Sunday, January 31, 2010

They didn't tell us

We were told when we got this new furnace that we would have considerable savings on our heating costs. They didn't tell us it would be a result of the furnace periodically quitting and allowing the house to drop down to Arctic temperatures. I think there ought to be a list of simple restarting instructions and an alarm that goes off when the heat drops below it's normal setting. Don't you agree? In case you haven't guessed, yes the furnace did quit again last night.


What I really want to blog about is this:
It may not seem like much to you, but when I moved out on my own I bought a lot of things to set up housekeeping for the first time. One of the things I bought was a basic set of flatware with service for 8, just because I liked having friends over for dinner and wanted enough utensils so that no one had to eat with their fingers unless they wanted to. After 25 years of use the knifes started developing pits along the blades, the tips of some of them were bent as a result of being used as screwdrivers, (I'm not mentioning names) and some of the tines of the forks don't line up (again not mentioning names) and many of the spoons have their handles bent in a n S shape (I have no idea what they got used for). So it was time to get a new set.


Now I THOUGHT that this was a simple matter of just selecting a pretty design, but apparently not. Anything with an embossed design was rejected as being conducive to pitting. Satin finishes were likewise summarily dismissed. Patterns with angular or sharp edges were cast off as being too hard to cut with, (I thought food was cut with a knife, but apparently not).


Armed with this list of criteria I ended up with this:


Plain, simple, unadorned, but don't drop it on a plate, these suckers are heavy....and don't fit in my cutlery tray. The other half has bee joking that the knives are as heavy as his hammer. (NO you can't use these as substitute tools!) So now I need a new one of those. But at least I now have a serving set that matches my flatware and I'm no longer worrying about what might be leaching out of the metal with every mouthful we eat. The pattern, if anyone is interested, is Oneida's Lincoln.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Handles of spoons (etc) are bent by the dishwasher!!???!!

Find your blog's interesting and informative - keep it up.

Robert, in northern Iowa.

Sharon said...

Well, considering that hubby is the dish washer, I guess you could say that it was the dishwasher ;-)

Ridgewoman said...

I'd like to know where those socks go, also. You know I STILL am using (for every day) the silverware gifted to me by my Dad, back in the early 60's.
When I first married EVERYONE in the two family trees were saving the ends of margarine packages for Sterling Silver, King Cedric pattern. They managed to save up enough for a service for 12, plus serving pieces and pieces I'd never heard of ~ pickle forks, asparagus tongs…(I led a sheltered life). Of
course, they were taken the first time our ranch home was invaded and robed.

I finally splurged for a new set just prior to 1997, our home was flooded and the chemicals in the water removed and tarnished them beyond use. But Daddy's survived just fine!

After a couple of years, I once again invested in some Onieda (no more sterling thank you); a lovely plain pattern (DH say's egg and 'stuff' get in the overly patterned ones, prefers a hefty weight, and a plainer look; well, he IS the dishwasher).

I totally related to your story. Every time our new furnace kicks in ~ DH listens for 'odd' noises, and checks the vents to make sure enough air is coming through

Ahhh. we can't live with 'em and can't live without 'em, as my Dad use to say about women.

xx bj