Do you multi-task? I used to be able to do several things at the same time running here and there, picking up this, dusting that, baking a cake, and on and on…..
Well yesterday I had been outside early moving the sprinkler from spot to spot making sure everything was getting watered thoroughly due to this infernal heat wave and I came back inside to make some toast. I slathered my bread with butter, placed it on some foil, and put it in the oven under the broiler. I prefer this method over a toaster. Then out of the blue I get this hair brained idea that I need to quickly run outside and turn off the sprinkler. I then proceed to weed some of the flower beds, water the potted plants and then clean up my new hosta bed removing all the dead leaves that this weather has fried. Feeling pretty proud of myself over the amount of work I had just accomplished, reality of the situation set in. In plain English this means my husband was yelling out the back door, “Are you trying to burn the house down”, as he choked on the smoke billowing out into the morning air. It still took me a minute or two for it to register that I had toast in the oven under the broiler. Luckily we have a privacy fence or the neighbors would have been enlightened to this situation as well. We threw open the windows, enlightening all the neighbors as the smoke rolls out turned off the stove, and then turned around to see all the ash and soot that had settled on everything in the kitchen. I slowly opened the stove door and there was my soot filled oven and charcoal briquette toast. My husband was trying to explain to me that he could have been burned to death while taking a shower. Now, I ask you, “Is that even possible?” Anyway to make a long story short and a day of dusting and cleaning really long, I spent the day cleaning my oven the old fashioned way, by hand. Have you ever tried to set a gas oven to self cleaning when the temperature outside is triple digits? Not wanting to add that to my list of developing problems for the day, I then dropped my favorite Anthropology small, green bowl that holds my scrubby into the cast iron sink and broke it. Then not to be out done by that last little drama, one of the glass shades from my ceiling light fixtures slipped through my hands while putting it back up. That couldn’t have happened to it before I went to the trouble of washing the blackened grime from it.
I now have one very clean kitchen and one ceiling light fixture with bare bulbs and no shade. Just don’t look up when you come over for coffee. I'll be sitting today with my leg elevated with an ice pack from the muscle I pulled.
P.S. I really would like to thank everyone for their kind response to the previous post on our dog, Annie. She drew her last breath on July 26th and will be sadly missed by her loving family.
Catherine Holman
Very humorously told, Cathie! Listen, I have to be intentional with every single thing I do these days because I can not remember from one minute to the next what is going on. I think you've had a lot on your mind with the passing of your dear Annie. So glad that your kitchen is clean and I'm sorry about the broken shade, the broken bowl, and the broken leg. Oh, that's not broken, that's a pulled muscle. Well praise God for that. One day soon, you'll be laughing, too, just as you've got me chuckling. Burn up while in the shower? That's definitely NOT possible. LOL!
ReplyDeleteI know I shouldn't, but you made me laugh with the shower and burning question....I wouldn't think that possible, but you know men! Sorry about that happening, but have had similar situations and standing right next to the stove. Oh well! Fun story to tell! Sorry to hear about your dish and light fixture breaking!
ReplyDeleteDear Catherine, While reading your blog post today, I did smile a little bit, as I've had 'those days' too every now and again, so I can definitely empathise. But all the while I was reading, I kept hoping there'd be some last-minute, miraculous and good (or at least hopeful) news about your sweet Annie.
ReplyDeleteWhen I got to the postscript at the end and read about Annie's passing on the 26th, I tried not to weep, but I found I couldn't hold back my tears. I am so very sorry for your loss. I know how it feels - as many of us who have had beloved dogs or cats or any beloved pets in our lives know how it feels all too well.
May your sweet, beautiful Annie rest in peace, and is now running free at the Rainbow Bridge.
I'm so sorry to hear about your dog. How sad. Now on to your toast, it's not something everyone of us has not done to some degree, I haven't quite gotten to the ash stage, but pretty close. But just think your garden is in ship shape, your kitchen spotless, and now you can really take the rest you've SO earned. Rest up.
ReplyDeleteYIKES!!! Well to make you feel better, a month or so ago, I put some corn on to boil. Then I walked away to my office and spent the next hour on the computer. All of a sudden I started smelling POPCORN and I realized I had left the pot on the stove. All of the water had boiled out and the corn was staring to scorch. Needless to say, I threw the corn out and hoped that I had learned a lesson-lol.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry for your near death experience! What a mess it must have been! Also sorry about Sweet Annie. How attached we become to our pets!
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