I, like many folks out there, love the Food Network. I wish I could claim that watching makes me a better cook. Rather, it seems to make me a better eater. The real draw, of course, isn’t the food. It’s the personalities, and by far, my favorite is Alton Brown. He’s like the food geek’s pin-up boy. He’s funny, smart and quirky … ooh and those glasses. Meoww…. OK, I’m back, sorry.
If you are an Alton watcher, you know about his disdain for “uni-taskers”. Uni-taskers are gadgets that only do one thing … like shape garlic into a blossom suitable for shellacking and made into a clip-on earing. Rather, Alton prefers multi-taskers. Gadgets that do more – like using a blowdryer to jump start your charcoal grill.
Multi-taskers aren’t limited to cooking, they can also be used in Mommying. Here are some of mine.
Television Remotes: Make great freeze rays. Try this next time your kid is running around like she has just eaten a jumbo Swizzle Stick and washed it down with 16 oz. of cola: tell them you are going to hit them with the freeze ray if they don’t stop moving. Point the remote at them push a button and make a goofy sci-fi sound. They will stop in their tracks!
Toilet Paper: So, your kid wants to play dress-up and you can’t sew. Don’t fret. Cut off a two-foot strand, wrap it around their head, tie it on top and shazaam you’ve got a floppy eared rabbit. Shove a balled up wad of clean TP through their back belt loop and it’s a cottontail!
Back Scratchers: These long claws make the perfect retrieving arm to get small toys out from under and behind the couch. And, when you are done, you can scratch your own back! Because, no one will do it the way you want them to do it.
Slotted Spoon: Let’s just say, sometimes things are found floating in the tub that aren’t bath toys, and they need immediate removal. Truth be told, I have two. The one that we use for this purpose isn’t ever going back in the kitchen – no matter how thorough a cleaning it gets.
Sorry Alton, that may void the “multi-tasker” creed.
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