Hollanders, Pot, and TV

This week’s been a whirlwind. My sister-in-law and nieces were visiting from the Netherlands. It was fun and exhausting. We drove to a bunch of little back-of-nowhere spots in the state, talked a lot, and wrapped up last night with what I guess would be considered dinner theater – a local phenomenon called Organ Stop Pizza. I remembered the food being mediocre to bad. But last night our food was actually pretty good and the organist was excellent as usual. (The program was bloated with patriotic tunes but otherwise good.)

My in-laws were thrilled. It’s kitschy, over-the-top, occasionally raucous, and unrepentantly American. My husband has already decided to go back, just the two of us, in a few weeks. He loved it. I’d been there once before, a few years ago – it was the first time for him. The irony is that it’s been around since I was in high school. It was THE hangout for a lot of the cool kids in school. I never went until my daughter-in-law’s party when she got her master’s degree.

It’s also ridiculously cheap for dinner and a show. It’s regular pizza prices – I think it was about $65 for all five of us to eat, including two pitchers of drinks, plus one person got a humongous pasta bowl and another got the salad bar. Hubby and I split a medium pizza between us. The two of us could have ALL we could eat for about $20-25 including a pitcher.

The fam is flying back to Europe now, though, in a 17-hour marathon. They should arrive in the wee hours here. Not sure what time there.

It’s early, but hubby gave me my birthday present today – an Instant Pot to replace my crockpot, complete with some add-on bells and whistles. I’ve barely had time to look at it, but SUPER glad to have it. (It was what I asked for, by the way. Forget jewelry – gimme gadgets!) I haven’t used it yet – didn’t expect it and had already started a meal with parsley-lime pork chops, mashed buttered yams, spinach, and stuffed mushrooms before Hubby got home with his yard-sale treasures. Free limes, as it worked out, were part of my own haul.

What? You thought he paid retail? Pffft! Not in our house. New, yes, (still sealed) but retail? HELL no.

We’re in high-yard-sale season, and other than the Instant Pot, I got the deal of the year yesterday: a flawless, three-year-old 55-inch Samsung smart TV for $25.

No, you didn’t read that wrong.

I figured my spousal unit would want to sell it, though I wanted to keep it. He DID sell the 55-inch one we got in an Amazon snafu, arguing that it was too big for our space, so I assumed he’d follow suit here.

Then we set it up to test the universal remote I bought for it.

You see, I pulled a bone-headed moment. This sucker BARELY fit into the back of our little Kia Soul. I put the seats down and knew it shouldn’t be laid down, but neither would it stand vertically. So it was wedged in at an angle, cushioned with a ton of moving blankets.

I was out and about by myself and the seller helped me load it. When we were wrestling with it to get it into the car, I set the OEM remote on the roof of the car – and promptly forgot about it, driving off and losing it God knows where along the way. So I had to make a run to Target and pick up a universal remote, which ended up being a godsend for the following reasons.

1. It was cheap.
2. It was pre-programmed for Samsung, so we didn’t have to futz with it, right out of the packaging.
3. It ALSO works with our Roku right out of the package, no programming needed.
4. Once hubby saw this big-ass TV set up in our living room, when I said something about selling it, his response was, “Are you crazy, woman?” (I wisely refrained from incriminating myself on that score.)
5. We’re so keeping it.

To be fair, in this itty bitty space it’s thisclose to virtual reality watching this thing. Picture and sound are amazing. It also gave the husband person bragging rights with his buddy, who bought the previous big-ass TV from the Amazon snafu. Now the spousal unit’s talking about getting a soundbar for it, even though it’s equipped with surround sound and works perfectly.

See? I’m not the only gadget-happy person in the family.

Over time I’ve learned if the husband unit “doesn’t want” something awesome, it’s not that he doesn’t actually want it – it’s that he needs to be eased into it. We reached this point in increments, so he’s good with it. Plus we know that in the relatively near future we’re moving into a bigger home, which will mean this is a better match for the space. (Besides, as long as it fits through the door, there’s no such thing as a “too big” television, right?)

It also helps he’s come to trust my instincts overall. I don’t buy a tenth as much stuff as he does, but when I do it’s almost ALWAYS a killer deal. I do now and then buy a dud, but it’s rare.

I have photos from the week, but too tired to post them tonight. More to come…