I'm so pleased that you and your girls are safe KittyLady. That must have absolutely terrifying for you.

I agree with what you said about the microwave timer. Why not use a timer for all your cooking? Anything to keep you and your family safe. Use the timer in your oven and buy another one... even 2 would be a good idea and set them whenever you put anything on to cook. Set them at different times. Depending on the item being cooked... then 15 seconds or 1 minute apart, for example.... the item being heated would determine the time difference.

I also agree with the George Foreman grill idea for your parents Jo*Mar. Our George Foreman grills get heaps of use and if hubby is away, the small one is easy for me to use. I noticed that some now come without timers so have a look around. We have several of his grills in different sizes, .... all with timers. One even turns itself off when the timer is finished. I'm not sure if you can still get grills that do that but if so ... would be perfect in this situation.