It Is ALIVE!!!

Okay - go with me on this...I KNOW you've done it!  I KNOW you've gone to Google and hopefully/prayerfully/wishfully typed in some totally ridiculous sentence hoping SOMETHING will appear, say, "Who was the brother of Mindy on Mork and Mindy who appeared in the third scene of the 5th show..." and somehow/usually SOMETHING shows up, right?  And you sit and are amazed at the incredible universe of the WWW.

Well...before we left on furlough, I had been saving $25.00 a month for quite some time so when I went back to the States I would be able to purchase a KitchenAid with a few accessories.  And that's what I did - Macy's was kind enough to have most of their kitchen stuff on sale and my BFF Mindy happened to have a discount card I was also able to use.  I walked out with my red (so me)  KitchenAid and several accessories, and a huge grin on my face.  Six months later I arrived back in Honduras and used it a bit - played with it - used my accessories to shred cheese in seconds...that kind of thing.  The time my mother was sick, and all but comatose, one of the things I did was read through the 600 page Bread Bible.  When I returned to Honduras I subsequently started making a new type of bread almost every day.  I blogged on several of them.  Then one fatal day...I was making pizza crust - LOTS of pizza crust.  Why?  It was our Lord-of-the-Rings-extended-watch-a-thon and we watched them all day and ate home made pizza.  Until I decided to put way too much dough in (instead of making it in two batches), and put the speed up way too high.  I know...I know... - WHY?!  do you ask?!  Because I thought I could!  It was a KitchenAid afterall!  I've beat it up, abused it, dropped it - whatever - and it just keeps on keeping on.  But suddenly it wouldn't turn my dough hook  Oh my gosh...and here is where I will admit to my weakness.  I cried.  Not like out loud, sobbing, "Dobby just died" kind of crying, but a huge tear ran down my cheek and my chin was dropped to my chest and I thought, "what in the world am I going to do now?"  Forget the 1-800 number - been there done that with other things and the second they hear we are out of country it's always "sorry, I can't help you."  Well, I don't need to tell you that there IS NO repair place here for KitchenAid's.  No one for me to turn to, no Sears department that can fix anything.  I already started thinking if I saved $25.00 every month again - how long would it take for me to save up to buy another one.  It had already become a part of my routine kitchen prep.  I was so sad, and couldn't imagine not having it.

So, in a desperate state - I sat down in front of my computer.  I went to Google.  I don't even remember exactly what I typed in, but something, I'm sure to this effect, "What do I do if my Kitchenaid doesn't spin and won't knead my dough anymore...." (like anything would come up - what was I thinking?!) and yet...there it was...what came up?!  A You Tube Video entitled, "How to fix a KitchenAid Mixer that isn't spinning."  Seriously?!  Can it be that "easy"?!  So I looked at the video, took a deep breath, got my hammer, screwdrivers, and put my head phones in and started the video.  I started getting farther and farther in it, my entire KitchenAid was completely apart, and then the fear began.

WHAT have I done?!?!

Are you freaking kidding me?!  I'm stupid.  What was I thinking?  Like I could actually repair this thing. There is NO way I'm going to make this thing work ever again!  There are so many parts!  But onward I went.  What was my choice?  And there it was...the CULPRIT!!!!  The "Worm Gear" - see...I even sound smart!  (because that's what the guy on the video said it was), but of course he pulled out his handy dandy replacement Worm Gear.

The culprit - the Worm Gear - see those smashed in pieces of 4 teeth - the gears would just slip and not turn

My next stumbling block...there was NO way I would be able to find one of those here.  So - I did the next cool WWW thing.  Amazon.com.  Typed in Worm Gear and sure enough!  There it was!!!  I ordered two!  Sent them to my sweet mother-in-law, then waited.  A week to get to her, and then over 2 weeks to get to me.  And today it came.

So there I sat...with ALL my pieces of KitchenAid.  Seriously?  OH my gosh...there's no way...the fear came back.  My heart skipped a few beats...okay not really...but it SHOULD have!  I pulled up my video that I first watched over 3 weeks ago and watched the second half of the video, "how to put it back together again."  And 30 minutes later, lots of huh? going on, a small plea to my husband to get the stupid pivot bar back in...and then THE moment.  Plug it in...I literally held my breath...this was it.  Start saving $25.00 a month or get back to bread making.  And?!?!?!.....

Final Product!

IT WORKED!!!!  I DID IT!!!!!  I was So amazed that I could do this with a little help (okay - a LOT of help) from the WWW - but I did it.  A fully functioning KitchenAid.  Now - time to get back to bread making!

What in the WORLD did missionaries do even just 20 years ago?!  Surely not fix their KitchenAid.