Fred's 80-year-old aunt gave me a tip when we were first married that I have used just about every week for the past nine years. You see, on Sundays, we rush off to church in the morning and then have to rush back home to eat lunch only to rush off again for the afternoon services. Because we enjoy having guests over, we usually have a house full of people and I have to pretty much seat and serve so that we keep on schedule. Now that we have little kids, we need to rush home to feed them before they either fall asleep on us or before they rip everyone's nerves raw with their whining and crying because they are so hungry and tired.
So, back to Tante's Tip. She told me that she gets everything ready the night before and then Sunday morning, she'll stick the chicken or the roast or whatever in the oven. Then her wonderful tip is to boil her potatoes or other vegetables on the stove just until boiling, shut it off, cover it and leave for church. When she gets home, all she has to do is pull the meat out, heat up the potatoes/vegetables and serve the food! What a great idea! I have been doing this ever since. I usually do a roast in the crockpot since we have a gas stove/oven and I don't feel comfortable leaving the house with that turned on, but we love cooked carrots and I usually have a huge pot of that boiled and ready to just be reheated when we get home.
Yesterday was no exception. I did what I always do. The frozen roast had been slow cooking since the time I went to bed the night before. The salad was ready to go. The carrots were cut and waiting to boil, so I turned them on "power high" to bring them to a boil faster. And then I got distracted. The boys needed their shoes and coats on. I went to brush my teeth. I threw a few extra things into the diaper bag and we left for church.
We stayed a little later than usual after morning services for some reason, so we were getting home about a half hour later as well. I was the first one in the door and I practically threw Christopher down, dropped all our bags and started yelling for Fred to get in here quick because I smelled smoke!! Everyone came running in, including our friend Dean, to figure out where the smoke was coming from. As soon as I walked in the kitchen and saw my pot on the stove, I remembered what I had forgotten to do before church. I HAD LEFT THE CARROTS BOILING ON POWER HIGH FOR THREE HOURS ON OUR GAS STOVE!!!!
All I can say now is that I thank God He was here in our home protecting it while we were gone! Those white blobs you see in the picture are the coals of carrots. We could have roasted marshmallows to perfection over those things! The pot was originally two-thirds full of carrots and water and this is all that remained. After it all cooled down, I picked it up to throw it away and the bottom of the pot fell right off!
Thinking about it afterward, we figure that the contents of the pot probably flared up, burst into flames and started smoking. The smoke detector was probably going for hours, but no one was around to do anything about it. The house reeks with smoke and it just figures that it was the coldest and windiest day of the year and we couldn't really open the doors and windows for too long. We have guests coming again tonight and I'm not sure how I'm going to explain the stench in here!
BUT ....
Our house is still standing and no one is hurt! God is so good. This is why I give Him all the thanks and honor due His name today and every day! If it were not for His protection, we would most likely be homeless today and I would not be writing this blog. Praise Him with me!
5 comments:
We thank God with you! He certainly is loving and gracious. I think we are saved from more disaster than we ever realize or give Him credit for! I'm so thankful you and your home are all ok. With love, Lilly
WOW! Sounds like what happened to us in Argentina when our kids were small! I put some tea bags in a pan, nearly full of water to have it be iced tea eventually, and we went to Peniel Bible School. When we came home several hours later, we had the same kind of scenario you had! And our hearts were just as grateful!! God is GOOD!
A.Kath
I can relate to you on this one. I was canning pickles and put a pan of eggs on to boil, then discovered I was out of alum. So I quickly went to town (2 miles) with 3 small kids in tow, couldn't find the alum in the 1st grocery store, went to one further away, still no alum, then the third store finally had it. When we got home, I quickly smelled what seemed to be burnt rotten eggs, and then it dawned on me that I forgot to turn off the eggs before I left. Well, my good Farberware pan actually melted through the rings of the burner, the eggs exploded and knocked the lid off, and were like little lumps of charcoal on the bottom of a very black pan. Yes, after I got done crying and trying to reassure the kids, I did thank God we still had a home, nobody injured, and the only casualty was my nice pan. I guess the Lord felt sorry for me because all my pickles sealed and were quite tasty! (And the house smelled like rotten eggs for days! Had to wash the kitchen curtains which were next to the burner that I forgot to turn off. Thankfully they didn't catch on fire. God is so Good!
Wow--nightmare scenario. Thank God for his protection!
Do you remember someone boiling (sanitizing) her contacts at our house one night? They shrunk so bad that we eventually had to laugh because the case could have been made into a decorative pin to wear instead of on the eyes.
Sure is a scary thing to experience! Thankfully, our Heavenly Father keeps a very watchful eye on us always!
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