Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Hot, Hot, Hot!

I probably shouldn't admit such an embarrassing thing in public, but I'm scared of my stove. Well, it's not the whole stove that frightens me, it's the self-cleaning oven.
I do use it once in a while, but every time I realize the job must be done it takes me several days to get enough courage to actually do it because the oven gets so hot I wonder if it might set the house on fire.
If I turn it on at night what if it starts a fire while I'm asleep? Or if I do it when I leave home for a few hours what if I return and find the house has burned down?
Yes, I know it is designed to be safe. Yes, I'm careful to follow the instructions exactly. Yes, millions of other people use self cleaning ovens and I've never heard of even one that started a house fire. And, yes, I've used mine safely many times.
But, hey! I'm a writer. I have an active imagination and part of creativity is asking "What if....?"
Maybe tonight I'll send the Worry Monster off to bed early and take the dare so tomorrow I'll wake up to a clean oven. Meanwhile I'll try sending him off after some new plot ideas so I can cook up some delicious stories..

4 comments:

Cheryl said...

I haven't been able to use mine because our new smoke alarms are too sensitive and it sets them off. I have two options: pull all the hardwired smoke alarms off the ceilings for 4 hours and yank out their batteries while the stove cleans itself or clean the stove by hand. I go with the latter.

New technology is wonderful, isn't it?

Janet Ann Collins said...

Maybe you could have your smoke alarms moved? That would probably be expensive if they're wired in. Or you could disable them permanently and put up others away from the stove.

BarbaraB said...

Hi Janet Ann,

Have you considered getting take-out?
Then you oven would never need cleaning.

Janet Ann Collins said...

That's not an option for me. Because I have lots of food allergies and sensitivities I must cook most things from scratch.