Kelly's Korner - Holiday Hassles (and how not to make it so)

Hey, All!

Ok, Halloween is over and it is now time to officially start planning "THE HOLIDAYS"!!!  Get your groaning over because, like it or not, they are here.

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I find planning helps out a lot - lists, lists, lists!  And a huge calendar.  First, I mark dates and times of events I have to be at or other special days.  Kids' school concerts, birthdays (yes, there are a bunch of us that have birthdays during the holiday season - we don't like it either), holiday parties, and anything else you've go going on.  This way you know what dates are taken.  Or if you are more technically savvy than I am, put it on your phone - then you won't forget the list at home (my personal favorite trick)!

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Then get with your family and plan who's where and what to bring.  Our family holidays are potluck and everyone brings something - appetizers, side dishes, desserts, beverages - plan it out.  Facebook messaging is great for this - that way everyone sees what the other is bringing and no one is left out.  Gets you a head count, too.

Get your gift lists together and start shopping - every time you go out pick up something.  Or go online and get things ordered.  If it is ok with your employer, have gifts delivered to your work - that way the kids (including spouses) don't get curious and into things they shouldn't.  As they come in or purchased - WRAP THEM!  Saves staying up till three in the morning Christmas Eve doing it.  Also, save yourself a lot of shipping costs for those out-of-town gifts and shop online and have it sent directly to the giftee.  In-store pick-up and layaway are also good.

Get your grocery list together and start picking up the non-perishable or frozen stuff when ever you hit the grocery store.  Saves a lot of hassle of holiday crowds and not forgetting the small stuff - whip cream, cranberry sauce, etc.

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Get any appointments you need to fix your appliances - technicians are VERY busy this time of year.  New drip pans for your stove, change your water filter on the fridge, anything you've been meaning to do.  Most of all - do not use your self-clean feature on your stove this close to the holidays!  Using this feature may blow a board and getting it fixed before the holidays is tough if not close to impossible.

Most of all - don't let the holiday stress get to you!  Schedule times for relaxing and for your family.  Have fun not headaches!

Have a great week!

Kelly's Korner - After the Holidays

EDITORS NOTE: W.L. May Company will be closed Wednesday, December 31st & Thursday, January 1st. We resume normal hours on Friday, January 2nd, 2015

Hey, All,

I'm ba-aack!  I had a wonderful vacation/birthday/Christmas and am relearning how to to my job lol!  I hope all of you out there had a great Christmas!

We just had one minor catastrophe - my water heater decided to pump out cold water instead of hot.  Now while W L May has very little to do with water heaters, we do carry a couple of thermostats and elements.  But my heater is still under warranty so I called the nice people at the manufacturer's and they were able to troubleshoot for me and give me instructions on testing.  I will go home tonight and do that and call them tomorrow with the results and they will send me the part I need (I can hit the reset on the upper thermostat to get it to work so we are not all too stinky!).  Do not attempt to do any testing or repairs on any appliance unless you absolutely know what you are doing!

The pets are exhausted - must be tough!

Hopefully, all of you made it through the holidays with no major appliance disasters.  Now all the major cooking and baking is done, now would be a good time to clean that oven.  If you have a self-clean oven and don't have anything major coming up that you'll need your oven, run the self-clean cycle.  For some reason, and it doesn't matter the manufacturer, the self-clean cycle tends to blow the computer boards on ranges and ovens, so be prepared.

Go through your refrigerator, and if you have holiday leftovers left, either toss them, use immediately, or put them in the freezer if possible - you are looking at close to a week of their preparation and need to be taken care of before they turn into a science experiment or turn toxic.  Remember:  When in doubt, throw it out!

If you did have an appliance go kaput, get on the phone now with your favorite tech and get your repair scheduled.  They are just as busy after the holidays as before so get your appointment now.

I don't know about you, but I am done with cooking for a while, so I'm going to dig out my crockpot and throw stuff in there to cook - lotso good recipes on the 'net for them!

Have a safe New Year's and I'll see you next year!

Peacock Lane

W.L. May Company is closed today so that we can celebrate the holiday season with our families. We hope you are celebrating as well this holiday season.

Since 1929, Portland has a holiday tradition that brings the city together during this time of short days and long nights. There is a street in Portland called Peacock Lane that dresses up thoroughly for Christmas. It is a popular choice for a winter stroll, and many carloads of people drive down it as well. Even tour buses and horse drawn carriages parade down the busy residential street. We would like to take you there via some images we found on Flickr.  Enjoy and Happy Holidays!

