Putting the word out

I'm a big believer in putting the word out when I need something or have a question. If you start to think about all of the people you know and all the people those people know, etc... you very soon have a large pool of knowledge/resources to draw from.

I inherited my grandmother's 1961 Singer sewing machine with a nice big cabinet that the machine folds down into. (It's the 503A model for those of you who are into vintage sewing machines.) A few moves ago, I had neglected to remove the machine from the cabinet before moving day so this task was accomplished about 30 seconds before the cabinet was loaded into the back of the U-Haul. I handed the screws off to Mr. Hairball who tucked them into his shirt pocket. Well, the screws got lost somewhere between state A and state B and were never found again. The machine is still usable but, without the screws to hold it into place, I can't fold it down into the cabinet so that the top of the cabinet can be used for another purpose. Currently, the machine is setting on the floor of our study/craft/kitty/whatever room so that I can use the top of the cabinet to store my beads.

Has anybody out there had to replace these screws and can I just get something from the hardware store or is there something rather unique about these screws that would make that difficult? I'm feeling kinda paranoid about just trying this on my own without knowing somebody else who successfully replaced the screws. I'm really scared that my machine will fall out of the cabinet and be damaged!

Here's some pictures to help illustrate what I am talking about.



I took all my beading stuff off of the top so you can see better. That's a cat bed underneath.LOL


Here's a closeup of the top. Sadly the cabinet has accumulated a little damage over the last 48 years!



If you remove the piece with the round circle in the middle, you will find these hinges folded down. There are holes on the back of the machine these hinges fit into and then a screw holds each one in place. If you look closely, you can see that they have a flat part on them where the back of the screw sits after being tightened down. Obviously, the screws need to be the kind that do not end in a point.Click to enlarge the picture if you find it hard to see what I'm talking about.

Now for a quick story.

I loved Barbie dolls back in the 70's and would frequently bring them with me when we would go visit someone. Because of this, my late grandmother discovered that Barbie dolls did not come with undergarments. She was most disturbed by this revelation. I guess she thought that playing with dolls that didn't wear underwear would be a bad influence on me or something. She decided that we really needed to make Barbie some undergarments. Somehow I convinced her that since Barbie was made of hard plastic it was okay that she went commando underneath her fancy dresses and pantsuits. She'd still bring it up every so often that we needed to get in the sewing room and make my dolls some undergarments. LOL Even though we were at odds over Barbie's lack of undies, she did teach me to sew some very simple outfits for my dolls. I have some very nice memories of making doll clothes with her. :)

Let Them Eat Cake!

Mr. Hairball was raised on box cakes with canned frosting and thoroughly enjoyed them until he met me. In fact, one of his favorite cakes was a cinnamon streusel cake made from a mix, and he refused for years to even entertain the thought of me making a scratch version of this cake. One day, I go to the grocery store to buy his streusel cake mix and I can't find it at the store. I go home and tell him and he grudgingly agrees to try a homemade version since his beloved box mix is no longer available. Thankfully, after a few tries I came up with something that he liked and household harmony was restored once more.

The streusel mixture is from my 1950 Betty Crocker Picture Cook Book. The original recipe made half the amount I have listed below. This cake is for Mr. Hairball and he likes a lot of streusel mixture in his cake. LOL

Streusel Mixture
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup melted butter
1 cup chopped nuts

Toss together until mixed.

For the cake portion of the program, we will be using a recipe from the Hillbilly Housewife website and substituting butter for the margarine.


Lucy has very kindly agreed to be the background for this shot. In other words, she's blocking out all the crapola that was on the back of my counter. *snorts*


Preheat your oven to 350F. We will be making this cake in a well greased and floured bundt pan so prepare your pan.


Butter and sugar have been creamed and the eggs, vanilla, and salt have been added to the bowl.

Here I've added the baking powder, flour, powdered milk and the equivalent amount of water for the milk. I'm low on milk and saving what is left for drinking. Veteran bakers will note that all of the flour and milk goes in at one time instead of in stages.


Place 1/4 of the streusel mixture in the bottom of your prepared bundt pan. The pan really is clean it's just quite old and has had many cakes baked in it!


Top that with half of the cake batter.


Then add the rest of the streusel mixture.


I've started adding the remaining cake batter.


Now smooth it all out with your spatula and bake it at 350F for 35-40 minutes or until it tests done. Leave in bundt pan for about 15 minutes and then invert onto serving dish or platter and let cool completely. Once the cake is completely cool, it's time to glaze that bad boy. Once again, the amount of glaze is doubled here per Mr. Hairball's request.

Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
1-2 tablespoons milk, cream, half and half, etc...
1/4 tsp vanilla extract (optional)

Mix above ingredients until smooth and drizzle over your cooled cake.


Sorry this one is so dark. Mr. Hairball was begging me to hurry up and glaze it so he could eat some so I glazed it right there on the dining table.


