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Quick question: is it just me, or is everything becoming smartphone-enabled these days? What’s next, a smartphone-enabled dog collar?
Kidding. They totally have about fifteen varieties of those already. No offense to the gadget-loving tech nerds out there (#fistbump from a fellow nerd of many things), but I personally think I fall a little further down the scale between “Early Adopter” and “Waiting Until the Duct Tape Peels Off” in terms of when I replace technology. It’s not that I don’t think gadgets are cool; it’s just that I hold a much tighter grip on my wallet and am unwilling to part with its contents until something is close to breaking—or completely broken with no hope of repair.
There’s usually only one exception that convinces me to fight my normal instincts: products that make my life a little safer and less stressful.
Did you ever read the children’s book, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, as a kid? I didn’t, but one of my ex-boyfriends used to accuse me of thinking that way every time I left the house (I eventually looked up the story on the internet, which also means I then spent that evening giving him crap for the analogy). But, I had to admit that he was right: just as we’d head out of my neighborhood, I’d audibly worry about whether the doors were locked. That the dog wasn’t able to get into the trash. That I’d unplugged my flat iron and wasn’t about to come home to a smoldering pile of ashes thanks to my vanity (I’m exaggerating, but he had a valid point).
I first heard about Nest Labs back in 2011 when a bunch of bloggers reviewed their energy-saving thermostat and went on and on about how cool and convenient it was for being able to program it from their phone. I hesitated to buy one, thinking that more than likely, there would be a few upgrades and a new version would eventually come out with added features and a better app (coughcough, every other piece of technology ever). And sure enough, their 2nd generation version was exactly that.
This thought process, of course, clearly only applies to tech gadgets. As the eldest of two sisters, I am not at all applying this to people. (So don’t even try it, Emily.)
Anyway, when the same company came out with the Nest Protect smoke and CO detector in 2014, I figured that the same thing would happen and there would eventually be a 2nd generation version. And a year later, there is—and that’s why we find ourselves in a giveaway situation.
Recently, TotalProtect Home Warranty has been running a promo this summer that gives homeowners a complimentary Nest Protect with a qualifying TotalProtect Home Warranty plan (a retail value of $99). And just because they seem to love this new smoke and CO detector regardless, they offered to give away a Nest Protect to one of you guys!
I haven’t had the opportunity to install one for myself yet, but given that this thing has some pretty nifty features, it seemed only right to get the giveaway started as soon as possible so that one of you amazing readers could try it out for yourselves. Some of the key features include:
- Spoken alarms (none of that annoying beeping at 2am… a real human-sounding voice will literally tell you “head’s up” that your battery is dying)
- Battery or wired options available
- It tests itself (admit it—you know you forget to do this)
- If there is smoke or CO detected, it tells you which detector (so basically, which room) it was sensed from
- Can detect both slow- and fast-burning fires (as much as I love Ikea, did you know that today’s use of particle board and foam in furniture makes a room burn faster? Yikes!)
- Smartphone control (including hushing the alarm if you burn the toast and don’t feel like getting on a ladder) and alerts, even when you’re away from home (so less worrying)
Not to mention: it looks a lot sleeker than the giant urinal cake design that most of the competitors have.
Let’s get on with the giveaway, shall we?
- Prize: One (1) Nest Protect Smoke & CO Alarm
- Number of winners: 1
- Giveaway ends: Wednesday, Sept 2 at 11:59pm
- Eligibility: U.S. residents only
- To enter: I’m using Rafflecopter to run this giveaway (just because it makes things a lot easier to pick a winner), but since you know how I like to have a little fun with giveaway comments, I’d like to know: What was the last thing you accidentally burned? Your hair… the carpet… the roof of your mouth?
Good luck!
This giveaway is sponsored by TotalProtect Home Warranty. All opinions are, for better or worse, 100% my own.
Images: Nest.com
Marshmallows! Although they were still good of course.
The last thing I burned was my dinner… but that is a weekly or more occurrence. :)
I burned the roof of my mouth on a pizza roll. Every time! It’s like hot lava in those things.
Truth.
The last thing I accidentally burned was the chicken I was cooking for dinner earlier this week. I really should have remembered to set the timer to alert me when it was done. Ooops! Cereal for dinner it is.
I don’t have this smart one but around 2am the other night mine let out a shrill short noise and then a woman’s voice said low battery. Johnny (my cat) and I about had a heart attack. It is kind of creepy to hear a disembodied voice in the middle of the night.
