Tuesday, December 27, 2011

AWESOME--in a very scary way


I’ll admit it.  I’m easily distracted.  The part of my brain that’s supposed to focus and keep lists was probably trashed when I fell on my head while trying to walk along the roof of the machine shop when I was seven.  Or the time I fell in the unfinished basement when I was twelve, or when I fell off the horse…anyway I’ll blame it on one of those.

I like to think I’m creative, not a dufus, but a lot of others seem to have different opinions.  I’ll confess I’ve gotten so caught up in studying light and shades of color in clouds that I’ve nearly driven into a ditch.  I can become so fascinated by a pattern on a person’s shirt that I will zone out entirely on what they’re saying.

On Christmas day our family was preparing for a big dinner.  We were waiting for a few guests who would arrive any minute.  New gifts pulled everyone into the living room while I finished up and then went to my computer to, you know, check on things.  I could smell a smoldering smell and blamed it on spillage from the turkey in the oven.  Then it slowly dawned on me that I’d already taken the turkey out of the oven. 

I said one of those words I shouldn’t say and ran to the kitchen.  Black smoke was rolling across the ceiling.  At that moment the fire alarm went off and everyone came to see me pull a small pan of chopped walnuts out from under the broiler.  I’d set them there to “toast” before using them as topping on a dessert.  Now they were ablaze and on their way to becoming charcoal.

I grabbed hot pads and carried the pan to the door like a waiter bringing a flaming dessert to diners at a fine restaurant.  The outside breezes snuffed out the fire.  I set the pan and its charred contents beside the barbecue grill and returned to the scene of the inferno.

Everyone opened windows and turned on fans to chase out the smoke just as the final visitors arrived. No one was harmed in the making of this disaster.  The hot pads are toast—literally.  The pan is probably beyond salvage.  Now the smoky smell has somewhat cleared out of the kitchen I can set the oven to self-clean--and stink it up again.


16 comments:

Jeannelle said...

Don't worry, Leenie...the world needs people like you!

TALON said...

lol! Hey, the intricacies and dedication required in cloud study has been vastly under-rated, Leenie! :)

TexWisGirl said...

sorry for the small disaster, but thanks for the laugh, too!

Tom G. said...

Whew. I thought it was just me that suffered from CRS.

(Can't Remember Squat)

I was just about to mention OH LOOK A SHINY OBJECT!

susan m hinckley said...

hahahahaha -- so glad you didn't burn down the house on Christmas day! Sounds to me like your brain works perfectly, sifting through the mundane to focus on the essential. Clouds trump chores every time.

Sarah said...

Easily done! Glad it didn't end in disaster!

Pearl said...

I wouldn't mind some turkey, but I'm gonna skip dessert today. :-)

Pearl

Carla said...

Oh my! Glad it wasn't something irreplaceable (like the turkey). I think women tend to multi-task to the inth degree sometimes. I know, I do. :)

Far Side of Fifty said...

Sounds like some of my cooking disasters..we should band together and form a support group:)

The Weaver of Grass said...

It is when we get too much multi tasking Leenie - or that is what I tell myself when something similar happens to me - as it frequently does.

Elizabeth said...

FLAMBEE!
I think they call it.
The computer is the very devil for making one BURN things.
I now put the microwave timer beeper on every timeI put something on the stove.....

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Deborah Moore said...

You are brilliant, you tell stories in the most hilarious way. Sorry about the pan though. It's not burned, just really really cajun.

It's nice to know you're not the only one who...ooo look the garbage truck is here, I love those mechanical arms...hmm where was I? Seriously, I'm constantly saying things like "I'm artsy" with a shrug as one messy room devours another, or I get distracted. a lot. I

Sandra Wilkes said...

I was so focused and so on target with Christmas lunch. Then our guests arrived. She brought the rolls. All I had to do was pop them in the oven...which I did. The distraction overcame focus. "What is that smell?" "Oh, no"! You guessed it. Burnt rolls. Really burnt. At least it was just rolls. At Thanksgiving it was corn!

Maude Lynn said...

This sounds so much like me it's scary!

Dawn said...

Bahahaha...Oh you are funny!
I did the same thing...but I don't think mine were burnt quite that bad;)))

CarrieBoo said...

I feel so much better about my exploding potatoes! You are a gem, Leenie. :D