Christmas of 1974

Notice the size of the microwave in relation to the box of Special K. Uhmh; they didn't have Special K back in 1974, hint, hint.

Oh, and check out these dials! There are two power buttons on the left (high and low), a timer with a knob control on the middle-right, and an on/off button on the far right

I thought I'd take us all for a stroll down memory lane. I had to do a little research to get the "back story" for this delightful little stroll, so I hope you will enjoy!

From my dad:

"I bought this microwave at Sears in the Irving Mall on December 24, 1974 for about $500. I had waited until Christmas eve to shop, and knew I wanted a microwave for your mother and I knew that Sears and Roebuck carried them, so I went there first, bought the microwave, told them to gift wrap it and get it ready and that I would be back for it.

I returned shortly to Sears, and following their instructions, backed up to the loading dock and let them load the microwave in the trunk of the car.

When I got it home I heated up a weenie and some other things just to watch that baby cook. What an amazing new invention! Microwaves were something you saw at fairs and trade shows, and not many had them in their homes. $500 was about the equivalent of $2750 or more now. To put it into perspective, a brand new loaded Lincoln Mark IV with a moon roof sold for $9800 and it was the most expensive American car on the market. Lincoln's top models now sell for well over $50,000."

Thanks for the back story, Dad!

And now here is one of my own from back in 1985, as I recall from a 6th grade English paper I wrote for Mrs. Gray's class -- a true story!

I can't recall the occasion for baking sugar cookies, but I clearly remember slicing Pillsbury cookie dough and baking up dozens of cookies. They had all cooled and I had just decorated them with icing. It was a not-so-nice mixture of blue and red food coloring in an attempt to make my favorite lavender color. (Thank goodness for Wilton cake decorating color these days!)

As the cookies sat on the counter to harden a bit before being placed into a container, I came back into the kitchen and noticed someone hard at work taking one of my cookies. No, not my older brother, as he was off at college. And not my parents or the cat, who must have been fast asleep in the other room or else would have been going nuts.

It was a little brownish grey furry mouse, working oh so hard to tug a larger-than-himself cookie away from the others. Fascinated, and indeed not worried at the time about my other cookies, I called Mom in to watch as if we were spectators in a huge weight lifting competition. The mouse struggled and strained and finally got the cookie half-way where he wanted it: up under the microwave! Once one half was up on the ledge under the microwave, he then shimmied down to the counter and pushed with all of his mighty mouse power and pushed the other half of the cookie up into his staging area.

I can't recall what we then did with the remainder of the cookies, but I do recall we quickly got out a mouse trap (these things you have handy when you have an old house built in the 30's). No more mouse making a cookie nest under the microwave!

Now to July of 2008: When I was back home in Texas with Colin last month, that same microwave reheated several of our meals. Once a cutting-edge marvel of the kitchen, and later the housing for a mouse and his cookie, this old and faithful microwave still does her job. And she does it quite well.

Some appliances come and go, but the Sears & Roebuck microwave from the Christmas of 1974 still keeps going. And Dad, I think that $500 dollars spent back in 1974 was money well spent!