Just this weekend I learned that a masonry angle grinder makes a lot of black smoke when used to cut through wood paneling. (We need to trim the bottom inch of knotty pine paneling to install hardwoods flush with the studs). I stopped before seeing any flames, but definitely lots of smoke. If we had a smoke detector, I think it would have buzzed! I found a Bad Ass Blade on Amazon – hopefully this will do the trick without all of the billowing black smoke! But if you ever want to test your detector… angle grinder + cement blade + wood!
Ha, good to know!
The last thing I burned was my son’s thumb. (Technically he burned it, but he’s only one, so I get the blame.”
The most exciting thing I ever burned was my hair. Twice. Apparently it took two lessons to learn not to lean into candles/fire places.
The last thing I burned was a baked potato I left in the campfire too long. It turned into a foil-wrapped hockey puck.
I always seem to burn toast, even in the toaster!
The garlic I was sautéing to do up some pork chops … not a good scent for the home. That was this week! Seems I can manage to burn something once a week!
Rice (yeah, you can actually burn rice)! I second guessed the directions that said to cook it on medium for 30 minutes, but did it anyway. It started smoking and burnt my pan so bad I had to toss it!
Nothing recently, but I did burn my mouth on fries one time, and I’m pretty sure the roof of my mouth scarred from it! Now I wait a few minutes before digging in…
My arm! On the grill. Swatting flies with a hot grill lid is not a good idea.
The beans! That’s the only thing I’m responsible for when my husband grills!
I was browning butter in order to make eggs one morning and the smoke detector went off. While I was trying to silence it, the howling dogs, and my cats before waking the house at 5am, the rest of the butter burned and I had to air out the kitchen before work. Later that evening my mom stopped me to ask what I burned. It seems that the smoke detector was loud enough to reach her side of the house and wake her up. Good for safety but bad for sleeping.
My breakfast – forgot the waffle was in the toaster…oops!
Marshmallows! but that’s how I like them best! :)
surprisingly the last thing I burned were cookies….getting used to new ovens…Pastry Chef in a new environment, I will adapt and overcome! ?
I burn toast on a pretty regular occurrence. My dog will not even steal it from the trash can. Guess she does not like burned toast either.
The last thing I burned was my hand while brewing beer. Don’t touch a hot brew kettle.
The toast! In the freaking toaster!
I burnt a pan of brownies. Oh boy did it make my house stink.
Embarrassed to admit but quite a number of years ago I set some hanging clothes on fire in my laundry, smoking a cigarette while putting clothes in the dryer I brushed up against them…. Um yeah I quit smoking a few years back as well, I could have burnt the place down…. And I also didn’t have a smoke detector Back there.. I jus happened to smell it across the house luckily I had a fire extinguisher on hand….
The last thing I burned was a hole in my pocket. I recently bought a fixer upper with my girlfriend. Not only does the house cost money, but everything we do to it!
I totally burned the kids toast for breakfast this week. Whoops
I’ve been burning grilled cheese sandwiches lately. :(
I’m good at burning food… but not every food! The one that I cook for my husband at night when we are very tired and we can’t wait to eat… I just decide to let it cook on its own, go to my computer to read blogs and relax… then everything is burnt!!!!
Burned my toast this morning – oops!
I burn rice regularly. Not pleasant to clean that pot. That’s what I get for being distracted in the kitchen. Love the Nest products!
My ear! I was using my hair straightener and got my ear instead of my hair .
Just tonight, I burned my tongue while eating dinner. It smelled so good that I just couldn’t wait any longer… and then I regretted it. Every. Time.
I didn’t know Nest had smoke/CO2 detectors – this is pretty awesome! Thanks :)
My nose…in the sun!
I burned something on the stove.
Hate yo admit it but the last thing I burned was a steak for dinner. He wanted well done!
ha! The last thing i burned was my husbands rice cooker. I Pushed it on the back burner and accidentally bumped the switch. Next thing i know my kitchen is filled with smoke!!
The roof of my mouth with too hot tea (really adds insult to injury when you’re sick).
I accidentally burned the carpet by placing our bearded dragons basking light on it!
You should really edit this post –
“CO2” is Carbon Dioxide, we exhale it, it’s all around us. The alarm would literally be going off all the time if it was a CO2 alarm….
“CO” is Carbon monoxide, a toxic, odorless gas that kills people. It’s a product of incomplete combustion, such as a what occurs when old gas ovens or water heaters don’t fully burn their supply fuel and aren’t vented properly
NEST is a carbon monoxide alarm…
Edited.
