Knowing my munchkins, I knew better than to tackle the great pumpkin heist of ’09 during the day without Bo. I put it off until last night, after they were tucked in bed. What I didn’t plan on was how long it was going to take me to prep before baking. I got one of the smaller pumpkins, or so I thought, and it’s still not much smaller than the tires on my SUV. I also forgot that I’m a klutz and tend to screw things up the first time or two that I make something. Never fails, SOMETHING doesn’t go the way it’s supposed to, but it’s always edible. So here I am at the dining room table since no other surface was large enough, giant knife in hand, asking the pumpkin god to please help this knife disassemble its offering, when my knife slips and stabs the roasting pan. This wouldn’t have been an issue if it had been a metal roasting pan, but this was one of those tinfoil throwaway type pans. So yup, I stabbed a hole through the bottom, rendering it unusable. This pumpkin is so big; I was cutting it in sections small enough for me to handle then slicing it into the roasting pan. I thought for sure this would not be a problem considering before this incident, the knife hadn’t gotten close to the bottom of the pan. Oops #1 of the night. Now I’m trying to figure out how in the world I’m going to bake this thing before the night is over, and what in since that was the biggest thing I had to use. I ended up using two casserole dishes, and barely got half of the pumpkin in them.
I glance at the time and its 10:30. There was no way I was going to get this whole monster baked in one night. I chose to wrap the rest, along with the seeds to tackle tonight. I sat the timer for 30 minutes and sat down to read my book. The timer goes off, I go to check to see if it’s soft enough and oops #2 happens. My knuckle grazes the oven rack just enough that now I have a nice little blister that looks remarkably like a sunflower seed. Ouch, but if I don’t burn or cut myself while cooking something is wrong. I check the pumpkin, still hard. I ended up cooking this SOB for an hour before it was finally fork tender. I had my oven on 425 and it took an hour, when everything I found says 30 – 45 minutes! It was 11:38 when I started to pull the dishes out of the oven and oops #3 rears its little head. I’d put my pot holders and dishtowels in the laundry that day and hadn’t managed to get them washed, so two pot holders, for two casserole dishes. How to get them out without burning myself and on the table without burning it without an extra pot holder? Oops to say the least. I hurriedly put all slices into the unbakable roasting pan, and voila problem solved both pans on the stove and nothing burnt. Except I then got pumpkin juice on the table because oops #4 I forgot about the hole.
Opps #5 was that I didn’t think ahead and plan in cooling time. Yup. Here I am at 11:45 wanting to scream, but knowing if I do I’ll wake the kids, with frustration because I want to go to bed like an hour ago. At midnight I decided I’d burn my fingers because I wanted sleep. By the time I got one pan peeled it was almost 12:30. Can we say double SOB three times fast? I asked Bo to peel the remaining dish while I pureed what I’d gotten to. And oops #6 happened, although I’m not sure it’s an actual oops or more of a CRAP. Our new blender is awesome compared to our old one, but one thing that all blenders I seem to run into has, is a loud sound. Yup, it woke up Jocelyn. What to do? I ask Bo to go take care of her so I can finish pureeing the current batch and I’d finish as fast as possible. I managed to bag the stuff, put them in the freezer and peel the rest of the pumpkin in about 10 minutes, hot dog. I put the remaining pumpkin in a bowl in the fridge and headed to the laundry room to grab my pj’s.
That’s when oops #7 hit me. I had planned on taking a shower last night. Are you freaking kidding me? I almost head butted the dryer with frustration because once again it can’t go smoothly for me. How on earth did I forget this little tidbit? My hair is in desperate need of a wash at this point and I freaking forgot. UGH. I rush through getting ready for bed obviously skipping my shower, lie down, pop the girl on and sigh with relief that I managed to get into bed before the sun rose.
That’s not where my night ended, wouldn’t it have been nice though if it had? Nope, Joss decides she’s damaged from the blender being on and will not stay asleep once removed from her human pacifier. She’s well fed, and still she cries and won’t sleep. We were up until 1:30 trying to get her to sleep. And then she woke up every hour after until at 4:43 I put her in bed with me and didn’t wake Bo up to sit the timer. No need to set that damn thing because I do plan on falling asleep with her in bed, otherwise no sleep for anyone. THEN I at 7:30 this morning I ask Bo oh please put her in her crib before I become frozen in this position. She stays asleep and I cuddle down in the blankets comfy for the first time all night and plan on dozing until 8 if at all possible. NOPE, not going to happen because I have a 4 year old that doesn’t have volume control and wants me to watch tv with him. He doesn’t understand that Mama needs more sleep, just a few more minutes please. Nope he storms out and starts telling Daddy that Mama says no, she doesn’t want to watch tv with me, in a voice loud enough that the neighbors could have been a part of the conversation. Yup, you know where this is going. She wakes up crying and there goes me getting any good comfy sleep.
Note to self: buy small pumpkins next time and chew to puree. Oh and make sure to plan EVERY STINKING DETAIL.
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