Sunday night, I had a brilliant idea. Well, at the time it seemed brilliant. I decided that Monday morning I would get up a few minutes earlier and make cinnamon rolls. Sounds pretty harmless, right? Aaron is usually the one who cooks breakfast but I wanted to give him a break.
I went on Pinterest and found a recipe that included crescent rolls. I happened to have some in the fridge. Actually, that is what triggered the whole ‘I’ll make breakfast’ episode.
The next morning, my alarm went off. I got out of bed and showered, excited at the prospect of making breakfast and surprising everyone. Now, seriously, before I go further, I really can and do cook… and before you think differently, it is almost always really, good food. Now that we have that out there, I will continue on with my story.
I made Aaron a cup of coffee and woke him up. I told him that I was making breakfast and bounced back to the kitchen. Eh… bounced is probably an exaggeration but I was excited about this recipe.
The recipe called for a pie pan. Apparently, since the last time I used my pie pan it has disappeared, either that or it had an idea of what awaited it. Giving up the search, I pulled out a round cake pan. It is one of those that the bottom can push out leaving you with a nice, clean edge.I checked the recipe and melted the butter and brown sugar together. For a moment, I wondered if the cake pan would hold the melted butter and brown sugar since it wasn’t a true bottom on the pan. I decided that since it holds cake batter there should not be an issue.
The next step was to roll out the crescent roll dough and pinch all the edges to make it one sheet. That sounded fairly simple. I begin pinching the edges together only for another side to come apart. I started laying the edges on top of each other and smashing them down, but they wouldn’t stick! After almost ten minutes of smashing and squishing the dough, I managed to get 85% of it to stick together. It looked nothing like the picture on the Pinterest recipe.
I shrugged it off and brushed the butter on the inside and then sprinkled the cinnamon and sugar over it. The next step read, “roll tightly.” Ha! There was no rolling tightly. I managed to get it semi roll-squished and went to cut the roll in slices. Again, my slices did not come close to resembling the beautiful circle slices that were pictured on the recipe.
I rolled my eyes, determined to finish. I placed the octagon shaped cinnamon rolls in the cake pan on top of the butter and brown sugar mixture and popped it in the oven.
Feeling fairly proud of myself, I began to make the icing. Just as I added the last ingredient to the icing, I heard Kiera yell, “Mommy!” I set the icing mixture down and went to check on my not-a-morning child.
“What’s up, baby?” I asked.
“I’m hungry.” She mumbled. I assured her that breakfast was in progress and went back to the kitchen where I was greeted with a haze of smoke.
I quickly opened the stove to see brown sugar and butter oozing onto the bottom of the stove. Everyone knows what things smell like when they go on the bottom of the stove. Irritated that my cake pan did not live up to my expectations, I grabbed a cookie sheet, slid it under the cake pan and closed the stove door.
In that short amount of time, the kitchen had accumulated more white smoke. I grabbed a fan that we keep in the kitchen and turned it on, aiming it at the back door.
“Mommy!” Kiera bellowed from her bedroom. I opened the back door to complete the airing out process and headed to her room.
“Yes, baby?” I asked, trying not to sound stressed.
She glanced up from the show she was watching on the iPad. “Does lizard start with L?”
“Yes. Yes it does. Good job.” I rapidly responded before turning on my heel and heading back to the kitchen.
As I stepped back in the kitchen, Aaron came out of the bathroom where he had been showering. “Something’s burning!” He yelled. I saw him do a double take as he entered the kitchen.
I sighed and explained the situation. He grinned, made a smart elec comment and left to finish getting dressed. The next sound I heard came from the living room. I’m pretty sure if Sloane could talk, she would have been complaining about the smoke smell.
I heard a “thunk” as she jumped off the couch and then “sniffle, sniffle” and a giant sneeze. I turned in time to see her “sniffle” a few more times before she laid flat on the floor to get away from the smoke. I think she might have rolled her eyes at me.
I glared at the stove and pulled a small hair clip out of my hair. I put the clip between my teeth and started to stir the icing. Don’t ask me why I didn’t just set the clip on the counter… I have no idea why I didn’t.
Aaron came back in the kitchen as I stirred the icing. I can’t even tell you what he said. All I can tell you is I opened my mouth to respond and watched the hair clip fall into the icing mixture and quickly sink.
By this time, I can’t help but laugh along with Aaron. The haze has begun to clear out of the kitchen, but the counter is covered with dirty dishes and powdered sugar. I rinsed the hair clip off, set it on a towel to dry, and headed to our room to get ready.
After roughly 35 minutes, Aaron pulled the cinnamon ovals out. I iced and served them. It came very close to being a Pinterest fail, but they tasted amazing. I carried a plate to Kiera and set it down in front of her.
She looked up from the iPad and her eyes became huge. She gasped and said, “These are my favorite!” That phrase made it all worthwhile. Well, that and the fact that she ate two of them.
You see, as I stopped to reflect on the morning, I thought of all I had to be thankful for. I had the ingredients for the recipe in my pantry. That in itself, was a miracle. I had an oven to bake in, a pan to make a mess in, a sink with hot water to clean my mess, a fan to blow out the smoke and a back door to open. I am blessed to have a little girl to ask me random questions in the middle of a chaotic mess. I’m blessed to have not one but two dogs that wait until the smoke clears before searching the floor in the hopes of a dropped crumb. I’m also blessed to have a husband that can laugh at the craziness that life brings us.
I could go on and on about the big and little things in my life that I am thankful for, but I think you get the picture. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 reads, “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you.” Sometimes, it is hard to remember to be thankful or we just get so wrapped up in our everyday lives we forget.
I encourage you this week, to take the time to look around you and see what you have to be thankful for, even if it means cleaning your stove before cooking in it again. I hope you each have a wonderful Thanksgiving and thank you for being a part of our crazy life.
Rowonna McNeely is a graphic artist for Willie’s T’s Screenprint & Embroidery. She is a mother of a four year old girl and step mother of two adult girls. Her crazy life includes a dog, Sloane and psychotic cat, Gracie. Both females. She is married to her prince, who is outnumbered by the opposite gender.