Popcorn. Always popcorn. For whatever reason, I can never get the timing right in the microwave!
I don’t remember the last thing I burned, but I am guilty of once falling asleep with cookies in the oven. Thankfully there was no fire, but the cookies became charcoal lumps. My husband also never lets me forget the time I left a potholder in the oven after checking something and incinerated it.
(Also, I think you mean CO – carbon monoxide detector. CO2 – carbon dioxide – is normal in the air.) Thanks for the giveaway!
I ABSOLUTELY mean CO and not CO2. Sheesh. I had another reader catch it & I corrected it, but I’m still going through comments that keep pointing out my mistake. Derp!
Recently, my dinner on the stove. It was a mess.
Last thing I burned was probably marshmallows.
Honestly can’t remember the last thing I burned – I’m sure my hand with a curling iron. However – we are in desperate need of new fire detectors so it’s NOT my house I burn down ?
Last thing I burned was probably the turkey last thanksgiving. The oven is still a mess, will probably need to be replaced (the bottom of a double oven). I’m not allowed in the kitchen for cooking anymore so unless I can heat in the microwave, I don’t cook. Inscence is more of a weekly/daily occurance around here and does not involve food.
I felt like a complete idiot but I completely melted the cord for our slow cooker. I turned on the wrong burner on the stove when I was making dinner one night and walked away. A few minutes later I could smell burnt plastic and the cord was completely melted. Now I make sure to not store the slow cooker on our stove!
The dance floor! These moves are too hot.
LMAO. Nice.
My nose…drinking beer in the sun.
I burned myself. I am always burning myself while cooking. You would think I would learn!!!????
PS – I am such a worrier about burning the house down. This all stems from a barn fire we had 6 years ago. Thankfully our horses made it out unharmed and we only lost hay and our horse tack. : ( I never want to experience that again.
I got sunburn on my ears while working in the garden a few weeks ago.
My homemade lasagna :(
I was roasting tomatillos and hot peppers in the oven at 500 degrees and the smoke alarm went off :( They weren’t burnt, they were ‘charred’ appropriately though!
Whoa! This is actually super cool. I’m not into everything being synced to your phone, but I could get on board with this one. Except I can’t lie, a voice in the middle of the night that states the battery is low would just CREEP ME THE FUCK OUT.
The last thing I burned was some wood veneer crap from a furniture project I’m working on. We put it in the fire pit. Probably not the most environmentally friendly solution… at the same time, one less thing in the landfill?!
I am an idiot and burned the tip of my nose with my curling iron yesterday. Doh!
The delicious piece of pumpkin bread I was warming up in the toaster oven this morning. I got distracted by the two-year old and the next thing I knew by delicious pumpkin bread was delicious no more. :(
It’s a CO detector – not CO2 – it detects carbon monoxide, not carbon dioxide! Sorry, the nerd in me had to say something…
Totally missed it, and you’re right. Where the heck did I pick THAT up from??? Now I’m going t have to investigate!
My hair got tangled in my curling iron (only me!) and for some reason I could NOT get my hair out of it and it finally started to have that “smell” ACK! I briefly considered cutting my hair but finally managed to get it loose. Probably should cut it……Nah! : )
Awesome giveaway! I just bought a house so I keep looking at the nest and the protect – both look amazing, I just have to get a few more things off the to-do list first!
i recently used my broiler for venison burgers – and forgot i put them in OOPS!
Sadly, expensive pignolia nuts…you can’t turn away for even a minute!
So… I don’t think anything burned except my wallet because we just bought 2 “never need the battery changed” 10-year smoke detectors, and they have both been going off for no reason!!!! Ugh.
Cookies – I burned the cookies I was making. Then I was sad because I couldn’t eat them.
Myself! Whenever I’m cooking I almost inevitably bump the oven rack or tap my arm with a hot cookie sheet. Clumsy!
The last thing I burned… My husband and I were cooking fish, and we decided to broil it. “We should line the pan!” we said, for ease of clean up! So out came the parchment paper… “We use it in the oven all the time!” Nope, whole thing lit on fire in just a couple seconds. Whoops :-)
Just got a new stove that has way more power than my old one with the half burned out burners. Was cooking scrapple for breakfast and didn’t turn it down quick enough so it got a little well done.
I burn my tongue pretty much every time I eat food… maybe I should learn to have some patience?
Sweet potato fries (cooked faster than the reg potatoes)… which were for my 1yr old. D’OH!
