It Pays To Shop Around! Bye Bye Winter Decor & Garden Surprise, Roasted Pork Tenderloin & Potsticker Salad

It Pays To Shop Around!
Just when things are going reasonably well the dishwasher started flooding the kitchen. We didn't realize our dishwasher was actually about 12 years old! We had noticed more food was getting into the sprayer arms over the last year or so. We would clean them out and they would just clog again. We were really cleaning the dishes ahead of time too. A few nights last week we walked in and found water on the floor in front of the dishwasher. After doing some research, and asking about a local repair shop, it was past that point of no return. I have joked with Dave that if he passes away first I would ditch the dishwasher. I'd have a carpenter put in some really nice light colored shelves, something like this, no link back on Pinterest sadly-

We decided to join Consumer Reports online for $7 a month. It's a great way to do a lot of research if you're going to make a major purchase. You can just cancel your subscription after the one month. We didn't know much about newer dishwashers and how energy-efficient they are! You can run a 1/2 load and use very little water and power. That's great since we were running ours every other day. They newer ones have light sensors in them that can read how dirty the water is at the start of the cycle. It then adjusts the water and length of the cycle. Amazing!

We looked at three different big box stores online and then went to a local furniture place that also sells appliances. Years ago I had seen Bosch dishwashers but they were really, really expensive since they were imported from Germany. I didn't know that at some point they started manufacturing them in the U.S.! The short version- after doing a lot of price checking, checking features and reliability was we bought a Bosch dishwasher. We also got free no interest financing for 12 months. We will just pay a little each month and then be done. We brought home the dishwasher (in stock too!)  yesterday and Dave installed it in two hours-

Anya approved

Tons of sound insulation!!!

We ran it this morning and it's incredibly quiet which is a bonus. I was so used to the loud noises that I kept thinking the new one wasn't on, ha ha. I did have my dishwasher cover on the old dishwasher, but the magnetic part won't stick on the new one bummer...

All in all the installation only took a couple of hours, we bought from a local store which supported them, made in the USA and got a great price, $485.00. Win win! Big box stores DON'T always have the best prices and NOTHING in stock. So remember to shop around!!!

Bye Bye Winter Decor-
In some ways I'm just not ready to say goodbye to Winter yet! I just love snow and we haven't had hardly any this year. I know that may sound crazy if you live back east with blizzards in 20 degree below weather. But in the high desert that we live in here snow is a rarity, usually. I decided to go ahead and pack up all the winter decor yesterday and it's all back out in the garage. I had deep cleaned our barn wood living room bookcase and lightened it up. I added some lighter Swedish Ivy and the new topiary I made. I also added a few Valentine's Day things around the house even though it's not quite February, but it will be next weekend!

My sweet daughter Tami gifted me with a chicken from Cost Plus, love it!

Fave thrifted vase

When I was outside this morning I was really shocked to see some green things coming up in the front yard!

Asian Poppy

Lamb's Ear

Misc ground cover

Shasta Daisies

Bulbs

I know we've been having mild weather, but this was kind of crazy in January. I hope we don't have any really hard freezes anytime soon. We have another mild week this week in the forecast, upper 40's. It always makes me really nervous when the perennials come up too early because February and March can still have bitter bitter cold weather. We've actually had a relatively mild winter, although we did have some very cold temperatures in November. While I love spring and seeing everything green up, it's always a dangerous kind of time if it happens too early. Time will tell...

Roasted Pork Tenderloin & Potsticker Salad-
I decided to buy a couple of pork tenderloin roasts after I saw an amazing price for two at Costco! I froze one for later. I wasn't sure about the best way to roast one so I tried recipe here
Lecremedelacrumb.com . Since I don't buy pre-packaged Italian spice mix I just used basil, oregano and thyme. It came out super tender and juicy-

 I was also I decided to make it my favorite pot sticker salad I hadn't made it quite while. I used chicken and vegetable pot stickers, also from Costco, and followed this recipe for the dressing and salad Sunset.com The dressing really makes this dish, with the fresh lemon juice adding the tang.