A rebuttal

You cannot blame me for the Christmas cat dishtowels- they were a gift from the parental units, and they seem to like giving holiday things. I just don't see a point in storing things to be used special for only part of the year.

As for the egg-timer thing, I find it useful. My mother taught me to hard boil eggs for 15-minutes. But is that 15 minutes after the water has started boiling? Or 15 minutes after you put the pan on the stove? And if I forget the timer, oh the disasters! I have had to put up with that ugly green ring around the boiled egg yolk which I dislike intesnsely, and the barely cooked through centers, which are just as off-putting. I've walked into the kitchen too many times and realized there's a boiling pot on the stove, and the conversation usually goes:
"Honey, how long have these eggs been boiling?"
"I don't know."
"Has it been long enough?"
"I'm not sure."
"OK, I'll leave them then, but don't forget them!"
This conversation sometimes happens when I am the one who started the pot of eggs on the stove.

The final straw for me was one time when I forgot the timer, and all of the water boiled out of the pot. Did you know eggshells can burn? That's why I bought the eggtimer.

And I use it.