For Nicci

Awhile ago my friend told me I should start a blog. Little did she know I had started one but not on the subjects she had suggested. Sooo, Nicci this one is for you.
Tonight is busy night for my family. My husband and child had a chiropractor appointment at 5:00PM, which meant my husband had time to get home from work, change clothes, get the child's shoes on and head out the door for the appointment. So, being the good wife/mother that I try to be I decided we would have a quick un-labor intensive dinner. Hamburger Helper, that's right, you heard me, Hamburger Helper lasagna. I know it's not at the top of the nutrition chain but I wanted something hot and quick. So I pull the thawed hamburger from the refrigerator, opened the pack and immediately gagged from the smell of the hamburger. The hamburger had spoiled and now I have to quickly come up with something else for dinner. I remember that there is a P.F. Changs frozen meal in the freezer that my husband purchased a couple of days ago. Hurrah, another quick supplement. So I toss the hamburger in the garbage, put the Hamburger Helper back on the shelf and reach for the P.F. Changs. I grab the skillet from the cupboard and put it on the stove and read the directions for heating on the bag. Cook on high heat for 6 minutes with lid on skillet. Remove lid and continue to cook for 7 minutes on medium heat. So I toss the frozen food in the skillet, set the kitchen timer and head upstairs to take care of some things. Now I know that I can't hear that timer go off from upstairs so I guesstimate my time while I'm looking for wrapping paper/gift bag to wrap a birthday gift for my father-in-law. Needless to say, I can't find either in a birthday theme appropriate for a man in his 60's. I wonder if he would like a bag with red stripes and blue and yellow balloons on it? Probably not. So after what I thought was about 4 minutes of time I come back downstairs to a smoke filled kitchen and burnt Chinese food smell. My first thought was "I've burnt the second dinner of the evening!!" "What is wrong with me?" That's right kids, you've read correctly, I've managed to ruin the second dinner of the evening (for those of you keeping score). I grab the smoking skillet off the fire red burner and turn off the stove. I put the skillet down on a cool burner and turn on the vent, ceiling fan and air conditioner to help clear the smoke out. I call my husband, tell him what I've done and ask him if he should just pick up some McDonald's for everyone. He says he has $4 with him and that won't buy us dinner. Great. So I decide to sacrifice the frozen pizza that I had just bought today (but was saving for another busy night like tonight). I tell myself not to be afraid, that the third time will be the charm. Luckily it was. We had a Newman's frozen supreme pizza for dinner and got on with helping our child with their homework, going to Scout's sign up and a PTA meeting. Got home in time to tuck my child in bed and finish this post.

PS Half way through the PTA meeting I realized I smelled like burnt Chinese food. Great.