(Flickr User Aaron Parecki/CC)

(Flickr User Dianne Yee/CC)

(Flickr User mike krzeszak/CC)

(Flickr User User mike krzeszak/CC)

(Flickr User Francis Storr/CC)

(Flickr User User mike krzeszak/CC)

(Flickr User User mike krzeszak/CC)

(Flickr User User mike krzeszak/CC)

(Flickr User User mike krzeszak/CC)

(Flickr User User mike krzeszak/CC)

(Flickr User mike krzeszak/CC)

(Flickr User mike krzeszak/CC)

(Flickr User mike krzeszak/CC)

For more from education and entertainment from W.L. May Company click...HERE

W.L. May Company Holiday Toy Drive

October 27th – December 12th

Donate New Un-Wrapped Toys* and bring a smile to a child this holiday season.

*Sorry, we cannot accept toys with religious or weapon related themes. ie: no guns, knives, swords, projectiles, crosses, nativity sets, or menorahs. Thank you for your understanding.

Your gifts support these local hospitals:

Seattle Children's Hospital (Seattle)

St. Luke's Childrens's Hospital (Boise)

UC Davis Children's Hospital (Sacramento)

Randall Children's Hospital (Portland)

Please mail or drop off toys @ your local W. L. May Location:

 Portland Branch

 835 E. Burnside

 Portland OR 97214

 503.231.7000

 Seattle Branch

 9801 Aurora Ave.N.

 Seattle WA 97103

 206.545.4500

 Sacramento Branch

 3314 Orange Grove Ave.

 North Highlands CA 95660

 916.679.2470

 Boise Branch

 11692 W. Executive Dr. 

 Boise ID 83713

 208.345.7411

For more from education and entertainment from W.L. May Company click...HERE

Thursday Tweets: Getting Ready for Thanksgiving (It's Not Too Early)

While looking through our Twitter feed we found these kitchen tweets to share with you.

In other posts, I have pointed out how Thanksgiving is a busy time for an appliance parts store and for the repair people we serve. People with broken appliances can get particularly anxious about getting repairs done before the holiday. We open our look into Twitter with a sentiment a home owner with a broken kitchen appliance might relate to...

Wish I was full of thanksgiving dinner instead of stress and anxiety
— Olivia Mendes (@livvymendes) October 22, 2014

Some people can get so worked up about holiday preparations that strange thoughts enter their mind...

Had a dream that I made Thanksgiving dinner in an EasyBake Oven and then was eaten by a tanning bed. Normal.
— Denise! (@Stellacopter) October 21, 2014

To save some time, a portion of the holiday cooking can be done with a microwave. This tweeter plans on shaving a few seconds off of the cooking time...

Life is too short to cover stuff in the microwave
— Owl City (@owlcity) October 22, 2014

From the sidelines I know that plan won't save time, because any time you save by not covering your food, you are likely to spend later cleaning up the mess...

Life is too short to scrape crusty exploded spaghetti-os off the inside of the microwave
— Owl City (@owlcity) October 22, 2014

Really though, carelessness in the kitchen can lead to bigger problems than a mess to clean up...

Watching a show about house fires when suddenly I smelled burning. Realized I left my eggs on the stovetop. Homemade smellevision!
— Torrance Coombs (@torrancecoombs) September 28, 2014

A Safe-T element on the range might have prevented THAT burnt dish, but since they don't make Safe-T elements for ovens, you really still need to be paying attention in the kitchen...

Completely forgot I had a cake in the oven, and found it smoking and totally black a few hours later! 😣
— HeyoTheo (@HeyoTheo) October 22, 2014

No really, just pay attention...

I'm the definition of stupid. I literally just sat my hand down on a hot burner cuz I wanted to know why it said "hot cooktop".. DUH LINDSAY
— ℓιи∂ѕαу тυяиєя (@lindzzzz_) October 14, 2014

Your not stupid, Lindsay, just careless. Like this tweeter...

Just tried to microwave something, realized too late I set it for 1 hour instead of 1 minute. I have lost the intelligence high road.
— Jason Pinter (@jasonpinter) October 22, 2014

If you are careful, and pay attention, the odds are you will succeed in creating a great holiday meal for your guests. Some of them will thank you like this...

All I'm doing after thanksgiving dinner is sleeping and watching football
— Guardian (@MIDNITEsMADNESS) October 22, 2014

If you have a dishwasher you will probably think to yourself...

I guess ill never understand putting dirty dishes in the sink before you go to bed. Especially when the dishwasher is not even a foot away
— Connor Halliday (@c_halliday12) October 15, 2014

Of course if your dishwasher is out of order, then you might be thinking something more like this...

The dishwasher broke so I just had to wash an entire load of dishes by hand like some kind of normal person from the 1950's.
— Sammy Rhodes (@sammyrhodes) October 19, 2014

After over 20 years of watching people get anxious as they scramble to get things fixed in the kitchen at the last minute, let me offer some free advice. You can head off some potential holiday frustrations by getting any appliances that need servicing fixed NOW! Don't wait until the last minute. That way you can enjoy your Thanksgiving with one less thing to cause you stress and anxiety.

