This past Saturday, DangerBear asked me to make him a grilled cheese sandwich.  After I made it, he happened to look at my frying pan.  I've had the same nonstick frying pans since we got married over six years ago.  I'm not sure how long nonstick pans are supposed to last, but apparently we've been eating Teflon for a while.

He took me to some outlet stores in a Big City about 90 minutes away, where we found several kitchenware stores.  At the first store, we found shiny stainless steel pans on sale for a very reasonable price.  We bought two of them.  (I had four nonstick pans, and they all need to be replaced, but two is enough.)

Then we went to another store, just to look around, and we found a set of beautiful stainless pots and pans.  It was a good brand, and it even came with a coupon you could send away to receive a free tea kettle (a $70 value!!).  The catch?  It was $150.  Way more than we planned on spending.

But...  these were surely nicer than the other frying pans...  and maybe there's nothing wrong with the pots I have now, but these are so much nicer...  and the free tea kettle!

All of a sudden I wasn't very happy with my new frying pans.

DangerBear loves to give me nice things.  He's sweet like that.  So he asked me if I needed new pots.  I had to say no.  We decided not to buy the Shiny Set.  I know it sounds petty, but I was sad.

After a few minutes of silent self-pity, I realized how ungrateful I was being.  If I gave Chickpea a new toy and she started whining because she couldn't have a better one, I'd take away even the one she already had.

I decided to change my attitude.  I'm sure DangerBear knew I wanted the Shiny Set, but I made it a point to thank him for my new frying pans, and to tell him I was excited to try them out.

You know what?  I love my new pans!  They work beautifully, we're no longer eating Teflon, and they're very shiny.  =)