RIP Breville Blender

We haven't owned a TV for ten years now.

We haven't owned a microwave for over ten years.

We lived for over a year without a dryer when we first moved into our "new" old (100+ years) house.

We went about a year or so without a dishwasher, with a very shallow sink and we had to do dishes in plastic tubs.

A while back while making cookies in the middle of the night my hand mixer died. It was probably a year or two or so ago. I didn't use it much and we have a KitchenAid stand mixer when mashing with a potato masher or mixing things by hand just won't do.

We haven't owned a car for about eight months with no plan on buying one in the near future.

None of this was/is a hardship. But, now...

I have been living a month without a blender and I don't think I can take it anymore! You may remember when my newish moderately expensive blender broke making Veganomicon hummus, and Breville replaced the blender which made me happy, but then about a month or so ago while making an ordinary smoothie on the "smoothie setting" my beloved blender died a slow agonizing death. It was very odd...working for a half a minute, then 20 seconds, then 10 or so...until it would no longer turn on. I've contacted Breville to see if we can pay to get it fixed, but no luck yet and seriously, I am pretty disappointed that it has broken twice in year and a half or so that we've owned it. I'm wondering if the vegan gods aren't trying to tell us something like "Buy a Vitamix already!".

For those who have never heard of a Vitamix, it is one of those rites of passage things for vegans, or so it seems. We've never really wanted a Vitamix until we got into green smoothies and now it seems like we can't live without one (although we've both been happily vegan for many, many years without one). I love my immersion blender and my food processor. How many kitchen tools do I need to completely pulverise my food? I mean, I have great teeth in working order so why do I long to have things pureed? Do I really love smoothies and to be specific, green smoothies so much that I need to spend $500 which we currently do not have on a Vitamix?

I'm trying to be good and wait. Waiting for what? I always ask the kids to wait before making a purchase. Wait and make sure the "need" or desire for the item doesn't go away with a little time. Well, over the month I've waited...looking at my dead blender in the corner of the kitchen...mocking me. Watching summer fly by with all its kale and chard which has been consumed in many different and yummy ways, but alas not in my morning smoothie or my lunch smoothie or my after dinner smoothie. Sigh. No, the desire for a Vitamix is just growing stronger.

Waiting for money? Perhaps. Well, yes. I've started a change jar to help save for my Vitamix, but it is slow going my friends. Then I think of how $500 could go toward so many things...a kitchen remodel, a new fence, a new garage door, painting the kid's rooms and window treatments, a wood or pellet stove to actually keep us warm this winter...oh so many things.

So, I wait. Smoothie-less. Breville blender, your time with us was way too short. RIP.