Photograph Credit: Fotolio

After today’s events, I am considering creating an entertainment backup plan. Lest you think Murphy hits our home each time we entertain, let me assure you that we entertain quite a bit without incidents.

Tonight was not the case. Everything was going well. I had picked up the pizzas from Papa Murphy’s this afternoon, the house was cleaned, and homework finished.

With the oven preheated, I placed the pizza on the top rack, set the timer, and sat down to rest.

Ahh!

The Incident

Paul came home and was hanging up his jacket when we saw a flash in our kitchen. Checking the light bulbs for outages, we found none. Not seeing anything else, we wrote it off to a power surge.

About 20 minutes later the timer sounded, and I went to the oven. Well, everything was dark.

At this time, I realized that the flash was from the oven. Paul reset the breakers, and then we checked the unit. The oven light and the stovetop worked fine. However, the oven had shorted out. Bummer!

Thankfully, I have wonderful neighbors. I called up one and explained the situation. In typical southern hospitality, she invited me down to use her oven. I enjoyed the time listening and playing with her children while the pizza finished baking.

Considering a Backup Plan

Our dinner turned out well, got off to a little late start, and we had a great night. We are not sure how we will fix the oven. But for now, the rest of our week sports a cooktop menu, so we are good to go.

Though this experience turned out fine, I began thinking about what I would have done had my neighbor not been home. I had called my nextdoor neighbor first, and she was not home. But the second neighbor I called was able to help me out.

Not that I plan to keep numerous options available when we entertain, but I have started thinking about our entertainment backup plan, which definitely includes my fantastic neighbors.

I’m thinking that I might want to choose a cooktop, oven, and freezer/microwave option. Of course, if the power goes out, then I’ll need a grill option. Happy creating!

Question: Do you have an entertainment backup plan? If so, would you be willing to share it?