You all know by now that Bill and I are preparing to move into smaller digs. Nearly every day, we tackle some room — or at least some closet — and dig through the contents, pulling out the many, many things we will take to Goodwill, and lay aside the few things we will actually need when we move.

It’s very hard to make these decisions. We recently cleaned out a closet in Bill’s office in which he kept paper products. All of these paper products were in good shape. However, given that we are both retired, and given that storage space will be at a premium, we had to throw out/recycle boxes and boxes of partially used paper products like labels and postcards and transparencies (do people even use transparencies any longer?). Plain printing paper we set aside to donate to an elementary school or a day care center.

I recently took a look at the appliances that live in my kitchen. I have a four-slot toaster, a Kitchenaid Pro, a toaster oven, a citrus juicer, a waffle iron, a food processor, a blender, blah, blah, and blah. Some of these won’t make the cut.

My Kitchenaid Pro is probably my favorite appliance. I use it for lots of things, but I especially like to use it in making bread. However, it’s big. Very big. And it’s not always my friend. On two occasions, after I got my ingredients into the bowl, I pushed go and it didn’t go. Nothing. Nada. Nichts.

The second time this happened was just last week. My Gloor temper fired up and I nearly threw it in the garbage can. I didn’t, but what I DID do was get on Amazon and order my new Kitchenaid Artisan Mini that I was considering purchasing for its smaller footprint. Not only is it smaller, but it works much better for making small batches of whatever, something I’m more prone to do these days.

About an hour after I made this spontaneous purchase, I went to my Kitchenaid Pro and pressed on once again. Of course, you can predict what I am going to tell you. The machine began working as though it had never had a problem. I successfully completed my batch of cinnamon biscotti.

The next day, I waited patiently for my friendly Amazon delivery person to deliver my new Kitchenaid Artisan Mini. It didn’t arrive until late that evening, so I left it in the kitchen to open the next morning.

When I pulled it out of its box, it was so small and adorable that I literally said out loud, “Awwwww.” The accessories are also so very tiny and cute. It’s kind of like a Barbie mixer on steroids…..

Never fear. I have a plan. I will bring both mixers with me to my new home. I will store Big Mama in our storage bin and put Little Bitty on the counter because I will use that one most often.

I was explaining this to my sister Bec the other day. I meekly admitted that in addition to those two mixers, there is a Kitchenaid Classic that is currently living in my basement. It works fine, but the mechanism to holds the bowl up is broken. It was going to be expensive and a pain to fix, so I decided to purchase the Kitchenaid Pro.

“I’m the only person I know who owns three Kitchenaid mixers — a Dad, a Mom, and a Baby.”

“Kris,” she said in a big sister tone of voice. “You own four. Don’t forget your Kitchenaid in AZ.”

Oh yeah. Pepto Bismol pink. How could I forget her?

Some people collect stamps…..