My New Toy

Ain't she purdee????

My new Kitchen Aide Pro mixer.  

And in my favorite color RED!

I'd been thinking about a new one for a little while now.  My old girl has been working just fine.  She put in a lot of good years.  Almost 25 without a single problem (except for a little cord issue - see that bit of black electrical tape on the cord?).  But this flashy, new lovely was a great deal.  I snagged her up as a QVC TSV (today's special value) last week.  

Couldn't beat the price. 

I think it's time for her retirement.  Actually, I'll pass her on to Son No. 2 if he wants her.  He's my boy that's an aspiring home chef.  

He loves to cook!  

Now I just have to find a home for her.  She's too tall to stay on the countertop under the wall cabinets.  I don't like appliances on my kitchen counters anyway, but, for her, I might have made an exception.  

Guess I'll have to do some rearranging in the lower cabinets so this tall beauty can have a safe place to hang out when she's not hard at work.

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Crazy for Mad Men

My most recent TV obsession. 

If you're not familiar with the series, it is described below perfectly at the AMC website, the shows host network.

Set in 1960s New York, the sexy, stylized and provocative AMC drama Mad Men follows the lives of the ruthlessly competitive men and women of Madison Avenue advertising, an ego-driven world where key players make an art of the sell.

The series revolves around the conflicted world of Don Draper (Jon Hamm), the biggest ad man (and ladies man) in the business, and his colleagues at the Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce Advertising Agency. As Don makes the plays in the boardroom and the bedroom, he struggles to stay a step ahead of the rapidly changing times and the young executives nipping at his heels. The series also depicts authentically the roles of men and women in this era while exploring the true human nature beneath the guise of 1960s traditional family values.

I bet I'm close to one of the last people on the planet to watch the show.  I've known about the show for several years, but never caught an episode.  That is, until I spotted the entire series on Netflix about a month and half ago.  

Born in 1964, I can recollect a bit of the period details from my childhood.

I was instantly hooked. 

The 60's fashions.  

The 60's decor.

The beautifully dressed and accessorized men and women. 

Jon Hamm as Don Draper

John Slattery as Roger Sterling

Vincent Kartheiser as Peter Campbell

Elisabeth Moss as Peggy Olson

January Jones as Betty Draper-Francis

Christina Hendricks as Joan Harris

 Some of the show's characters have even been immortalized in a Barbie Collection!

The show is addicting.  

I've completed all four seasons in the last 5 or 6 weeks.  

Now, I'm anxiously awaiting the premiere of Season 5 to begin on March 25.

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New Wheels

What's usually the first big purchase of a new college graduate who's landed their first salary job?

Why, a su-weet new ride, of course!

Remember your first brand-spankin' new set of wheels? 

It was time for Son No. 1 for sure.  He's old car was beat up.  Over 100,000 miles racked up from almost 5 years worth of trips back and forth from Delaware to North Carolina.  It was used when we got for him when he was a junior in high school, so it was certainly time for something new.

Well, that, and he couldn't let his little bro, Son No. 2, get one up on him.  Remember when I blogged here about Son No. 2 totaling his car ~ The Red Dragon as he fondly referred to his Monte Carlo.  

Last spring he scored himself the Bumblebee Camaro.  If you've seen the Transformers movies, you know what I'm talking about. 

After driving Son No. 2's ride around a bit while home on Thanksgiving break this past fall, Son No. 1 fell in love with the it, and knew he had to have one of his own.

Son No. 2 even found and purchased tire valve stem covers with a Transformer Autobot face on them!

I'll admit, Camaros are fun and exciting to drive.  

I've tooled around in both ;o)

Even Hubby's slightly entertaining the thought of trading in his Cadillac CTS for one.  

We all know what that might be about . . . ;o)  hehe

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Laundry Woes

How true is it that we really don't miss a modern convenience until we are without?  

Having to do this . . . 

. . . hang every bit of my laundry . . . 

. . . out to dry.

Was a direct result of this . . . 

. . . my only 2-1/2 year old Samsung dryer . . .

. . . down for the count.  

The culprit?  

See that box up there?  That's the heater for the dryer. 

It was done. 

Kaput

Dead

How about that? 

 Two and half years old, the most expensive dryer I've ever owned, and it's heater is done.

The repair guy said they have more problems with Samsung dryers then any.  I was, frankly, shocked.  Whenever we spend, say, more than a hundred bucks for something, Hubby is very, very good about doing his research on that product.  

He researched for months on the best washer and dryer ~ that we could afford ~ so much that I was begging him to make a decision. He found nothing but good reviews on the Samsung.  Maybe the units are too new to have bad reviews popping up just yet.  Don't know.  But we thought we were making a good decision.  

All I can say is I'm glad we spent the $150 for the extended warranty!

Having to hang the clothes out for a week really wasn't all that bad.  It does require a bit more time for the whole laundry process when you're line-drying though.  

And, there are some things that line-dry fabulously.

Bed linens, for instance.

There's nothing like making, then climbing into a bed whose linens were line-dried.  There's that fresh, clean-air fragrance on the sheets and crispness of being wiped around out on the line.

T-shirts, gym shorts, Hubby's button-down dress shirts ~ they all do very nicely dried on the clothesline.

Not so nice on the clothesline are towels, jeans, socks.  The all become stiff and cardboard-like.  Oh, and then, of course, there's my unmentionables.  No way do they go outside on the line.  I find a private place inside for those items to dry. ;o

Growing up, my Mother used her clothesline A LOT!  Oh, we did have a dryer, but she preferred to line-dry.  She would even hang clothes on lines crisscrossing in the basement if the weather didn't allow outside line-drying. 

Having to use the clothesline all last week got me thinking of how many "pretty" clotheslines I've seen over the years.  You know, out on country drives . . . colorful clothing or bed sheets or quilts hanging on all types of clotheslines.  Or how about photographs of clotheslines in European countries?  Some of those people go to literally crazy heights to line-dry their clothes! 

 I decided to Google image clotheslines, and thought I'd share some of the cool pics I found.  

Do you ever line-dry outside?  

I guess, for me, I've realized it's not so bad when I don't have to! 

And just to make you smile . . .  :o)

How cute is that?!

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