My Unscientific Study

At the start of this year I went on quest! I was bound and determined to find the best burning jar candle for my kitchen counter. I wanted something that smelled good, looked beautiful, burned well, and cost as little as possible.

I started this study rather casually when I began to think about adding some simple pleasures to my life. During the holiday's I enjoyed lighting candles in and around my house, and while I realize that this is not something I can do everyday very easily with preschoolers ( especially one that will climb to great heights to get what she wants) I did realize I wanted to get back to burning a candle on my kitchen counter. In the past I had done this and really enjoyed seeing this as I went about my daily tasks. It seemed to be a bright spot in my day and somehow made my kitchen just seem cleaner, even with a sink full of dirty dishes.

So, one day as I was browsing the isle at Wal-mart I found this great jar candle in a nice homey sent that cost about $4.99! Well that was it I brought the candle home and burned it and burned it and burned it while enjoying it all the while. It turned out to be a great candle in my opinion. It burned well and left very little wax along the edges of the jar. I was very pleased with it and thought what a great value for $4.99.

Well my candle finally needed to be replaced but I happened to be at Target instead of Wal-mart, so this time my candle came from Target. It was a prettier jar, kind of frosted, but I wasn't really crazy about any of the scents. I did however find one and brought the candle home. Oh, this candle cost $7.99 the cheapest one that Target offered.
I burned and burned and burned this candle. It however, did not burn as well as the Wal-mart candle and for it being more expensive I felt really jilted. This candle left lots of left over wax and the scent wasn't that good.

Next up I visited K-mart. I love Martha Stewart and when I saw her jar candle at K-mart I got goose bumps. Right away I loved the jar it was kind of frilly looking and just girly. The scent was very nice and I had high hopes for this candle. It cost the same as the Target candle but I already liked it much better. It burned about the same as the Wal-mart candle and I really enjoyed seeing it as walked through my kitchen. Martha Stewart had won me over.

Then, I received a late Christmas Gift from someone and as I pulled it out of the box I knew I had struck gold! I had been given the most coveted of all jar candles. Yes, it was a "Yankee Candle" in a glorious scent. Everything about these candles is wonderful except, the price. The large jar candle is a mere $19.99. Now I don't know what the small jar candle cost which is the size that I had been given but let's just assume it is half of the large jar price and say $9.99. So it really only cost a little more than the Martha candle. But does it burn better? Does it really smell better? Does it look any prettier? Yes, yes, and yes! It burns so well there is no left over wax along the sides of this candle and the flame on it is long and tall and flickering, and the scent, very pleasing.

And that's it. "Martha Stewart Everyday" is a great candle for everyday! Wal-mart is a very good convenient to get candle since I am there almost every other day, plus it is priced very low so picking it up doesn't add any extra guilt to what I already have in the cart. Target is not worth even looking at, and the Yankee Candle is the mother of all candles and is a very affordable treat now and then.

I hope you enjoyed my unscientific study and found it useful to your own candle purchase.

Too Much To Do

Well I spent some time talking to God today. I was just telling Him how much I seem to have on my plate. There's the newsletter to create, the web page to keep updated, the errands to run, the laundry to do, the house to clean, again, the Christmas decorations to put away (which I thought I got done today but tonight found something else I forgot to put away). There are just so many things! Oh, and lets not forget the kids and everything that they need for me to do for them. I told Him I just don't understand how I am supposed to get it all done. How do other people do it? It wasn't so much that I was complaining I was just sincerely asking.

And you know, I got everything I needed to get done today done. Amazing, I still don't know how I did it. Well except for that one last Christmas decoration.