Tyler took over six and a half hours, with lots of coaxing and sulking and timeouts, to open his gifts. In contrast, Dominic took under an hour...

I was trying to figure out where "The Maze" in LA traffic is (I hear it on the report a lot) and I stumbled on this: [link] Terrifying!

Lu humphs and says, "Could an animal have thought of it?"

Humans have a special talent for the cruelty. Though, I don't know, insects do so many horrific things as a matter of course that I'm not sure they get a bye.

Beverly, I know I've said it before, and I will say it many times again, you rock.

And speaking of pots...I've been making pooch stew in a crock pot and finding it to be a bitca to clean. No matter how conscientious I am, I still find residual schmoots. I don't want to scratch it with scrubbing but ye gads, I can't stand the uncleanness.

Has anyone tried the 'boiling water' method suggested by ehow? Or anything that works better?

Potsandpans.com has a great looking selection. And is leaving me with a question. Is there a practical reason I couldn't use a 3qt saucier to make rice? That's the primary usage I have for the 3qt pan, other than smaller than stockpot sauces and chilis.

Only tangentially related, I really do like my .625qt warming pots. They're just the right size for most butter-melting requirements, and exactly the right size for heating milk for hot chocolate or cereal. I love them so much I have two.

God, I love kitchenware.

My kitchenware gets used more in my absence than presence. I'm glad my housesitters can make do in my wee kitchen.

I'm so sore. Perhaps I ought to ease into swimming after not for a week. But no, 2700 yds and OW. That's my long haul. Should have left it to later in the week.

Anything with a good top should be fine for rice, I'd imagine. In other kitchen news, I got a super cute whisk like this for Christmas. Cute!

Mom stirs debate by tweeting for prayers for dying son. Really? People who spend a lot of time on the internet think this is a big deal? They quote a blogger who calls the woman an over-tweeter, but without giving her handle, there's no way to make up one's own mind.

Ooh, I love a good nonstick whisk--the rainbow is even cooler.

That story is bonkers. Sars talked about it some on Tomato Nation, with a link to a really moving post about the issues around it.

Actually, I think the whisk is this one. Even cuter!

I think a lack of a fence around the pool with a 2 year old in the house is more a cause of the child's death than Twitter. Seriously. Google "2 year old drowns in pool." Drowning is a leading cause of death in young kids. What distracts a parent doesn't matter.

I don't think it's bananas that the woman asked for prayers--any prolific blogger who questions such a request is oblivious.

People want to blame parents a lot for these tragedies. It's too easy to do.