Tuesday, January 16, 2007

We've gone a little Costco crazy

We are in love with Costco. Since it opened here in Austin, we go at least once a week. Anthony goes A LOT. We depend on them for good wine at great prices, excellent cheeses, and milk (they beat our grocery store by a dollar a gallon).

Recently, we've made some big purchases.

The first was this nifty trash can with an infrared sensor. If your hands are near the top, it automatically opens. Then it closes 2 seconds later. It seemed like such an indulgent purchase, but I love it so much! When your hands are full of drippy eggshells or nasty chicken bits, it helpfully opens and closes itself. It actually was half the price of the all stainless steel one I'd been coveting at Target.

Colin demonstrates.

Then our toaster oven died. Early in our marriage, we had a toaster oven AND a toaster, because Anthony thought the toaster was superior for cooking toast. But, then I showed him how wonderful reheated pizza was in the toaster oven - far superior to the microwave - and he was sold. Also, its great if you don't want to heat up the whole kitchen in the summertime just to cook a few chicken nuggets.

But little did I know how great a toaster oven could be!

This model from Costco has a convection feature. I've never had a convection oven before, but this is awesome. It cooks quickly and gives everything a perfect crust. It holds an entire frozen pizza! It has a light! We had to rearrange the counters to make room for it, but it was so worth it. And only $50!

Then, for Christmas we got a cash gift from my in-laws, so we put it toward a beautiful new couch, as modeled by Anna.

The old fabric couch bought 7 years ago cost more than this one, and it was SAD. Although we paid extra for treating the fabric, it was stained miserably from years of beverages, baby spit-up, and ya'll don't want to think about what else. This leather couch will clean up with a damp rag. Plus, its smells GREAT.

Costco rocks.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey, I got one of those automatic laser garbage bins too!

Your new couch is lovely. To say nowt about Anna.

Jessica said...

Love the great new pictures! The sofa is beautiful and so is Anna on it! I hope the kids enjoyed the bit of snow flurries we saw today! I am hoping they cancel school tomorrow too! Manor ISD already closed...soon maybe Austin and it's surrounding areas!!! :)

Yay for SNOW!

peevish said...

I covet that toaster oven. And, yes, they are indispensable for leftover pizza.

Did you finish off the green curry sauce?
That'll warm you up on an icy day!

Anonymous said...

I got that trash can for Christmas!

Leah said...

wow...sounds like I need to go shopping at Costco...I think I need that trash can too oh and the toaster. ha ha.. Boy, the kids look a lot older in those pictures.

Awesome Mom said...

Wow you are making me want to go out and buy a few more things at Costco now. I have been wanting a toaster oven for a while now and that trash can looks so cool. I won't even start on how much I want leather couches.

Anonymous said...

We have a Toaster oven too,Jenn...they save a helluva lot of Electricity ...we paid £6o ($120.) for ours..it's magic! we also have a new Leather Suite in Primrose Yellow..:o) am I a copycat without knowing it? :o)

Anonymous said...

I love a toaster oven more than life itself - I never use my regular oven!

The laser garbage can seems very handy. I may have to make the trip to the Costco 2 hours away to get one for myself...

Unknown said...

I remember trying to shop there a while back, but they didn't carry our formula OR our brand of diapers (like I said, it was a while back) and those were our two major bulk items. Maybe I should reconsider...

Emily said...

Yea for the new couch! It looks great.

Joey said...

My brother-in-law has been touting the glories of Costco for a few months now. We're still holding on to traditional stores (I love HEB). I'm afraid I won't be able to justify the membership fee. But I didn't realize you could get furniture there, too! I assume you got the couch there? It looks awesome!

Jen said...

I.Love.Costco. And a new one is opening just a couple of minutes from me. The best part? A gas station. Wish Colorado wasn't a blue state, I'd love to be able to get wine at Costco.

Anonymous said...

I happened to come across your site while searching for Costco couches. Our warehouse currently has 2 leather couches - one by Natuzzi and and one by Design Dimensions (or something like that!). I was wondering what brand your sofa is and what you think of it. Thanks!

Vetmommy said...

Hey, Anonymous, sounds like you do lots of prepurchase research, just like my husband!

Anthony thought the Design Dimensions had a better frame, but we liked the color, the feel, and the texture of the Natuzzi better, so that's what we bought. The Design sofa looked kinda wrinkly when you sat on it, and we worried that it would not wear well. The Natuzzi leather seemed so much nicer. We STILL absolutely love it, and it smells great. We will be careful to pick it up and not drag it, so as not to damage the frame.

I hope this helps! Let me know what you think of your new sofa!

Anonymous said...

Could someone please email me about the "laser garbage can?" My son is thinking about making something like this for the show American Inventor next year but if it's already been done then we either need to come up with a better product or scratch the whole idea...

My email address is coachstacy@inbox.com and any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!!!

Anonymous said...

Could someone please email me about the "laser garbage can?" My son is thinking about making something like this for the show American Inventor next year but if it's already been done then we either need to come up with a better product or scratch the whole idea...

My email address is coachstacy@inbox.com and any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!!!

Anonymous said...

What’s up? As a matter of fact, your blog is very interesting and informative. There are very little blogs that do attract the attention. There is also a very useful site called www.pisseconsumer.com where I also learned a lot about the possible problems that may occur with Natuzzi. I studied them carefully and you know I loved to have business with the company. The customer service turned out to be so great.