Show Notes: Are You Ready for Christmas?
The final countdown has begun… 5 days until Christmas, will you be ready?
James and Morris are working feverishly to finish all the items on their “To-Do” list. We called in our experts to give us a helping hand this week:
Angela Cincotta from Alioto and Lazio Fish Company will teach us to cook Dungeness Crab
Chef Marcel Cocit will be cooking up a delicious dessert, Chocolate Pecan Pie Bars
http://www.chefmarcelcocit.com/marcel-cocit
Sean Brophy with ADT will have advice on holiday home safety and security
Jeff Haydock, Best Buy Blue Shirt
Joan Grimes, Attorney at Law
Coming Next Year: Wireless Christmas Lights
Aura lights have designed a lights that are more like Christmas ornaments than a string of lights and are powered by a Power Ring that can either be placed underneath trees that are smaller than 5ft. at or snapped right in the middle of trees that are larger. The ring plugs into standard outlets and will wirelessly power the ornament-shaped lights when they enter the power field. And so that the energy doesn’t interfere with any of your surroundings and its devices it features a precisely tuned transmitters and receivers. All you have to do is randomly decorate your tree with the light ornaments as you normally would and they’ll turn on.
Safer Christmas Lights
Aura was designed to be a safer Christmas light and eliminates wires that can short circuit, heat and spark your tree on fire. And to add even more safety, Aura only uses LEDs that produce close to zero heat.
And because they are wirelessly powered, you can also control the lights from your smartphone. Just download the free app to you iOS, Windows or Android device and you can turn on all the lights or turn them off, set schedules and timers even when you’re not home.
Visit kickstart
http://www.gadgetreview.com/2014/12/aura-christmas-lights
Pantone Names Marsala Color Of The Year
Pantone today announced Marsala, a naturally robust and earthy wine red, as the Color of the Year for 2015.
“Much like the fortified wine that gives Marsala its name, this tasteful hue embodies the satisfying richness of a fulfilling meal, while its grounding red-brown roots emanate a sophisticated, natural earthiness,” said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute. “This hearty, yet stylish tone is universally appealing and translates easily to fashion, beauty, industrial design, home furnishings and interiors.”
A Marsala-influenced design from Oriental Weavers.
Pantone added that Marsala is a natural fit for the kitchen and dining room—making it ideal for tabletop, small appliances and linens throughout the home. The hue will be especially prominent in striping and floral patterns found in printed placemats, dinnerware, bedding and throws.
Chef Marcel Cocit – Chocolate Pecan Pie Bars
Servings: 24 2-inch Bars
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) softened unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Filling
- 3 large eggs
- 3/4 cup corn syrup
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips or chunks
1 1/2 cups pecans, coarsely chopped
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line a 9×13-inch pan with foil, leaving just enough for a 2-3 inch overhang on all 4 sides. Grease the pan. It will be much easier to handle when cutting them once they are baked.
- Make the crust by creaming together the butter and brown sugar until nice and fluffy in a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Then add in the flour and salt and mix until crumbly.
- Press the crust into the foil-lined pan and bake for 10-12 minutes until golden brown.
- While the crust is baking, prepare the filling by combining eggs, corn syrup, sugar, butter and vanilla extract in a medium bowl and whisk until combined. Stir in the chocolate and pecans. Pour over the baked crust.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until set. Cool in the pan. Cut into bars.
Simple End Of The Year Home Improvements
Paint. Refresh a room that needs painting. Fresh paint will brighten up the room and give you a fresh start for the New Year.
Finish that “Honey-Do” List. Do it now…..Finishing these projects will help your home seem more put together and will keep them from carrying over into your New Year’s resolutions!
Do Your Basic Home Maintenance. Feel a chilly draft? First time firing up the fireplace after the warm seasons? Checking all of the appliances and systems in your home now can avoid any mishaps while you have guests during the holidays. Don’t forget to have your furnace and chimney checked and cleaned now.
