A Used Waffle Iron that was still New?

When I dropped my waffle maker a few weeks ago, I just knew it was broken.  It landed on the floor with a sound of broken plastic.  Plastic flew and it was beyond repair.  How did I drop the waffle iron?  The same way I broke my toe when I dropped a picture frame on it or the same way I cut open my leg taking out the trash or the same way I broke my tooth when I swam into the wall of the swimming pool.  I’m not particularly clumsy, but I do have many o’ shining moments. 

In other words, I’m not sure how it happened, the waffle iron just slipped out of my hands right before I plugged it into the wall. 

Needless to say, I made pancakes.

But, I still wanted to replace my broken waffle iron.  This particular waffle iron was purchased at a yard sale for $3.00 almost 10 years ago.  I thought replacing it would be easy.  I mean I see used waffle irons often enough.  I looked for a few weeks at various yard sales and thrift stores and nothing suited my fancy.  The few used waffles irons I did find were covered in grease from the 1970’s and still had Grandma’s waffle inside.  I thought I’d do something totally unorthodox for me.  I decided to act normal about this little predicament.  I would go purchase a new waffle maker. Why not, I mean I deserve it, don’t I.  I would wear my finest shoes and put on some lipstick, plan a date with just myself.  Off to Kohl’s I went, certain a waffle maker could be mine for around $25.00.

Boy, was I wrong.  $80.00 for a waffle maker and that’s getting my 15% discount because I have a Kohl’s charge card.  (I could go off right now on Kohl’s very clever sales tactic which is to mark merchandise ridiculously high, then offer huge discount though mail flyers only to lure the customer into the store, but because of time constraints and such, I won’t do that tonight.)

So, I decided to try Wal-mart; home of cheaply made and even cheaper priced merchandise could offer me something better, but $50.00 for a Wal-mart waffle iron didn’t make me feel any better.

My friends, I tried to do it, but I just couldn’t convince myself.  I can’t lie to my instinct, I can’t fool my gut reaction, trust me, I’ve tried.  But what about my waffles?  Was it time to go frozen?  I know Kashi makes a great frozen waffle.  No, I grew up eating waffles for dinner.  I make waffles at least once a week for my family, grind my own wheat, blend up organic blueberries and peaches, I’ve even ground flax in a little coffee grinder and added it to my batter, so I decided to get serious.  I was going to find a great used waffle maker, and that was it.

What happened the next week was even better.

I was out thrifting and I found the most glorious shine of chrome I’ve ever seen.  

My friends, this wasn’t a used waffle iron, this was a new-used Krups waffle iron and it was mine for $8.99.  That's right, it was used only because it wasn't purchased at a retail store, but it had never been used because it was perfectly immaculate without a speck of anything other then thrift store dust on it.  But wait, the thrift store was offering 50% off, so I paid $4.50.  This waffle iron retails for $49.99.  Glorious money-saving day!  Instinct wins again. 

I knew if I was patient, the thrift God’s would shine down on me and once again, they did.  I can see my smiling reflection when I stare down at my waffle iron and I love it.  Chandler says the waffles taste better in the new-used waffle iron, but is that really possible?  I'm still using the same recipe, but maybe the waffle iron is so pretty that subconsciously the waffles taste better.  I'll have to ask the counselor about this one.