I blew right past an Indiana State Trooper who clearly did not have the Christmas spirit for a gift weary and migraine plagued gal.

It’s really sad that I can identify law enforcement solely upon the shape of the headlights in my rear-view mirror – but that is just the case. I was ripped from my deep thoughts and plunked right back into reality when Trooper Scott hit his blue lights.

So this year for Christmas instead of enjoying my hand mixer with the special dough beaters, I’ve decided to punish myself and take it back because now I’m supporting our local law enforcement for the holidays. So, kudos for our law enforcement for keeping our highways and byways safe from unruly drivers such as myself!

Perhaps I will acquaint myself a little more with cruise control.