Del Monte Holiday Meal Census
How long do you spend in the kitchen creating the perfect holiday meal? Del Monte did a survey to find out… Here are the results:
THE TOP 25 ‘MOST SPEEDY’ U.S. STATES FOR HOLIDAY MEAL PREP
#1: Kansas (3.6 hours spent on holiday meal preparation)
#2: Iowa (3.7 hours)
#3: Delaware (3.8 hours)
#4: North Dakota (3.9 hours)
#5: New Mexico (4 hours)
#6: Nebraska (4.1 hours)
#7: Montana (4.2 hours)
#8: Idaho (4.2 hours)
#9: Utah (4.3 hours)
#10: Hawaii (4.5 hours)
#11: Connecticut (4.5 hours)
#12: Alaska (4.6 hours)
#13: Illinois (4.6 hours)
#14: Vermont (4.7 hours)
#15: California (4.7 hours)
#16: Washington (4.8 hours)
#17: Massachusetts (4.8 hours)
#18: Louisiana (4.8 hours)
#19: Tennessee (4.9 hours)
#20: Minnesota (4.9 hours)
#21: Wyoming (4.9 hours)
#22: South Dakota (5 hours)
#23: Ohio (5 hours)
#24: New Hampshire (5 hours)
#25: Nevada (5 hours)
So which states have the longest holiday meal prep times? Del Monte ranked those, too:
THE TOP 5 ‘MOST DEDICATED’ STATES FOR HOLIDAY MEAL PREP
#1: Mississippi (7.1 hours on average for holiday meal preparation)
#2: Kentucky (6.9 hours)
#3: Alabama (6.7 hours)
#4: Georgia (6.5 hours)
#5: Texas (6.5 hours)
Here are the On The House Gift Picks for 2014
Collapsible Bucket
The Pack-Away Silicone Collapsible Bucket can be Stowed Anywhere
As practical as they come, the Pack-Away Silicone Collapsible Bucket can be used at various heights depending on the user’s need.
At maximum expansion, the flexible bucket reaches 22 cm in height and holds up to seven liters. This size is just right for use as a gardening tool, water pail or as a drink cooler when filled with ice. It flattens to less than 5 cm so it stores well and can be brought on camping trips and other travels when packing space is limited. At mid-height the bucket becomes a bowl whose depth can be altered as desired simply by pushing the bottom.
http://www.wackypracticals.com/pack-away-bucket
Coast Headlamp – Model: HL8
- Pure Beam Focusing Optic
- Twist focus
- 390 lumen light output
- 2 hour runtime
- 217 meter (711 ft) beam distance
- Batteries: 4 x AA (included)
- Removable battery pack with 3-foot (91.5 cm) extension cord
- Z Cord in headband for added durability
- Adjustable elastic straps
- Easy to operate side light output control dial
- Hinged beam adjustment to position light where you need it
Weight: 12.8 oz. / 363 g (including batteries)
Suggested retail: $99.99
http://www.coastportland.com/hl8-focusing-led-headlamp.htm
Dremel US40-01 Ultra-Saw Tool Kit with 4 Accessories and 1 Attachment
- 3-in-1 Tool – Saw, flush cut, surface prep
- Long-lasting drive train, metal foot and guard to take on more difficult tasks
- Remove paint, rust, metal and concrete
- $99.00
Dremel MM30-01 2.5-Amp Multi-Max Oscillating Tool Kit with 15 Accessories
Packed with power, innovations and features the Dremel Multi-Max MM30 gives the DIY user professional oscillating tool performance. With a wider angle of oscillation, higher speed range and powerful motor, The MM30 is as solid performing and comfortably operating oscillating tool as you will find – if not more so.
- Powerful 2.5 amp motor—to help cut through tougher materials
- Quick Release – Integrated wrench for convenient accessory changes
Variable speeds from 10,000 to 23,000 OPM—the widest speed range of any oscillating tool
$148.32
Contractors Pen
The hardest working gift around, this multi-use contractor tool features level and plumb bubbles, drywall and angle gauges, a ruler, a magnetic strip and a mini-pen holder.
The pen included is a superior writing instrument known as the Fisher Space Pen, designed to withstand the extreme temperatures and conditions of space. It writes upside down, in freezing cold and hot temperatures, underwater, on wood, on aluminum and on galvanized steel.
$33.00
http://www.uncommongoods.com/product/contractor-pen
Fix It Sticks Travel Tools
A Tool You’ll Stick With
What do you get when you cross the convenience of a multi-tool and the muscle of a shop tool? Fix It Sticks! Lightweight, compact, and ingeniously designed, Fix It Sticks combine four of the most commonly used bits in a simple, two-piece set that forms a T wrench for great leverage. Cyclists and general gadget lovers alike will swear by this tool – both on the road and at home! Ships with a carrying case. Made in the USA.
