It sounds like Alarm Kitty has decided that he must get attention/food/interaction as soon as a human servant arises. You said you think his weekday meowing is triggered by GF's alarm clock. What does she do when she gets up? Does she feed him? Play with him? Give him any attention? If so, he has been trained to…

Captain Oblivious, the audiophile with whom I live, has (to date) over 3K albums (don't even ask about the 45s), and has been doing this for a while now. He loves the results. This is a man who is *serious* about his music. His collections (LPs, 45s, and CDs) are arranged alphabetically by artist, then by date of…

Can't quite agree with you on this. I'm generally not an impulse buyer, and I do carry out some research prior to buying products I've never tried before. If I find that said product doesn't work for me or isn't what it was claimed to be, then I don't think it's "morally wrong" to return it. If someone buys clothing,…

Given that all the tennis balls in my house have been saturated with dog slobber (and then there's the fact that Slobber Dog, the German Shedder, believes "ALL THE BALLS ARE BEING MINE!"), I'll just stick with my tried-and-true jar-opening tools: plain old rubber gloves. Playtex or whatever brand, it doesn't matter.…

Yikes. That's really, um, *blue*. I love the natural wood and light, but that color would give me the worst headache.

I love this! I've been meaning to replace my book weight ::casts sharp look at dog responsible for demise of said weight:: but I didn't want to pay the cost of a leather one and I've been too lazy to sew one.

"...I would ask why someone would be lost in the woods, have no compass, yet have tape, a magnet, a paperclip, a pen, and a styrofoam cup. Perhaps this is for people lost in Staples?"

Grilled pizza? Hmmm...sounds like something to put on Captain Oblivious' Honey-Do list....

I think I'm going to invest in a cast iron pizza pan for pizza as well as baking bread. Everything I've read suggests that they're superior to stones. I used to keep my two cast iron skillets on the lower rack in the oven (not a lot of cabinet space in my kitchen), and they served pretty well as heat sinks all on…

Awesome. Thanks!

Please to be speaking to me of baking stones? I've been baking bread rather a lot over the last few months (ever since Captain Oblivious came home with the spiffy firetruck red Kitchenaid mixer - woot!) and I'd like to try shaped loaves rather than those baked in pans. I've been poking around on the interwebs looking…

Um, I don't see how you can feel "clean" when you've "rinsed" yourself with a block of ice laden with detergents and surfectants. The author claims that the top layer of this block is "just clear water." I call BS on that. Just because the colorant has collected on one side, that in no way means that the detergents…

Having moved several times, I discovered this trick ages ago. I also use clean towels (bath as well as dish towels) to wrap/pad my dishes and cookware when moving. I always unpack the kitchen first, so using towels as padding means that I'm always able to dry off after showering away the sweat of moving. I generally…

I *love* cooking in my woks, so I'm happy to see this article. I have to point out, though, that if you follow the post-cleaning recommendation and wipe down your wok with a piece of paper towel dipped in oil, you're going to leave a thick layer of oil that will catch every bit of dust and schmutz in the house. You…

Well said.

Unless you're so addicted to your iPhone that you text while driving.

The flavor thing's not such a problem. I'm puffing on an e-cig right now, and I actually like the flavor (plain tobacco, not one of the food flavors) better than I like the flavor of a real cigarette. Given the ever-rising cost of cigarettes, the e-cigs are actually cheaper. Plus, I was able to hit my e-cig a few…

I'm stuck with AT&T for my DSL and my land line (livin' large in the boonies does have some drawbacks ::sigh::). Given the crap service I get and the ridiculous cost, the idea of AT&T dominating as *the* cell provider for the nation makes me want to get in bed and hide under the covers.

::reaches for tissues::

That's why Mister Blender Lid is your bestest friend.