Buying Mother's day gifts....

[bsfins]

I seem to run into this problem mother's day,her birthday,Christmas,anytime I want to buy her a gift....She'll talk about something,maybe dropping hints,on things she may want months before...Most everything she wants,She'll use for a few months....then it sits there and collects dust for years....I remember maybe 10-12 years ago,she really wanted a pasta machine.I scoured the town to find one,the only place I found was some specialty cooking store,I spent like $250 -$300 on this thing, I bought all the special dies,and attachments for it...She used it for about a year...Loved the quality of the noodles,but hated cleaning the machine..

She really wanted a bread machine,She baked one loaf of bread in it...I baked a few loaves of bread....It's sitting on her counter,and hasn't moved in years....

2 years ago she had to have the rug shampooer...Quick funny story about it...A month or so ago I was helping my sister move from her apartment to a condo she bought.I opened her closet to be shocked that there was this rug shampooer.My other sister walks over,looks down at it,and says "Hey I've got one just like that!,Mine is Green and Grey"...My oldest sister says " no shit?" I started laughing and Said I bought the same one for Mom for Christmas 2 years ago...Her's is Blue and Grey....They both said the same thing my mom does,I thought I'd use it a lot more often than I do....One sister lives an hour west of me,the other an hour east of me...

I digress...

So this year she's been hinting at a cordless Iron...Everytime she's sees the commercial...Ohh I don't want the Vacuum,but I like that cordless Iron...I could really use it....So I looked at Wally world the other day when I was there...They had 1 cordless iron..but they didn't have a display model for me to look at....So this Morning, I hit Ebay,I typed in Oreck Cordless Iron...I was shocked to see them selling for as little as $10-$30...They retail for $129..I ran to Oreck site,and that's what they sell them for....I thought ok they're Remanufactured,I'll look for NIB...I'll write the seller to make sure it's no a remanufactured unit.....

It just doesn't seem right though...So I go look for product reviews of the Oreck Cordless Iron....Here's the catch...It's cordless but it's not...It's like the old time heating the iron on the stove type...You put it on the Charger,and let it get warm use it for a few seconds,and put it back on the charger to rewarm.....

Knowing that this is destined to be another Rug shampooer,Pasta machine,and bread machine..I'm back to square one....

[Dave Gray]

It doesn't really matter if she ends up using it.  If she's happy and you put the effort into it, that's really all that matters.

You only got one mama.  Just get her what she wants and be done with it.

[bsfins]

Actually it sort of does...because in her excitement of Ohhh I've now got this new cordless iron,I can trash my old one...Then 2 weeks later she goes to Walmart,to but another one....She'll then say...Well it was on sale.....

I take my mom out to dinner at least once a week,and do tons of stuff for her all the time....I just hate buying her stuff....

[Phishfan]

Parents are the toughest people in the world to buy anything for. The older they get the harder it is as well. My difficulty is I only see my parents 1-2 times a year so I have no idea what little things they need, want, have broken, etc.

[fyo]

I have a cordless iron. It consists of 3 parts. A stand, a base and the iron itself. The base detaches from the iron itself (using a switch on the stand, oddly enough - but it works well). When the base is attached, it works just like a regular iron, although it's slightly larger. The switch on the stand has 3 positions. One for cordless, one where the base is attached to the iron and one where the base and iron are attached to the stand (which is quite practical when you put the thing away). In cordless mode, the base is attached to the stand.

All in all, I'd say it works quite well. Sure, the iron doesn't stay hot indefinitely, but I always use it that way. The convenience is that the cord doesn't get in the way while ironing, doesn't twist around or crap like that. When I switch pant legs or otherwise manipulate the piece of clothing I'm ironing, the iron goes back in the stand and it'll be fully hot again a few seconds later.

Works quite well, actually.