My Favorite Things

Oprah and I have a little bit in common -- we both like to identify our favorite things. Here's one of mine -- it's a Cuisinart hand blender. It has really sharp blades housed inside a bell-shaped dome-like thingy on the bottom end. The whole gizmo is slender enough to fit inside a glass. I like it for mooshing up stuff in a sauce pan that is still on the stove -- no need to dump it out into a blender or a bowl for using a mixer. And no blender to wash. The lower part of the assembly detaches and is dishwasher safe. The bell-shaped blade housing protects the pot from scratching. It's great for pureeing soups, blending sauces. I also like to stick it in a cup and blend salad dressings. It minces garlic and renders anchovies unidentifiable in Caesar Salad Dressing -- a fact that allows me to serve anchovies to those who believe they hate them. You need one of these. If you don't have one and want one for Christmas next year, let me know.

Here's another of my favs: the levitating iron. I am one of those mindless people who frequently leaves the heated iron plate down on the ironing board. Since I have been quilting and using lots of spray starch and sizing, this practice results in a carmelized ironing board cover very soon after I've installed a brand new one. Enter the Oliso Iron -- problem solved. In this picture, the iron is hovering above the ironing board, supported by Teflon protuberances fore and aft. The iron's handle has sensors built in which cause the little legs to retract when you pick up the iron. The instant you leave the iron plate down on the board and remove your hand from the handle, the little legs pop out causing the iron to levitate an inch above the surface of the ironing board. How cool is that! I can't afford to get you one of these for Christmas, they cost about $110.00 -- but I'll save that in ironing board covers in less than a year.

The weather today has been just like you heard on the news. We've had freezing rain and sleet now being topped with snow. It's real slick outside, so we are staying in. School was cancelled today and was closed for tomorrow as of noon today. It will be below freezing most of the week, so I look forward to staying in until the weekend. I'm prepared and it suits me fine. We haven't lost any power here, though the folks just 50 miles to the south, across the Missouri/Arkansas border may be without power for weeks. They have had a lot of ice, downed trees, and downed power lines. The kids went out to play and slide in the slippery stuff for a few minutes this afternoon, but they were back inside in about ten minutes. It's cold out there!