Thursday, February 5, 2009

The Dinner Bell

If you have ever been at our house, you have probably been aquainted with our various "bells."

There's the little one out by the shed that is quite high-pitched and useful for just about nothing. (Except hanging the key for the shed on it!)

We also have the "U" and "D" bells. Those are wireless doorbells - the buttons are installed in the kitchen and the parts that you plug in (that actually make the chiming sound) are located in the upstairs and downstairs hallways. The idea is pretty much the equivalent of those little bells they had for servants. . . and Mum and Dad are the rich aristocrats, while us kids are the servants. They ring the bell, and we are to come to the kitchen from wherever we are in the house.

And of course, our ancient dinner bell - I think it's a cowbell. The name pretty much says it all . . . we ring it at dinner time and everyone is supposed to come running.

However, when I make dinner, I have my own special bell - the smoke alarm.

Okay, so last night was the first time I have ever made it go off. . . but it was a good one. I had some bread broiling in the oven, and, neglecting to set a timer, I forgot about it. It caught on fire. The whole event was quite dramatic, although would have been far more interesting/dangerous had Mum not been there to extinguish it. I don't think I could have pulled the pan out of the oven and manuevered it into the sink with as much poise and dexterity as she did - it was amazing.

That said, I learned a valuable lesson - always make enough food for a meal so that, if one course burns beyond recognition by some strange twist of fate, you will still have plenty.

No, I did not take pictures.

4 comments:

Annie Hall said...

hahahaha that brings back some memories from living in the dorms my freshman year... we had hypersensitive smoke alarms, and i set the dumb thing off many a morning just by using the toaster. and the smoke alarm in my apartment this year went off when we boiled water sometimes! oh yes... smoke alarms are a beautiful thing.

Annie Hall said...

oh, and i forgot to mention... my roommates absolutely LOVED me for setting the smoke detector off at 8 AM while they were still sleeping!!! ;)

Alyssa Jean said...

haha, that's great! I just did that the other day wit the broiler.. That thing is hard! lol!
I'll cya tomorrow I guess! :D

me

Unknown said...

heheha! One time i was making pizza and it was only Christian, Maya, and Molly w/ me. Well I smelled something on fire and i opened the oven and the bottom had caught on fire!! It is so amazing all that can go through your mind in a second!! I remembered that both neighbors had just left, and I didn't have a phone! to top it off, I couldn't get the extinguisher off the wall!! lol* so i turned off the oven and waved a towel over it and opened the doors!! (oh i very calmly sent the little ones to the living room!!) the alarm did not go off until after I opened the oven, and of coarse kept screaming for a while until I could get to it!! lol* I was quite amazid I didn't panic all to badly!! haha! So I'm sure everyone has stories like that! in fact I made my aunt a scarf and I embroidered "Dinner is ready when the smoke alarm goes off!" heheha!! :o) Well ttyl
Candi