Sunday, February 05, 2012

Electric Gadgets

My earliest memory of an electric “gadget” was the hand held massager my uncle sent my mother all the way from Germany in the early 1950’s. She could strap little vibrating monster to her hand and massage by grandmother’s sore shoulders.

A few years later we got an electric can opener. My mother loved it because it replaced the hand-cranked model with the little wheel --- oddly, the kind I prefer today. Of course, I open far fewer cans.

My mother had a fascination with manicure equipment and she was especially proud of his manicure tool that reminded me of a miniature power sander. I still have it! But I prefer a simple nail file.

When I was thirteen I received a “Hot-dogger” as a present. You could put six frankfurters in this little device – sticking each end of a metal post. They “dogs” cooked well enough to impress my teenage used it once and then forever it rested under the mini-kitchen counter in the “rumpus room.”

In the early 60s, hair was VERY important to teenage girls and I was no exception. The ability to dry one’s hair without having to sleep in rollers overnight was the ultimate goal. I remember the table top dryer that looked very much like a modern hand-held dryer. I stood on a metal stand and squirted out hot air. The secret was to position yourself so that your entire head eventually got the hot air. Just think – if we had only scrapped the rollers and taken that thing off the stand we would have leapfrogged ahead 20 years in hair-drying technology. But alas, the bag dryer and the table-top dome dryer intervened. It was not until the mid-70s that hand-held dryers came into use. The other hair innovation was hot-rollers. Imagine the idea of rolling your DRY hair with the hot roller that actually produced similar results to sleeping in rollers.

My mother was especially fond of her electric knife. I still have that too, but I never seem to find reason to use it. But she could make short work of slicing a rump roast or ham. I don’t much care for rump roast, and my ham comes spiral sliced—so the electric knife goes unused.
When we first got married, back in 1969, my husband had to have a slicing machine. Over the years it has come in handy for slicing the occasional chunk of cheese or large stick of salami, but mostly it just sits in the pantry waiting patiently for its next slicing job.
We also have a “foot machine” in the closet. About thirty years ago those were all the rage. You would fill it with water, and turn on the heat and it would vibrate and soothe your tired feet. Hmmh, I wonder if it still works! My feet could use a little soothing!

I had a “power” toothbrush decades ago; it ran on batteries. A few years ago I bought another power toothbrush – one that has a little charging stand and costs about the same as a life-time supply of toothbrushes (at least my remaining lifetime anyway).

I have reluctance to dispose of anything that plugs in and still heats, vibrates, files, or slices – you just never know when I might want it again. I think I going to go right now and dig out the foot machine.

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