Day 29- Burnt Out

Last night after the kids went to bed I was very excited to enjoy my first artichoke of the season. I put some water in the pan, put the artichoke in, and fell into bloggy land catching up on everything. The timer was set for 30 minutes, but right around the 29 minute mark the smoke appeared- the water had all evaporated and I was 'boiling' an artichoke in no water. I have a VERY sensitive smoke detector, and a tendency to burn things so I was terrified that I was going to wake up the kids and scare the crap out of them just to enjoy a snack.

Of course this isn't the first time that I've set off the smoke detectors making a simple food item, and it probably isn't even the 10th time. When Sweetie Pie moved to her new room downstairs it didn't yet have a smoke detector, and the moment she noticed that she started jumping for joy. When I asked her why she was so excited to not have one she told me that "now I'll have a place to hide when you cook bacon" and even went as far as to get Little Man involved and play 'Mommy's cooking bacon' where Sweetie Pie imitated the alarm noise while Little Man fanned the smoke detector with a broom. Anyway, back to the saga...

I quickly turned on the exhaust fan, opened every window in the living room and kitchen, and started preventative fanning of the smoke detector with a wonder mop. Mr. Wright sat on the couch hardly glancing in my direction as this is all a bit too normal for me. When a bit of the smoke cleared I left my post under the smoke detector to deal with the main issue. I pulled the lid off the pan to release another big gush of smoke which prompts me to run the pan outside and leave it on the deck. I brought the artichoke inside and cut off the charred bottom and ate it... what? I was really, really wanting one! After I enjoyed my buttery snack I had a BIT of cleaning up to do. After all, I couldn't really leave my smoldering Pampered Chef saucepan outside all night! She belongs to a family, and that cookware family has been my baby for a while now.

I used to sell Pampered Chef stuff, and Mr. Wright knew that if he even tried to stir something with a fork or cut meat open in my pans that it was means for divorce. He never understood that people wouldn't want to buy their own cookware sets if they saw mine all sliced up and scratched. It is quite ironic that I am the one that probably killed Old Trusty, the most-used of the three saucepan sizes. She's been enjoying a bubble bath all night, but I doubt I can revive her. RIP Saucy...



After this whole mess I was ready for bed, but I realized that I needed to do a survival load of dishes. We didn't have any plates, cups, or spoons, and the family just doesn't think there is anything fun about eating cereal with forks- lame, right!? Excuse me for trying to spice life up a bit! So for those of you keeping score I know have a burnt saucepan that needs more scrubbing, and a sink full of random dishes that didn't make it into the survival load, plus all the other crap on my counters. Brace yourselves, but I'm thinking of cleaning up a bit today. Maybe I'll even get around to cracking the shrink wrap on the 30 Day Shred!! Yeah... I doubt it too...