dishwasher woes and fixes

Good morning everyone!

My dishwasher has not been consistently cleaning the dishes all the way for a few months and I had just about quit using it.  

But last Sunday afternoon,  we had a lot of dirty dishes and I was tired so I loaded up the dishwasher, then  I sat down in the living room with my son and husband.  A little while later,  I went in the kitchen for a drink and saw that the kitchen floor was covered with water that was coming out of the dishwasher.

Thankfully my son helped dry up the water and my husband got the water shut off.

The appliance repairman came Monday morning, ordered a part and then replaced in on Weds morning - pretty fast service!

Anyway,  the water inlet valve was ruined as it was just full of alum that is in our water and it had corroded the fittings too.  That  part was so clogged, it was not letting enough water in the dishwasher 

After the repairman fixed the broken part,  I asked him about the not-clean-enough dishes.  

He told me several things to do and now,  I can happily report that the dishwasher is working right and yields very clean dishes!

clean dishes!

Lemi-shine ( bought mine at Walmart with the dishwasher detergents for about $3.

The appliance man said that all phospates were removed from dishwasher products about 2 years ago.  Phosphates are bad for the environment but were good for cleaning dishes and keeping the inside of appliances clean and free of buildup.
He told me to get some LemiShine.
I followed the directions on the back of the LemiShine.
First,  I ran the dishwasher, empty, on a hot long cycle with a full dispenser cup of LemiShine to clean the inside and all the spray holes, etc.
Then I ran a load of dirty dishes, again following the LemiShine directions.  I put detergent in the first cup, LemiShine in the second cup.
Those steps resulted in a really clean load of dishes.  yea!

I've been handwashing dishes lately and I think I mostly prefer anyway.  It is much quieter and does not take that long unless there are really a lot of dishes.
Even though my hand have been in dishwater a lot,  they are soft and not dry.
I think it is because of this  cream I found at Dollar Tree.
The tubes are big,  10 ounces,  and like everything at Dollar Tree,  they cost $1.  

Dermasil cream from Dollar Tree - $1 for 10 ounces!

I used to like that Blue Spa hand parrafin stuff from Bath and Body Works,  at about $12 for a little tube.
But I really think this Dermasil works much better.
I've bought 3 tubes to keep one in the kitchen, one in my bedroom and one in the living room.
And if I got back to Dollar Tree and they still have it,  I just might buy a few more tubes to have for later.

Another tip from the appliance repairman - he said any dishwasher or washing machine,  no matter the age or brand, could malfunction and flood your house during a cycle.  He said they should never be left running attended - either when we leave the house or go to bed.  I am taking his advice on this one.

Fruit for the week and a new kitchen

I think this fruit is so pretty - looks like jewels!  

We like fruit.  

Jeff takes 2 servings of fruit in his lunch box everyday.  

The grandchildren like fruit at every meal too.   No cooking is involved in serving fruit but all that peeling and chopping  does take time and gets your hands messy.

I like to buy fruit in bulk, usually at Sams,  and because of the mess, I like to prepare it in bulk too. 

Monday morning,  I cut up one fresh pineapple,  peeled about 10 clementines and sectioned about 10 ruby red grapefruit.  

Then some of it got put into serving size containers for Jeff's lunch box.  

The rest is in 3 containers in the fridge,  making for quick and easy fruit servings for me and the grandchildren.  

Gavin is cooking "meat" in the microwave and Elizabeth is filling the pitcher at the ice dispenser.

Isn't this a cute play kitchen?

My son in law got it from a coworker whose children had outgrown it.  

And they got it from as a hand-me-down from another family.  

It is Step2 brand and in really good shape to be several years old.  

Thrifty tip - pass things on that you no longer need and then  happily accept when other things are passed on to you.  

One of my very favorite things about getting something second-hand - no packaging and no giant box to deal with!  

2 recipes and 2 Cath Kidston bags

 How does a simple, low cost, low calorie dessert sound?

I read about this butter and oil free bar cookie recipe on Sunny Simple Life, she read about it on the Cozy Little Kitchen  and she says the recipe is from an older Paula Deen cookbook.  

I was not expecting this recipe to be good but it really is!  It got thumbs up from the 6 family members that ate them - the only complaint is it makes a small recipe so they ran out pretty fast. 

  Brown Sugar Bars

1 egg

1 c. brown sugar, lightly packed

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 c. chopped pecans or other nuts 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  

Grease an 8 in. square pan. (I used Pam .)

Stir together egg, sugar and vanilla in a bowl. 

Stir together flour, soda and salt in a smaller bowl.

Stir flour mixture into egg mixture.  

Add most of the nuts.

Spread in pan and sprinkle on the rest of the nuts.

Bake for 18-20 minutes.  

The batter will puff up and get golden around the edges, but stay very moist inside.  

Let cool, then cut into bars or squares.

You can sprinkle the top with powdered sugar but I left ours plain- they tasted delicious plain.  

I will be making these again and again!  

I know nuts are expensive but we get usually have pecans from my parents,  I buy walnuts and almonds at Sams so this is not an expensive recipe for me anyway.  

My birthday is in December and my parents gave me some cash.

I have looked at several Cath Kidston catalogs, liked most everything in them, but mostly liked their handbags.  After Christmas,  they had a sale I could not resist- the bags I wanted were about 50% off - 

so I happily ordered 2 with my birthday money.  

pretty wrapper- yes,  I saved the bags from both shipments
They came all the way from England and I had to wait 3 weeks! 

my 2 new bags - my photography is not good,  the pictures are much better on the Cath Kidston site.
I can tell you that these bags are made from very nice materials and seem very sturdy.
I like them both so much,  I don't foresee me buying another bag until these just wear out.  

last weekend I tried a very popular Pinterest recipe
Cinnamon Roll Cake
I halved  the recipe and baked it in a  8 inch square pan instead of the 13by9  for the full recipe.
It made a nice texture cake,  my husband thought it was delicious,  but I thought it was just too sweet and rich -
any body else made any good Pinterest recipes?

Hum Along

this is the cover of the 2012 calendar we got from the Paralyzed Veterans of America.  

I just love  "hum along"  so much,  

it may be my new motto.  

John Deere Fleet from the Thrift Store

I've only been to one thrift store this month and Gavin was with me.
We stopped there after he had been to story time at our public library and before it was time to pick up Elizabeth at her baby preschool.
We did not see much downstairs,  but when we got upstairs to the toy room, we saw all these John Deere tractors.  

Gavin likes tractors a lot!
He lives in the country  and his parents have a real John Deere tractor.

We got his whole fleet plus a bag of pompoms and a package of rose wallpaper border for $8.
Very good bargain, I think.    

Elizabeth lives in town but she likes tractors too, she likes to roll the tractors on the floor.

have you found any good thrift store things this month?