A very nice SimpleHuman dishrack. Our condo was on the market, so my husband was hiding the dish rack in the oven to keep the counters looking cleaner. I even said, that’s a bad idea–I’ll probably light it on fire. Sure enough, I got home from work and turned on the oven to make dinner. Five minutes later there was a bad smell and I realized what I’d done. It was not pleasant to clean up!
The last thing I burned was my frying chicken in the pan and the grease kept popping.
I burned a pan of onions, bad. Like they were mid cooking, I stepped away “for a second”, forgot all about them and went next door for 25 minutes. Came back to the entire house being filled with smoke. Took forever for that smell to go away!
My vanity with my curling iron! Awful. Would love this!
Armhair…..flames from the grill have a mind of their own….at least it wasn’t my eyebrows.
French fries in the oven. Left them in for too long (OK, I forgot they were in there).
Earlier this week, I learned how awesome my new insulated coffee mug is – when I burned my tongue on some 45 min ‘old’ coffee. It’s great for drinking my coffee 2 hours after I leave the house, but sooner is a bit iffy for me :)
Definitely lit a marshmallow on fire which wasn’t the best move but it ended up delicious!
The last thing I burned was garlic bread in the oven. Whoops!
My hand. In three places. I now know there are certain parts of the lawn mover you can’t touch, even if it’s only been on for 5 minutes.
The last thing I burned was definitely my tongue…I didn’t let my tea cool for long enough!
My stoves manual and installation guide. I put it on the counter next to my brand new over/stove, I was no prepared for how amazing the high heat option on the gas power stove would be and my manual went up in flame. Thankfully only the manual burned. Lesson learned.
Haha, that’s hilariously ironic, I think.
Pizza. I usually cook/reheat pizza on a pizza stone but the last time, all that was clean was a metal cookie sheet. Big mistake. They get hot much faster and the result…burnt pizza. No bueno!
The last thing I burned was my thumb, trying to take dinner out of the oven and accidentally touching the metal rack above it. Darned tiny oven!
My dinner last night! I completely wasn’t paying attention to the chicken until I started to smell something burnt. By that time it was too late.
Pizza. For the Grandkids. Wasn’t fun….
I’ve been experimenting with the “use a match as a wick to burn the last half inch of wax in your expensive candle” hack. It’s a pretty good one, once you get it going–but that can take me several tries. So by the time I’m going, there are several dead matches in the bottom of my candle. And at some point, I look over, and discover that ALL of them have turned into wicks, along their full length, and there is a lot of flame shooting out of the top of my votive jar. Thankfully, it wasn’t close enough to anything else for the fire to spread.
This wasn’t the last thing I burned, but definitely the weirdest. Not really thinking about it, once I lit a candle and put it next to/kind of under a globe. By the time I realized what the smell was, there was a large scorch mark in the middle of the South Pacific.
Pizza that I was reheating in the oven. I think I might have been able to dig holes w/ the triangle shaped pieces when they came out. :-\
I burnt the cream sauce for dinner last night. (I got distracted by a poopy diaper) ?
My favorite burning story happened in a rental apartment a few years ago. I was ironing clothes and somehow managed to knock the hot iron onto the floor, instantly melting an iron-shaped section of carpet – very noticeable, just inside the front door. I cut off the section of carpet that had melted into a hunk of plastic, but my landlord didn’t buy (or appreciate) my attempt at convincing him “it’ll grow back.”
I love that suggestion, though! HA!
We moved this summer from a home we built in the country to a smallish condo in the city. I burned an old wooden chair that had lived in the garage for 5 years. It was a chair caning project gone awry.
I’ve burned waffles and quesadillas lately–nothing exciting.
the last thing I burned was my toast this morning, but the best thing I ever burned was an iron mark on my senior prom dress, the only tragedy was that the whole thing didn’t go up in smoke, because now I have to live with those heinous photos! (it was 1993!)
The roof of my mouth to the point it blistered. What can I say, I was really *really* hungry.
One side of my toast in the toaster… Guess I need a new toaster.
I burned my daughter’s toast this morning.
I burned my ear with a curling iron the first day of a new job!
I burned a delicious chocolate cake with cheesecake frosting. So upsetting. I blame my husband for leaving the broiler on
The last thing I accidentally burned was a cork trivet. You know the round ones from IKEA? Ya… I put my pizza stone in the hot oven, not realizing that one of the trivets had somehow stuck to the bottom of the stone. Now the cork trivet is “decorated” with black lines. :)
A was should’ve been delicious pan of brownies!!!!!!
I last burned my hand on the oven just last night cooking pizza!
I am not very high tech, but I love this!
