You know how the vast majority of the newer electric kettles have an auto shut-off feature? I forget whether it shuts off at a certain temperature or if it somehow registers that the kettle has boiled dry, but either way it shuts down and prevents a fire.

I am extremely sleepy today despite the fact that I went to bed at 10:30 last night, took all of maybe five minutes to fall asleep, Breanna slept all night without waking me (from 8:30 pm until about 5:30 this morning!), and aside from my brief wake-up to feed Breanna in the early morning hours, I went back to sleep until Hayley woke up at 6:50 am. That was a pretty good sleep because I usually go to bed later and most mornings, when George leaves for work at 5:30 I have trouble going back to sleep because I’m always listening for Hayley. Regardless, I feel a bit like a zombie today so although I already had my usual morning coffee with breakfast, I decided that I should make a second one to avoid passing out in the middle of something important like a diaper change.

I plugged the kettle in and brought Breanna out to the living room while I waited for it to boil. I then tidied up a few things that Hayley had brought out and straightened the cushions on the couch, puttered around, got some toys for Breanna, blablabla. Then I walked out to put Hayley’s applesauce bowl in the sink and noted that “holy shit! The kettle!” It had been boiling merrily away for approximately ten minutes. Luckily it was pretty full so there was plenty of water left for my coffee.

So now you know, auto shut-off features were created for two specific types of people: Those with Alzheimer’s and mothers of young children who lost at least half their brain cells while pushing. I still firmly believe that the so-called placenta that I pushed out was actually part of my brain.