Common Household Items - Modern and Future

Confession time - I have a favorite appliance in my kitchen. I know you shouldn’t show favoritism, but it's my Tassimo single-cup coffeemaker. I know it’s an extravagance, but I love coffee and I always hated throwing coffee away when I made too much. So now I make a single cup and I can even make lattes and specialty coffees if I have them on hand. Other than that, my kitchen is ordinary. We are not really high tech in other areas of the house either. If it works, why replace it? 

I do have dreams. When I began researching this article, those dreams expanded. Yes, I would like this television set and that beautiful modern lighting. If you watch HGTV, you see so many new and innovative additions to kitchens and bathrooms it’s difficult to keep up. But writers must stay up with the new gadgets if our writing is going to be modern for the next couple of years. 

For your convenience, I have inserted links in this article. Just click on the item to see the original article and/or photo.

Appliances & Gadgets - Among my favorites, advanced lighting, a self-cleaning, restocking refrigerator, a “green” glass, robot security and what I like to call the “super” bed. Just imagine a bed that does everything for you. But there are many more gadgets out there, designed to make our lives easier. However, some of them are costly and are not energy efficient right now, like the Kohler Numi toilet.

We already have music that follows us everywhere, electronic books, ipods, ipads, iphones, and laptops. These are constantly evolving to keep up with the ever-changing technology. Even our automobiles are evolving into highly technical machines with touchscreens that allow us to route our journey, raise and lower the heat and sound and even talk on the telephone. 

& Televisions - Our present-day television boasts high-density picture quality that is at times unsettling, if the screen is a large one. You almost feel you’re there. Anyone remember the old color TV’s? Those first ones to hit the market? We’ve come a long way. The screens of the future look a little different. There are holographic TVs in the works and the solid glass screens are already out there. You think you’re looking at a mirror or a glass panel until you touch the remote and turn it on. Cool.

These new gadgets will be powered by solar, wind, biodiesel and nuclear energy, according to several articles I found, especially one from National Geographic. But that’s another subject for another day.

There is a wealth of information out there to help you populate your futuristic novel with cool gadgets and appliances. If you have deep pockets, you can even invest in a few to add that touch of realism to your story. If your work in progress is set in the present, just be aware that your cutting-edge technology will be out of date by the time your book is published. 

Thank you for reading our posts this month on Common Household Items. I hope we have helped fuel your imaginations. Please join our blog or follow our facebook page to keep up with future posts on interesting writer-inspiring subjects. And take a few minutes to finish one of our story prompts. Enter the monthly contest to win a $10 Amazon gift card and be featured in our last post of the month. Hey, it’s free advertising. 

This week’s prompt: Lucy was awakened by a trilling alarm. Bimbo, her security robot, had detected something. She pushed a button in the headboard to activate the security channel on the TV. Her heart nearly stopped as the screen revealed the intruder...

Research

http://www.designyourway.net/blog/inspiration/30-cool-high-tech-gadgets-to-give-your-home-a-futuristic-look/

http://www.hometone.com/biggest-futuristic-home-gadgets-world-witness.html

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0508/feature1/index.html

Common Household Items - Mom's Kitchen

1960's - 1970's

In my mid-sixties world the Beatles headlined. A spoonful of sugar helped the medicine go down. A man walked on the moon. Technology changed so fast, it was difficult to keep up. Mom saved green stamps, so we had many cool kitchen gadgets. Toasters, toaster ovens, electric can openers, mixers, blenders, etc. For those of you who aren’t familiar with green stamps, or quality stamps, you received them at certain grocery stores. The more you spent, the more stamps you received. We loved to go shopping at the stamp store. They had such amazing stuff. 

After spending a week or two at Grandma’s, home seemed especially Jetsonic. We flipped a switch on the wall to turn on the lights. No hauling in water, it was readily available from faucets in the kitchen and bathroom. We had two bathrooms in the house. Taking a bath was almost luxurious. And there was an abundance of outlets in which to plug all those appliances. Mom’s favorite small appliance was her shiny, stainless steel percolator. How well I remember the sound of the percolator and the smell of fresh coffee wafting through the house. 

Mom preferred an electric stove. She was fond of baking, so the house was often filled with the wonderful aromas of fresh baked bread, cookies, cakes or pies. She had paraphernalia for her baking. Nesting bowls, a sifter, measuring cups and spoons, rolling pin and cookie cutters. When she tied on her apron (she never cooked without an apron) and pulled out her Betty Crocker cookbook, we’d hang around waiting for bowls and spoons to lick. 

The portable mixer whirred, the can opener buzzed and popped. All of these new appliances made noise, but we didn’t care as long as the Beatles or Elvis sang in the background. While my brothers lay on the floor in front of the black and white console TV watching The Three Stooges, I helped Mom in the kitchen. She used self-rising flour, so we didn’t have to add soda, baking powder and salt. We kept our flour, sugar and cornmeal in avocado green canisters on the countertop. 

The only home-canned foods in our kitchen came from Grandma’s. Mom worked full time, so had no time to care for a garden or put up food from one. She gleaned fresh produce from the grocery store and filled her pantry with tin cans and cardboard boxes. She used vegetable shortening rather than lard and margarine instead of butter. Eggs and milk came in cartons. It was quicker and easier to do laundry with our automatic washer and dryer. The broom took a back seat to the vacuum cleaner and the dust mop sat in the closet unused, since we had cushiony carpet instead of wood floors. 

Today we cringe at the thought of aqua blue appliances and bright white daisies dancing on yellow wallpaper, but at the time, it seemed shiny and modern. We spent a lot of time in Mom’s kitchen, sat down to meals as a family more than once a week and ate home cooked meals ninety-nine percent of the time. Sweet memories. 

Note: Instead of adding to the list of household items this week, I’ve tried to incorporate all of them in my post. 

This week’s prompt: Susie had just plugged in the percolator when the doorbell rang. Perfect timing. She opened the front door expecting to see her neighbor . . .