The last thing I burned was the roof of my mouth on pizza. Happens every time!
Ugh, I burn the roof of my mouth more often than I’d like to admit :)
I burnt the chicken on the grill the other night. That’s not that unusual though…
I accidentally burnt grilled cheese!
demureprincess7(at)gmail(dot)com
the dinner i cooked for my whole family on vacation. #neverusebroil
Blueberry muffins – after constantly checking them, got distracted and burned them in last five minutes. Still ate the middles though. ; )
I burned a pie crust. So sad. :(
Does melting count? apparently you shouldn’t leave a salad spinner on top of your toaster oven, who knew? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Man, I am boring, Pretty sure it was my hand while baking… something. :) Cool giveaway – thanks for the opportunity!
Probably a sunburn on the shoulders
I melted a hole into the side of a cheap plastic planter that sits on the back of my toilet which is also where I set my curling iron when I do my hair (darned tiny bathroom with no counters). Oops–now when I overwater the plant it pours out of that hole and runs all over. I really should repot that plant.
A cake. Though I blame my husband, he left the oven on broil.
burned my tongue trying to wolf down a hot pocket before my 16 month old and newborn had a meltdown
I burned an egg while trying to cook breakfast and get an estimate from a very longwinded contractor at the same time.
I didn’t do it, but a couple weeks ago my husband left some ramen noodles on the stove and proceeded to fall asleep on the couch (there may have been a few beers involved). I woke up the next morning to a thin layer of smoke throughout the house, a husband freaking out, some charred noodles, and a ruined pan. He’s not allowed to cook while under the influence anymore!
Smores, so worth it.
The last thing I burned was the top of my finger while I was pulling a frozen pizza out of the oven. I may have been slightly inebriated…
Rice, sadly!
The last thing I burned were some of the guys in my fantasy football league, for their draft picks.
Ha! Love the smack talk.
My skin! I got a sunburn last month while camping. :)
It’s a toss up between the roof of my mouth and some chicken tortas. I can’t remember which happened most recently, but the tortas were my bigger disappointment!
The last thing I burned was the dinner that my mother in law was preparing for guests. She asked me to watch it for a few minutes while she stepped out of the kitchen…oops!
Hmmmm…definitely the roof of my mouth on coffee a couple days ago. I narrowly avoided burning my son’s birthday cake on Friday, so that’s a win!
The last thing I burned were sweet potatoes roasting in the oven!
My hand! Light bulbs are hotter than they look :)
My clothes dryer. Some lint caught on fire the other day in it. I was lucky that I was checking on the clothes just as the fire started. I will say it scared the crap out of me!!
Pizza drippings on the floor of my oven!
The last thing I burned was tatter tots I accidently forgot about in the oven.
My skin at the beach last week. Bright, lobster red on the very first day.
I burned my BOOB the other day! Do not cook with tall pots on the stove while the girls are unrestrained — always wear a bra while leaning over tall boiling pots!
Ouch! But hopefully that makes for a very funny story after it heals :)
I’m nursing a 2″ long burn on the inside of my forearm right now. Which I burned when I was trying to reach in to flip some chicken nuggets. Which I also ended up burning as I was tending to my arm.
Ouch!
When I moved into my house I burned food in the oven constantly!
I burned my finger on a soldering iron. Ouch! Thanks for the chance!
The last thing I burned was rice in the pot on the stove.
I burned my finger making pizza for dinner tonight.
Hey Austin! Sorry about your finger, but perhaps WINNING the alarm giveaway will help! Congrats! Be on the lookout for my email.
Love your blog and choices.
Awesome! We have been looking into getting one of these!
I’m way too impatient for my food to cool down so I’m always burning my mouth!
Ugh the pizza i tried to bake last night in the oven lol. oops
I frequently turn on the wrong burner and burn towels (paper or cloth) while I’m cooking.
waffles!! :))
My fingers – that match flared fast!
The last thing I burned was the garlic bread in the oven as I forgot about it during dinner.
I literally just burned my tongue on some leftover pizza I had for brunch. Haha!
Mine is usually coffee, so you’re not alone!
I hate to admit this, but I recently set an oven mitt on fire.
Pasta, yes I cannot boil water.
Last thing I burned was myself, on the beach, just a long skinny line in the tramp stamp region, because my tankini top didn’t meet my bottoms.
The boyfriend has been laughing at me for weeks
Pizza crust on the grill…oops! Still tasted good, though.
Pizza cheese. On the bottom of the stove. And now the smoke alarm goes off any time I try to bake something!