Post Script

This post was meant as a fun reminder to get your appliances repairs started sooner rather than later. If YOUR appliances are working great, we don't want this blog post to be a total waste of your time so here are a few tips for using your microwave, as well as one thing you definitely should NOT try at home...

Put your wet sponge in the microwave for 2 minutes to kill 99% of the bacteria. pic.twitter.com/bXclpKnEuY
— Organize Your Life (@OrganizeHacks4U) October 22, 2014

Microwave the lemon or lime before slicing on high for 20-30 seconds to get the most juice pic.twitter.com/sK2WbokvVK
— COOK IT YOURSELF (@CIY_Food) October 22, 2014

CD in a Microwave http://t.co/ClviAIQlAM
— How it's Made (@TheWeirdWorld) October 19, 2014

For more from education and entertainment from W.L. May Company click...HERE

Kelly's Korner - Giving Time for the Holidays

Ho-ho-ho, All,

Well, I am on vacation this week but wanted to send a last blog before the holidays.  W L May will be closed on December 24, 25 and 31 and January 1, so there won't be any blogs on those days from me.

But I know time is running short for those hard-to-buy-for people so what better gift can you give but time?  The W L May Portland branch has a collection of fun, funky clocks that are made by local artists at Allen Designs Studio in Vancouver, WA (yes, the OTHER Vancouver).  These crazy, quirky, unique and talented people have designed wall clocks, soap dispensers, jewelry, picture frames, etc. for whatever you're (or others) are interested in.  All clocks are $39.95 and I've seen people go out of here with armloads of these.  More are available in the catalog we have at the front counter.

Aren't they adorable!  Come on in and take a look.

I wish you and yours a happy and safe Holiday season.  Please be thankful for all you have - they are lots of people out there not as fortunate so if you don't give a clock donate your time or goods to help make sure someone else's Holidays are happy. 

See ya next year!!!!!

For more from education and entertainment from W.L. May Company click...HERE

Kelly's Korner - Traeger Smoker Barbeque's

Hey, All!

Wow, it is November already!  Where has the time gone?  And now comes the holidays and all the joys and frustrations those bring.

Are you looking for something a little bit different for your holiday meals?  Have you ever had anything cooked on a Traeger barbeque?  In my opinion, these are the best barbeques - by far! - over any of the others, whether gas or charcoal, out there. 

Traegers are electric smoker/barbeques that have a hopper that feeds flavored wood pellets into the burning chamber to cook your food.  It gives the food a wonderful smoky flavor that is out of this world!  And because the burning chamber is covered, there is a very small chance of the flame ups that you get with gas and charcoal.  They are rated as a smoker vs barbeque so if you have restrictions where you live regarding barbeques then you may be able to have one of these.

If you have a one stove kitchen like I do, then timing and space are very limited when getting that holiday dinner together.  So free up your oven of that turkey, prime rib or whatever you cook for the holidays, and cook them on the Traeger.

W L May is an authorized Traeger dealer and we have the smokers, pellets, sauces and rubs and other accessories here.  Come on down and check them out - you will find yourself cooking on this more than you will your stove - summer or winter!  And if you come down on a Friday, chances are that we have ours going and are cooking up something for you to sample.

So come on by anytime and check out these exceptional Traeger barbeques - I will be posting other things - recipes, helpful tips, etc., throughout the holiday time so keep an eye out.  And if anyone is wondering what to get me for my birthday/Christmas - I'll take one of these!

Have a great week!

For more from education and entertainment from W.L. May Company click...HERE

Kelly's Korner - Early Holiday Shopping for Your Favorite Tech

Hey, All,

Ok, now that the summer is over, time to think about the holidays.  I know - we are already being bombarded, but now is the time to think about the technician, employees, or that handyman in your life.  W L May has a lot of fun and useful items for gifts and stocking stuffers.

TRTD-1: Tamper-resistant Torx driver - four-in-one of the most popular torx sizes for microwaves and other appliances with tamper-resistant torx screws - T-15, T-20, T-25 and T-30.

SDBD-1:  Bit Slide Driver - thumb nut safety lock - magnetized - 3" handle makes it easy to fit in a pocket.

SD-7 and SD-10:  Slide Driver - comes in 7" and 10" sizes - slides from 1/4" to 5/16" without stopping to change sockets - magnetized.

EMF-1 and EMF-2:  Extendable Magnetic Flashlight (I want one of these!) - 3 super bright LEDS, magnetized on both ends to attach to appliance at one end and pick up screws, nuts and bolts, etc., with the other end - extends from 6.5" to 21" long with flexible neck.  The EMF-2 has a mirror to help find that screw you dropped.  FB-1 is the part number for the replacement batteries.

Call or come in to W L May for pricing and get a jump on your gift list!

Have a great week!