In an extreme moment of weakness

There are times when I have severe trouble sleeping. Sure, I may go to bed and actually fall asleep the way normal people do; but, for one reason or another, I find myself waking in the middle of the night (anywhere between 2 and 4 am) and unable to fall back asleep. Sometimes, I force myself to remain in bed, tossing and turning until my alarm goes off at 5:30 (then, inevitably, end up not wanting to get up at that time and lounge some more). Other times, I actually get up, flip on the TV, and knit.

While in Traverse City last week, I ended up having a night of fitful sleep and ended up calling it quits with the Sand Man. Sitting in bed and with knitting in hand, I started flipping through the channels. And there I saw it -- the Cricut Expression infomercial. I was immediately sucked-in and entranced by the idea that I could actually make my own cards en masse. Sure, I've been going to Stamp Camp with Erin once a month or so. But, this....this was on a completely different level.

Before I knew it, I had the phone in one hand, credit card in the other. And, still a week later, I haven't snapped out of it. I returned to my office today after a couple of days in Minneapolis to find a rather large box containing my new toy already waiting for me in my office. So, after Sylvain's last football game tonight, I could hardly wait to rush home and check it out. The limited playing around I've done has proven that my zeal is well founded, so now I'm on the hunt on Overstock and Ebay in search of design cartidge deals. Other than the expense of the original machine, I found that the cartridges can be quite pricey at $60 or more a piece.

For now, I'm quite happy with this purchase. Please help me validate this gross impulse purchase -- if anyone needs cards made, just stop on by.