FORT Koffee Klatch

[prhoshay]

Is the Electrolux that one that they used to send a salesman to you house to make the sale, and it weighs a TON?

[Missyboxers]

We had/have a whole bunch of old appliances and things at our summer house in Maine, one of which was an old vacuum-- I'm not sure if it was Electrolux or not, but it was old, heavy, worked well until it recently died, and (I think) there was some sort of toggle switch so that you could put the hose into our bigger inflatable tubes and blow them up really fast that way. I really miss that thing-- the portable air station takes much much longer and it's equally loud.

It's a testament to the way things used to be made that they've held up for so long. They see less use up there, obviously but even so, things were so much better made before I was born. We have an old iron up there, and it's heavy, but every time my mom uses it, she talks about how it's the best iron she's used in awhile, same for the old-school glass juicer, and so on. I'm a little surprised that she hasn't brought some of those things home with us, but it's nice to have up there.

[CaliLily]

I agree. In the 6 years that I have been out on my own I have gone through 2 toasters, 1 iron and 3 vacuum cleaners. Not that I am especially hard on my stuff or anything, but they were cheaply made (I guess you get what you pay for). My current vacuum has to be taken apart before each use because the tube is so narrow everything gets stuck. Maybe I should invest in one of those Electrolux ones!

On the other hand, my grandma gave me her food processor that grandpa gave her for their 20th wedding anniversary (she is 80, you do the math) and a blender she got sometime in the 70's and they are the best working appliances in my kitchen!

[Rattus]

When we moved into this house six years ago, we had to give up our built-in-1950 McClary stove because it unfortunately was too wide to fit into the alloted stove space. I am kicking myself and wishing we had taken the trouble to rebuild the counters to accommodate it because I hate, hate, hate the ten year old thing that came with the house. Absolutely everything worked on the McClary, including the temperature gauge in the oven. The temperature gauge on the current thing (have no idea what brand it is - the name plate fell off years ago) is wildly temperamental so I can only bake if I'm in risk-taking mode and I can never promise anything for work-related bake sales, the front right burner only works sporadically and usually requires a hearty punch to get started, the timer, which I never use voluntarily, occasionally goes into overtime buzzing and can't be turned off. Gah! Hate it. I have just now talked myself into looking for another old stove to replace the current piece of crap. See ya - going shopping now.

[MRD]

Since I have a husband with a compromised immune system (immunosuppressant drugs for kidney transplant), and neither of us gets sick pay from our jobs/clients, I'm continuing to Clorox-wipe my tutoring space in the library. The kids there seem to have plenty of germs from all their other sources, and I don't want any of them.

Ellen, I would definetly do that and I continue to sanitize at school. I'm talking about some people I know that practically bleach the entire house AND the kids and the kids are never allowed to get dirty. They live in a sanitized bubble, so when a germ comes along, they get it because they haven't built up the immunities to fight it off.

Rattus, I had never heard of a peanut allergy until my daughter started pre-school and they sent home notes about not sending peanut products to school.

As for the electrolux, my mother got one for a wedding gift in 1959 and that thing was still going strong well into the 1980's.

[Ellen]

from myrosiedog:

Ellen, I would definetly do that and I continue to sanitize at school.

Thank you!

A brief word about allergies:
While it's likely that oversanitizing may have a hand in allergies, it's not always the case. Allergies run in my family. Always have, even in the olden days before childproofing everything and sterilizing pacifiers if the kid drops it on the floor. My sister was allergic to peanuts, egg whites, and a host of other things and had asthma since babyhood (and we're talking 1950s, before all of the modern practices referred to); with me, a number of allergies (along with allergy-induced asthma) -- foods, dander, pollens, mold, dust mites -- manifested in adulthood after having mono. My allergist ran a number of tests, and my IgE was off the charts, indicating a genetic predisposition. Sometimes it's genetic and can't be pooh-pooh'ed and generalized as overcautious and overindulgent parenting. (Sometimes it is -- but in many cases it's not.)

[MRD]

Ellen, until you brought that up, I had forgotten that I had childhood allergies. They were to enviromental things like grass, pollen, dust, cats, etc.
And I knew others that had them. I took allergy shots for years and today am only allergic to cats. But I had never really known anyone with food allergies. My daughter did have a red dye allergy, but grew out of it. But while she had it, it was awful as EVERYTHING had red dye in it including the Benedryl that they wanted us to give her.

[Ellen]

Ellen, until you brought that up, I had forgotten that I had childhood allergies. They were to enviromental things like grass, pollen, dust, cats, etc.
And I knew others that had them. I took allergy shots for years and today am only allergic to cats. But I had never really known anyone with food allergies. My daughter did have a red dye allergy, but grew out of it. But while she had it, it was awful as EVERYTHING had red dye in it including the Benedryl that they wanted us to give her.

Isn't that crazy? With common red dye being such a prevalent allergen, most forms of Benadryl have red dye?

But food allergies, environmental allergies, animal allergies -- my DNA is full of 'em. (It wouldn't matter if none of us in my family had ever been exposed to Clorox or Lysol -- the allergies were already there.) I tried allergy shots for a couple years after my allergies presented post-mono -- but I was (am) so sensitive (ultra-high IgE) that when the shots were increased after a few weeks, I had too much of a reaction. Spent lots of time and lots of money (allergy immunotherapy not covered by our insurance -- oh, but we have the best healthcare in the world, god bless America united we stand!) before it was finally determined that the shots were never gonna work for me.

I wonder if the allergy shots are more effective for kids? Or am I just a weirdo?
(Incidentally, the CFIDS/fibromyalgia were also immediately post-mono, along with the allergic reactions.)

[brunette trixie]

I totally agree with everyone about how "old" stuff was made so much better. When I moved out of my parent's house, my mom gave me the electric hand mixer she got as a shower gift in 1968. I used it until 2000 when I broke it by dropping it and the plastic housing got crushed. I cried like one of my pets died, I loved that thing so much.

[Ellen]

I totally agree with everyone about how "old" stuff was made so much better. When I moved out of my parent's house, my mom gave me the electric hand mixer she got as a shower gift in 1968. I used it until 2000 when I broke it by dropping it and the plastic housing got crushed. I cried like one of my pets died, I loved that thing so much.

Same happened with me, with an early-'60s combo stand/hand mixer, that my mom gave to me when I moved out and she already had her Kitchen Aid. I loved it; it could mix cookie dough without burning out the motor. My current hand mixer (I don't have a stand mixer, and dream of a Kitchen Aid, but then where would I put it in my storage-challenged apartment kitchen?) is really a lightweight -- I use it for egg whites and cream, but not much else. On a positive note, doing cookie dough, etc., by hand has given me some great guns! (I wish!)