I have had the Vita-Mix 5000 Variable Speed Blender now for about four years and I love it.  I wanted to start making smoothies and this is the perfect blender for the job.  I found it very easy to blend up all the ingredients with ease.  I never had a blender so powerful.  Other blenders I have had did not have the power to blend things up.  I always had to do things in small portions and very slowly.  I hated it.  The Vita-Mix 5000 took away my frustration, and now in the economic situation of the United States I have had to start a garden just to survive the times. I am canning and the...