From Songbird: I would like to know four household products, utensils or appliances that have served you well and truly. For item #5, please share with us one of the above we should never, ever, under any circumstances purchase or expect to manipulate, use or otherwise operate successfully.

1. Kitchenaid stand mixer. I love, love, love this. It is the only appliance that I ever actually asked my spouse to buy me for Christmas, and I fairly wept for joy last year when I got it. Two days later I was sitting in the living room reading the paper with the thing mixing away on the kitchen counter 15 feet away. "Ask me what I'm doing." I said to my husband. "Um, okay. What are you doing?" he asked. "I'm making cookes!" I said, with the biggest grin on my face.

2. A spray bottle of a bleach/water solution. I spray down my counters and sink a couple of times a day with this. Super-cheap and very effective for killing germs. I just don't do fancy cleaners.

3. "Method" brand liquid hand soap. Good smell, attractive container with clean lines. Good stuff. It has a permanent spot by the kitchen sink.

4. "No Crack" hand cream. I keep it right next to #3. The only thing that keeps my hands from cracking in the winter. When WG was little and just starting to read cursive, she though the container said "Mr. Crack", so that is its official name in our house.

5. I'm a big believer in Alton Brown's (of Food TV fame) "no single-taskers" philopsophy. For a gadget to have a place in my kitchen/utility room/cleaning closet it must serve at least two purposes. (The exception to this rule is the fire extinguisher.) For that reason, I have thrown away my garlic press recently. A chef's knife and cutting board will give me much better results. The irony is that I bought the particular garlic press in question on the recommendation of the late "Frugal Gourmet" aka Jeff Smith. I'm such a sheep.