Everything old is new again, with a new seal. Hopefully.

We don't use a blender often, but I wouldn't want to be without one. You never know when you might really need a pitcher of frozen strawberry daiquiris, right? Our blender, like the one shown in this photo (image from a Google search), is an Oster Imperial VIII. It is as old as our marriage. I think Fred and Wilma Flintstone gave it to us, but I might be wrong. It might have been Barney and Betty.

We used it on Saturday to make margaritas which nobody drank. None of the five adults present like margaritas. Why did we do this? Because we had a little tequila and half a bottle of margarita mix. We thought maybe our tastes had changed. They hadn't. The mix was used in a cake, the tequila was left from a long ago meeting of the Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes. Fred was an officer in the lodge back then and really liked to party.

Anyway, during the making of margaritas, we discovered that the blender was leaking at the base. Uh oh. Hubby is better than average at fixing things around here, but I began preparing for the worst, meaning blender replacement.

While at Target, I looked at Osters and Kitchen Aid blenders. In their limited selection, Oster had glass jars (carafes? pitchers? just what do you call the upper half of a blender??) and Kitchen Aid had weighty metal bases. I don't want a plastic base that looks like metal unless I have no choice. I don't want a plastic jar either.

I came home and read reviews. There are blender brands that I've never heard of which are probably amazing machines, but for someone who uses a blender infrequently, do I really need a $400 blender? No, not at all. Some people love (with all caps, italics, underlines and exclamation points) Oster and detest Kitchen Aid. Not surprising, there are an equal number of reviewers in Kitchen Aid's camp. Both brands averaged 4 out of 5 stars.

Hubby got the assembly at the bottom of the jar/carafe/pitcher off last night and while the seal looks whole, he asked me to look online for a replacement. I found one that is supposed to fit ALL!  (those reviewers rubbed off on me!) Oster blenders. Guess how much? Three for 99 cents! Shipping is almost 3 times that, but for less than $4, I may be able to keep my blender and make more frozen cocktails the next time the Flintstones and Rubbles are here!

If a new seal solves the problem, I'll invite you all over for drinks and a brontosaurus barbecue.