Gadgets or Necessities?

Our recent visit to the appliance store yielded several “modern” purchases.

The 21st century digital world forced us to purchase converter boxes for our old-fashioned analog TV sets, none of which are flat-screen, but at least the one is 32 inches (not sure what we’re going to do with the third old set unless there’s a really good deal on a converter later). I’m glad D ordered the vouchers when he did – I hear the government did not allocate enough money for this project. I also read that Obama thinks perhaps the switchover date should be postponed – time will tell!
As our power went on and off (mostly off) over several days just before Christmas it apparently wrecked havoc on our landline’s wireless satellite phones throughout the house. We ended up getting one base unit with two handsets as a replacement system. I’m still not properly using all of its new features – almost too many “bells and whistles” on these newer gadgets.
When our not-that-old microwave recently decided to stop working; B&R’s old microwave (stored in our garage) was turned into our daily warming workhorse. I wanted a bit larger microwave and still like the convenience of the other one for warming things up on the patio as needed (remember those warm-weather days?). So, here’s another purchase:
Washer, refrigerator, now all of this -- what will we “need” next? ~~K

Great Lakes Crossing

Years have passed since D and I were at Great Lakes Crossing in Auburn Hills, so we took a round-about drive up there last Saturday. I say round-about because of the construction on I-75 – thanks to our Garmin GPS Nuvi, we had a pleasant venture through residential neighborhoods, especially the Orchard Lake area. I don’t think I would be able to retrace our route, though.

I forgot that TJ Maxx and Marshall’s were anchors and had a great time looking through their deals. We spent about 5 hours shopping (picked up a few presents and stocking stuffers for next Christmas). Instead of going back to the car and unloading before continuing our trek we took advantage of the lockers (a very nice convenience item in nasty weather).

Not that many unusual shops, but still enjoyable. I did get interested in security – as I tried to get my camera out of my zipped purse, the security guard meandering on the Segway was almost out of site before I was ready to snap – I had never seen one of those people movers in action.
At the half-way point, it was time to decide where to eat. Our last meal there had been at Game Works since the RainForest Café was so busy. Today our timing was perfect since we were willing to eat sheltered under the “mushroom bar” rather than on the main floor. I thought the frog stool was a bit out of place with the other “animals”.
We had a great view looking out through the rain dripping over the edge of the mushroom.
I guess I became so engrossed in the biome and my meal (chicken-fried steak) that I forgot to take any “food” pictures.
We were there over an hour and sat through three thunder "storms" complete with lightning before continuing our indoor venture – I'm sure we walked several miles. A very enjoyable and productive “day trip”. ~~K

D’s Favorite Pie

I finally got around to using the rest of the pie crust I mixed up several weeks ago.

I had intended to make D his hamburger hash pie earlier,

but it was just as delicious and appreciated now as it would have been earlier during the holidays. ~~K

Breakfast Treat

Thanks to my daughters I had the best sweet breakfast

– carrot muffin with dollops of honey Greek yogurt – yummy! ~~K

Merry Christmas

Looking forward to seeing my "alphabet soup" family over this holiday season. As I went through our names I realize I can almost use every letter – just missing G L Q U V X Y.

Some of you will probably point out I could use L and V for great grandparents, so if you want to count them, go ahead.Merry Christmas from D & K.

“Lights Before Christmas” – NOT!

Before we were even out of bed Sunday morning we knew we were in for a “powerless” day as the nightstand lamp flickered now and then. Sure enough, around 8:45am we lost our electricity. We were due at my sister’s at 9:30 for brunch. As we drove over there we watched the temperature drop (love those car thermometers that show both inside and outside degrees). We didn’t see any downed lines but the ice was thickly coating everything and many of them were swaying over 3 feet in the wind.

Since they had tickets for a 3pm performance at the Palace in Pontiac and the weather was bad, they needed to leave around noon but graciously said we could stay. Around 2 we decided to go home and pick up a few things in case we ended up staying longer at B’s. Our electricity came back on, but not for long – D called Edison again and was told they hoped to have power restored on Monday afternoon. We headed back to B’s around 5, even though they weren’t home. This time the temp went below zero. D and I spent a lazy day there together.

At 8 pm the temp was –6 F and the lights flickered a few times at B’s; they returned from Michigan around 9:30 with food from Frickers. As the night continued we even lost power there for a while. Monday morning the electricity was on, but the garage door wouldn’t open and cable tv went out.

My sister R and her friend from New Jersey had been at B’s also, so four of us headed back to our house to check it out. Mysteriously, the back passenger window went down on our way home – and D had to manually pull it up and duct tape it to keep it up (we’ll have it looked at later).

Power was on at our house at that time, but we didn’t trust it, so after taking a brisk walk around the property, we picked up a few items to take back and spend another night at B’s.

M, K, & little Z stopped by B’s. We made tacos and had other great munchies. The guys played some Wii and later we all played Taboo and MadGab. We enjoyed our little impromptu party.

Now, we’re back home and we do have our “Lights Before Christmas”.

Merry Christmas Eve! ~~K

Pie Crust

What’s flour, salt, Crisco, and ice water? Home-made pie crusts like Grandma Orange used to make – really the only kind I like!

I mixed up three batches Saturday. I find it fairly labor intensive to do it properly so it stays flaky. It’s a good thing I have helpful kitchen utensils to make it easier. I had used D’s mom’s pasty tool for years, but I wore it out and I had to replace it with a new one. One of my latest additions includes the “thickness sticks” – now anything I roll out with my dowel cooks evenly because it has some quality control in it. And I love the mat I received as a Christmas present 2 years ago.


Two batches went into the refrigerator for future use, but the real reason I even made the crusts was for D. He had been talking about the way his mom would use extra piecrust and put preserves on it for D to eat instead of cutting into her freshly made pie.

I did misunderstand him though. I just cut the crust into “cookies” and baked it, thinking he would just spread the preserves over it. It turns out I should have baked them as tarts (and I even have the correct mini-muffin pans I could have used) so he could “fill” them with preserves rather than just having a light topping of it. Oh well, next time.

But I did experiment with a topping on a few of the “cookies” that was a hit. After spreading butter on the dough, there's a pinch of chopped walnuts sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon, then topped with a dollop of honey. It resulted in a taste treat that in one bite reminded me of baklava and then in the next a homemade pecan pie! Yummy! ~~K