$29.99
http://www.uncommongoods.com/product/fix-it-sticks-travel-tools
Seed Money
Grow Your Green
These special coins may look like small change, but the change they make can bring pure delight. Instead of metal, they’re minted from handmade paper embedded with seeds, so you can plant them in the ground and watch your investment grow.
There are four different coins with charming designs on front and back from Lea Redmond, and each one carries a different kind of seed: pennies grow non-invasive flowers such as Black-Eyed Susan, Spurred Snapdragon, and Shirley Poppy; nickles grow herbs like thyme, dill, basil and cilantro; dimes sprout root vegetables like carrot, parsnip, and turnip; quarters grow a salad mix with bibb, Black Simpson, Salad Bowl Red, radicchio, and endive. The coins look like hand-drawn versions of real money and are printed on a letterpress, which gives them a realistic, 3D texture. The front of each is emblazoned with the motto “In soil we trust,” and words on the back direct the recipient to plant the coin. Plant them, gift them, drop them on the sidewalk for others to pick up, leave some with your tip at a restaurant, hide some in a vending machine coin slot—you’ll spread seeds of happiness wherever you go. Made in the USA.
$16.00
http://www.uncommongoods.com/product/seed-money
Tool Logic SVC2 Survival Card with Fire Starter and Light, Charcoal
Credit card holder with (7) essential compact survival tools
- 2-inch serrated edge blade cuts through though materials with ease
- Removable blade, tweezers, toothpick and opener
- 375-inches by 2.125-inches and weighs 1.3-ounces
Comes with a limited lifetime warranty
$18.89
MagnoGrip 202-911 Magnetic Nail Pouch
by MagnoGrip
- 100% Polyester
- Imported
- interior of nail pouch is magnetized to reduce nail and tool spills
- Exterior of nail pouch is magnetized for storing small metal tools
- Ideal for many do-it yourself projects
- Made of durable 1680D ballistic polyester
Compatible with most tool belts
$19.99
Empire Levels
Model # EM81.9 $9.97
True Blue 9 in. Professional Torpedo Level
Features shock-absorbing endplates to help protect the frame from damage and a magnetic edge for strong holding power on steel studs and other surfaces. The V-grooved edge helps hold the level in place on pipe or conduit. The heavy-duty aluminum frame provides durability.
- True blue vials help provide accurate plumb, level and 45-degree readings
- Accuracy of up to .0005 in. per in. in all 10 level and plumb working positions
- Heavy-duty extruded aluminum frame for durability
- Shock-absorbing endplates help protect the frame from damage
- Continuous-length magnetic edge for holding power on steel studs and other surfaces
V-grooved edge helps hold the level in place on pipe or conduit
Digger Mechanical Paperweight
Can You Dig It?
Bulldoze through tasks with this chrome-plated work machine, designed to help you move tough assignments right off your desk. German designer Hervé Houplain’s executive Desktop Digger gets to the bottom of paper piles with a magnetic shovel for stowing paperclips (so you don’t have to dig for them), a pencil holder, sharpener, and sticky note dispenser. Plus, when you drag and release their friction motors you activate their mechanical charm and rev up your workday. It’s the ultimate desktop accessory for a constructive day at the office!
Includes one pencil, five paperclips, pad of 80 yellow sticky notes, adjustable shovel.
$56.00
http://www.uncommongoods.com/product/digger-mechanical-paperweight
Do-it-yourself Mushroom Kit
Grow Oyster mushrooms in as little as 10 days!
- Three easy steps – just open, mist and harvest.
- Can all be done indoors – just set on a windowsill and mist twice a day (mister included)
The soil inside is 100% recycled coffee grounds, which are safe and sustainable
$40.99
Swiss Army Knife Evolution S54 Toolchest Plus
5″ Locking Blade
Lever Design Serrated-Edge Scissors
75″ Double-Cut Wood Saw
Phillips Locking Screwdriver
Metal File with with
-metal saw
Magnifying Glass with with
-Precision Screwdriver
Pliers with with
-Adjustable Opening
-wire crimper
-wire cutters
-Nut Wrench
Integrated Rotating Compass with
-Slight Line
-ruler
Universal Wrench
Fish Scaler with with
-hook disgorger
corkscrew
key ring
tweezers
toothpick
$120.00
Website Mentions:
Flexible Moulding Concepts:
http://flexiblemouldingconcepts.com/flexible-mouldings/
Lorex Technology
http://www.lorextechnology.com
Have a very Merry Holiday and Happy New Year
James, Morris, Danny,and Carol
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