toast.

In perhaps the greatest marital compromise of all time, I am allowing a single appliance to be kept on our kitchen counter.

I'm a big fan of a house that looks like people don't actually live there. A side effect of this is not wanting a single item on my kitchen counter. (Or any counter for that matter.)

Recently, unhappiness was expressed about the only toaster we have ever owned: my Hello Kitty toaster, which the Pastor purchased for me pre-marriage. The Pastor stated he did not like the HK toaster, because the outline of HK prevents the bread from actually being toasted in parts. And having your bread toasted by the toaster is something people prefer. Ummmmmm, so? With the HK toaster, you get really cute toast, and she is happy to be tucked away in a cabinet when her work is done. Apparently, with Miss Kitty, you have to toast and then flip the bread around and toast again to get it toasted on both sides. We are not the kind of people who are patient enough for one toasting cycle, much less two. Please understand all of these toast reports have come to me second-hand as toast is yet another thing that I have to deal with, but don't actually eat.

As an act of kindness and love, I went to Target loaded down with coupons. I saved $55 in coupons, almost enough to offset the price of the new toaster. By the way, have you priced toasters lately? When did there come into existence such a thing as toasters that costs more than a new oven? I was sure to narrow down the search for a new toaster to those that could toast more than two slices at a time. Not only do we like our toast, we like lots of it.

I'm sure this new appliance will make all the difference in bringing harmony to our house. If not, perhaps I would be willing to try moving it to another counter. Say the one in the bathroom, precariously close to the tub.