Products you had low expectations for but then fell in love with

That is a cool key. I have owned a couple, my first one broke.

Just enough light to find the keyhole.

my trigger was reading …all my teachers lament was "hed be a genius if you could get him to concentrate that hard on anything else besides reading "

I can totally see how this would work. Years ago I came to the conclusion that a count-down clock might be very useful to both those of us with ADHD and kids with autism, though for slightly different reasons. Nice to see someone with a marketing plan thought of it too :smiley:

If Wusthof knives are pricy, Consumers Reports often gives surprisingly high marks to the economical Chicago Cutlery lines (such as Metropolitan). Whether chefs would agree, I could not say.

Oh yeah. My teachers once expressed concern that during free time I would just sit in the corner and read. My mother: “As long as she’s having fun, what’s the problem?” I do love her for that. I did have a problem, but it went undiagnosed because I did so well in school. I spent 34 years of my life constantly overwhelmed before we figured out what was going on. It really manifests the strongest in my domestic life, which is why the Time Timer is so great. There are days where it feels like five minutes are all I can handle so I will set it for five minutes and just go. Then set it for another five, etc until the job is done. It really is about the psychology of the thing.

Oh, they are expensive. I’m saving up for a $100 cheese knife right now. After that the only thing I want to add to my collection is the $300 steak knife set. But they are guaranteed for life. I’ve never used any other brand that wasn’t cheap. But for me the investment was a game changer in the kitchen.

As an aside, I recently discovered the tomato knife is excellent at cutting grapes, too. I have to quarter them for my son to eat and those tough skins will smash the pulp of the grape if you use another knife. My husband cuts them with a butter knife and I want to tear my hair out.

In my (admittedly cursory) review of this thread from time to time, most of the suggestions hit my “meh” button. But this. THIS!! YES!!!

SharkBites rock my world. :slight_smile:

I’ve only needed to use one, but what a one.

We had a sub-freezing spell back in 2009. I’d been out of town and returned to 17-18F temperatures, day and night. My plumbing, which runs through the attic, is well insulated, so I didn’t think much about it – until one late evening, I heard what sounded like a gunshot coming from up there.

I instantly knew what it was, took steps and called a friend to come have a look. I’d completely forgotten that turning a shower unit one quarter turn for a remodeling project had necessitated some creative plumbing near the eaves. What I didn’t know – but soon learned – was that the creative plumbers (friends) neglected to insulate the pipe they had rerouted. That one little exposed area froze solid and did what frozen pipes do.

Anyhow, we repaired it with a SharkBite. It has held beautifully to this day. A professional plumber who was here on another matter checked it out a few months ago.

The pipe is now well wrapped, too. Yayyy SharkBites!!!