Cuisinart SmartPower 5-Speed Electronic Blender Model CB-9SA Review

I purchased the Cuisinart SmartPower 5-Speed Electronic Blender because I was hoping for a blender that would hold up and take a pretty good beating.  On the plus side, this blender looks nice sitting on my counter top.  Some of it's more promising features are the 2 oz. Measured Pour Lid, which allows me to measure and add ingredients without removing the cover.  It also has a 40 oz. glass jar so it holds quite a bit, and has remained leak-proof thanks to the rubber gasket that holds the glass jar snugly in position.  The Cuisinart SmartPower 5-Speed Electronic Blender also crushes ice, which is nice when you are making a frosty adult beverage, or a smoothie for the kids.  Now for the downside.  With 5-speeds I really thought this blender would do a great job of chopping nuts, grinding hard cheeses and spices, and grating citrus zest.  However, I have found that it only takes the grinding just so far.  I am constantly having to turn this blender off and stir whatever it is I am grinding, so that it grinds everything, not just a few pieces.  This gets extremely frustrating when I just want to grind and go.  With 2 kids and numerous sports activities, I don't have time to keep stopping the machine.  Even with smoothies, I am finding more and more that I have to stop, take off the lid and stir what is inside to get the contents all nicely blended.  I've tried adding more liquid to see if that helps, which sometimes it does, and sometimes it doesn't.  This is the main reason I am only giving the Cuisinart SmartPower 5-Speed Electronic Blender 3 stars.  If it had a little more power I think it would have earned 5 stars.  Again, it does look very nice on my countertop.