Oops, I Did It Again (and again)

Here's a short story to illustrate just how my mind is working these days, or not working as in the case of this story. Read on:

No, I did not burn down the house (this time), but I was darn close! Yes, for the second time in as many months I tried to steam the broccoli without the steam element (aka water) in the pot. In a moment of glory yesterday afternoon I chopped the broccoli and put it in the pot, which I then placed on the stove for easy cooking later in the evening. (In case it isn't clear let me spell it out: there was no water in the pot!) I was so pleased with myself for finding time to prepare something healthy for dinner, and ahead of time, too. At the time, I honestly even thought to myself, "And this is how such [stupid] accidents happen, but not me, I won't make that [stupid] mistake again!" And then, I did.

Another interesting irony is that I was standing in front of the stove the whole time and as the burning smell began to permeate throughout the room (several minutes before the smoke billowed out of the pot), instead of the reaction I wished I had had (removing said broccoli pot and filling it with water before returning it to the stove), I just stood there staring at it, sweating from the heat, breathing in the smoke and thinking to myself, "Those sure are dirty burners. I really must find some time to clean them before I burn the house down." And then, I did. Or almost, anyway! It wasn't until I peeked, and not for the first time, into the broccoli pot and saw my now burning broccoli, that I finally realized what I had just done.

No harm done, really. Minus the broccoli, we had a nice dinner anyway. The only negative result was that it was a bit drafty from all the open windows that were airing out the house. Besides, we joked, that's the kind of mistake you only make once (or twice in my case), right?

Or maybe not.

Dare I tell on myself even further? Oh, well, why not? When you're hot, you're hot...red hot...literally!

So, I didn't exactly replicate last nights events, but with the stench still lingering in my nose and my mind still riddled with the "What if this..or that...happened?" it's surprising to me that at this very moment I am once again sitting in my house with all the windows open; and not because it's a nice day. Looking forward to a yummy afternoon snack, I tossed a cinnamon roll (and not just any cinnamon roll either; my homemade, golden brown, perfectly proportioned cinnamon/butter ratio, rolls) into the microwave to warm it up just a tad. I swear I only pushed 1 zero. And yet, 2 minutes (not 20 seconds) later I removed the now black and smoking hot roll from the microwave. And that is how in the span of 2 minutes (I actually think the damage was done after the first minute - the second minute was a bonus) I'm once again inside a cold house, on a cold day, with the windows open to the breeze.

The true loss in all of this...my roll! I wasn't so sorry about skipping out on the broccoli last night, but to ruin my perfectly good cinnamon roll really makes me angry! And worse still, instead of delicious baked goods, my house now smells like the fire I nearly started, twice!

The bright side of all of this is that a hard lesson was learned...twice (three times, if we're counting the first incident several weeks back)...I hope!

One might be wondering why I'm even sharing all of this? I know that I'm wondering that exact thing right now. I'm even pondering whether or not to just delete this whole entry.

And spare myself the humiliation? No way!

Call me stupid. Call me a slow learner. Call me a bad cook. Call it baby brain...whatever you call me and for whatever reason, I won't take it personally. I know my brain just keeps having the occasional hiccup and if I reset (aka sleep) enough...cooking broccoli will get easier (excuse the really bad parenting metaphor). No, this entry is once again for the memories. It is to remind me that each moment, beautiful, horrific, proud and humiliating alike, is just that, a moment. No matter how hard I try (and I've tried really hard for a very long time) I am not, nor will I ever be, perfect. Together these moments are my life. This is just one more great moment I don't want to forget - for many reasons - not the least of which is because it could be life saving (I always did learn best by writing things down)!

Note to self: always put water in pot before you put pot on hot burner.