Here's a shot back in kitchen after he ate some cake and I packed some up for his lunch. Note the large dark ribbon of streusel mixture there in the middle.

Designer Snuggies for all!!

I am obviously not watching nearly enough TV to have missed this wonderful development in Snuggie technology. Whoot!


Wookies back in '78 were rocking their Snuggies!! Advance it to 4:24 to see the Snuggie content.


If you prefer to see the whole thing in all its glory, here you go. The original commercials are included which is kinda fun. At about 42:00 there's a commercial for the ILGWU that I remember very well.

Hat tip to the folks at Ridiculous Infomercial Review for this important Snuggie update.

Checking in again

I'm way behind on blogging this week. I have some pictures that I need to edit and work into some posts. My camera battery is slowly dying so I have to recharge it frequently which slows things down a bit. I'm also having one of those weeks where I'm not sleeping well so here I am on the computer late at night again.

Hope all of you are well and will have humorous April Fool's Day posts lined up for my enjoyment!

Flashback Friday!

Today, lets go back to the 60's. Our subject is Dame Margaret Rutherford and her take on the famous Miss Marple.





This one is my favorite of the four films. I love when she is doing The Twist!






These four films are currently available as a box set at Amazon.com for $37.99 and are eligible for their free shipping promotion.


Have a good weekend!!

Hilarious products advertised on the Tee-Vee

Thanks to the Ridiculous Infomercial Review Blog for some of these!


Gee, we'll just spell out the name and that will fix everything. LOL




Boy, I'm sure glad I'm not golfing with these guys! That peeing in the golf club is way disturbing.





Why do I think some company had a warehouse full of metal lazy Susans they needed to unload?





If it rips, can you patch it with some duct tape?





I am so 12.




The people trying to work at their desks while using this is priceless!






Can I wear my Slim-Suit, sit on my Aerobic Body Shaper in my Hawaii Chair and use my Facial Flex all at once? I am gonna look sooo hawt!! Then I'm getting in my car with my bear, my golf club, and my fish deboner and have myself a par-tay! Whoot!

My eyes, my eyes...( Gagtastic Emails part II)

I've stripped out a bunch of stuff as it keeps screwing up. If you want to see this in all it's glory then check my profile for my email and put "please show me the gagtastic sparkly crap" as your subject line. Shoot, I'll even strip out the 500 email addresses it was addressed to and only send you one copy of this bad boy. What a deal! Rush to your phones people!!

So, I'm innocently checking my email and find the following craptastic email. I do like the picture of the flowers and would like to invite the picture to please leave the email ASAP.


FROM ME TO YOU

(There was a drawing of a snapdragon here.) I just wanted you to know that I have entered the snapdragon part of my life part of me has snapped and the rest is draggin' (There was a disturbing cartoon of a very tired looking turtle here.) Here is the plan: send this flower to four people you want to have a good day. I picked you. If you don't have four friends, then don't bother sending any. This is SO positive and there is nothing attached. Let's continue to send this along. Have a bright sunny day! (There was a sparkly picture of a duck wearing purple overalls and holding a flower here. The text said: A friend is someone who thinks you're a good egg even though you're slightly cracked!!) OR Sometimes Slightly Scrambled!! May you always have Love to Share, Health to Spare, and Friends who Care. From one of your slightly cracked friends

Let's look at a certain section again:

Here is the plan: send this flower to four people you want to have a good day. I picked you. If you don't have four friends, then don't bother sending any.

So if I only have three friends should I just jump off a bridge or what? You know what? I'd rather have one true friend who loves and accepts me just as I am than a whole gaggle of empty-headed idiots who send each other sparkly gagtastic emails every five minutes.

This is SO positive and there is nothing attached. Let's continue to send this along. Have a bright sunny day!

Uh, you just got through telling me that if I didn't have four friends to forward this crap to not even bother, and now you want to blather on about rainbow farting unicorns and such? Go away!

Whoot! Hairball finds another fab-u-lous recipe to try!!

My dear readers, you simply must make this ASAP!


Go find some paper and a pen and I'll watch the crazy local weather dude do his thing while waiting for you to come back.



Are you ready for this?



Are you sure??



Hang ONto your undies because this will blow you away!



Okay round up the following ingredients:


2 lbs ground turkey or hamburger seasoned cooked and drained
3 2lb bags tater tots
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
2 cans cream of chicken soup
2 cans evaporated milk


Gotcha!!


You really thought I was gonna make the Duggar Family's Tater Tot Casserole!?!


You guys are hysterical!! ROTFL!!!! Whoot!!

Stop putting old songs I like on commercials!!

I saw a Tums commercial this past weekend featuring this song.



I like this song and it really bugs me to now think of antacids whenever I hear it. Thanks a lot GlaxoSmithKline!

* Goes off to find some antacid not made by these clowns.*

Whoot! Smorritos in da test kitchen!!

Marilyn, of Foodies Untie, has bravely attempted to make the smorritos recipe from the Log Cabin Camping episode of Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee.