Dinner: A Comedy of Errors

Yesterday I told you that our stove/oven decided to stop working.  No one granted it a leave of absence, it just went without any warning or anything (what kind of team player is that!...just kidding stove, you have worked hard for years and we love  you and can't blame you for wanting a little break).  So we took it apart looking for the problem.  My dad researched on the Internet and found that this problem is often caused by that black box in the picture (I have no idea what it is called).  We called around to stores in our valley and no one has it in stock, but we ordered one online that should be here in a couple of days.  Hooray, crisis averted.  Looks like we should be able to fix this one on our own.

That said, I totally forgot that our stove was not working when I went grocery shopping yesterday morning so I did NOT buy things that are conducive to prep without said stove.  Sooooo, come 5:00 last night when I went to start dinner I had a bit of a cold shock when I realized I would need to find an alternate cooking method (yup, I can be sort of absent minded sometimes...I blame that on the children).  That's when all the fun started.  Yee-Haw!

Pretend like the grill isn't disgustingly dirty...we've had it for
eight years and haven't cleaned it yet this season.

 First, I hurried out and started the gas grill thinking maybe I could cook everything on that.  I put a pot of water on to boil, slapped a lid on it and closed the grill.  After 45 minutes the water was just starting to get hot...not even any bubbles clinging to the sides yet.  I decided this was probably not the best option (when Josh got home from soccer camp he chuckled and said he wished he'd been here because he could have told me that wouldn't work...I obviously don't use the grill enough to know it's inner workings).

Gross, that is dirty too...no excuses on this one, I've just
never thought to clean it.

So I scrambled for options and decided to pull out our little camp stove.  This I have cooked on before and I KNOW I can get water to boil and I have a better grasp on how to use it...or so I thought. 

I hooked up the propane canister, turned it all on, brought the match to the burner and...nothing.  I turned it all off and then back on and tried again...nothing.  I called my dad to see if I was missing something.  He asked me if I had remembered to attach propane (see, even he knows I can be absent minded).  He couldn't think of a reason it wouldn't work.  He said to keep trying.  I kept trying.  (We eventually found that I didn't tighten the bit that attaches the propane tank to the stove quite enough so gas wasn't getting from the tank to the stove...at least it was a simple fix).

Then my mom called.  She said she had ordered pizza.  I would have kissed her if she had been at my house.  I didn't manage to feed my brood until 7:45, just in time for 8:00 bedtime, (and just as Josh was walking in the door from soccer camp) but they were fed and they were happy because what kid doesn't prefer pizza to grilled chicken and mashed potatoes which is what I was aiming for.   

Tonight I will remember my boy scout training and "be prepared" (I really did do lots of boy scout stuff right alongside my brother because my mom thought it was good stuff for me to learn too...thank you mom). 

This is was one of those nights that just makes you laugh and makes for a great story for years to come (like the time my grandma accidentally added root beer extract instead of maple extract to the home made syrup...we still laugh about that...p.s. root beer syrup does not taste good). 

This is what a family is all about, snapshots of life both good and bad that make the ride more exciting.  What a wonderful adventure.