Some Lovely New Things

My separation from Today's World Magazine (which is quickly descending into a tabloid rag, btw), and my temporary transistion to Christian Homemaker has given me more time to pursue the quality things in life.

Take baking, for instance: Cookies are cheap and cheerful, and a relatively low-impact way to indulge one's sweet tooth. For special occassions, a cake can be whipped up easily, especially using today's mixes. But both require a mixer.

My poor dear turquoise Mixmaster is simply not up to the task: It was making terrible groaning sounds and getting hot. Plus, it's cord is alarmingly brittle, so I thought it best that I look for a "daily driver" to do the heavy lifting. Imagine my delight to find, while enjoying a lovely afternoon in Bremerton, this beauty:



It's a vintage Sears Mixer! According to my 1963 Fall catalog, it was available for $34.50 in four colors: Pink, White, Turquoise and Yellow.

After some rather heavy cleaning involving some ancient dried-on batter, I fired it up, and it works like a dream! All for $6.00 and some elbow grease.

Then it was time to tackle the problem of the cookie sheets. I had those typical crappy discount store sheets that would warp when in a hot oven. A trip to the local Cash 'n Carry (just down the hill, over from the bowling alley), and I walked out with four nice heavy-duty cookie sheets like bakers use, for only $7.00 each!


(I love the Cash 'n Carry by the way - much better than Costco, and no membership required. An essential stop in any party preperation, and THE place to buy glassware in bulk - their Libbey wineglasses are restaurant quality, and built to last! The only flaw is that they don't sell alcohol.)

But moving onto decor: Many of you commented on how awkward the Grundig looked at the Christmas Crush. And you were right: It was too low on the floor, yet too high on a table. It definitely lent a false note to an otherwise exceptional living room (or, if you prefer, Sala Grande!)

Imagine my delight, when visiting the Lake Forest St. Vincent de Paul, I encountered a lovely Grundig Consolette, which looked like it would fit the Sala Grande! like a glove. Ridiculously enough, it was on the "toss" pile because, as the philistine who was working the donation dock told me "them don't sell" (yes, they know their marketing: Everyone knows the huge demand for ugly vases and pressed wood furniture that they accept with enthusiasm)

Anyway, I took it off their hands, bought it home, and shined it up. Lo and behold it worked perfectly, and is now residing happily in a corner of the Living Room (Sala Grande!)



Finally, see that tasteful little lamp on the left side? The one perched prettily on the cunning little teacart? Well, that was perfectly acceptable - desireable, even - until yesterday. That's when I found this:



Let me just say this, right from the get-go: Yes, it's a cheap, rather poorly executed knock-off of a classic Arteluce lamp. (You can see a real Arteluce lamp in Vicky Lester and Norman Maine's Living Room in the 1954 version of "A Star is Born") but real Arteluce lamps are more expensive than anything I would want in the house, so this is a nice compromise.

So, as you can see, while economy is the watchword of the day, you can still have pretty, functional things in your home.