Today I’m grateful that my house didn’t burn down while I was at work.

11.13.2024

---

I planned to put some pork chops in the crockpot this morning before work. I had stumbled upon a recipe over the weekend for glazed crockpot pork chops and I was eager to try them. I love a good crockpot meal. Nothing beats walking in the door after a long day at work and being greeted by the smell of dinner all ready to go. So, earlier this week I got the ingredients I needed from this new recipe, I thawed out the meat, and I was feeling rather impressed with myself for my forethought in planning.

I was doing about 4 things at once this morning, trying to get out the door. I was making coffee and eating breakfast and feeding the dog and packing my lunch, all while trying to get organized to start my crockpot meal. As I pulled the ingredients out from the fridge, I plugged my crockpot in and turned it on low. I turned to grab something from the pantry and when I turned back, I saw smoke, streaming out from my crockpot. I figured that there was probably something that had been caked on or not properly cleaned off that was causing this, so I turned it off, unplugged it and wiped the entire thing down. I plugged it back in and turned it on again – instant smoke, coming from multiple spots.

I suppose I shouldn’t be totally surprised. If I’m remembering correctly, I received this crockpot as a college graduation gift. So, it (like me) is quite old! I’m not sure what the lifespan of a crockpot is supposed to be, but I’m certain the warranty on mine expired many, many moons ago.

I unplugged the crockpot and put all my ingredients away. The pork chop recipe will have to wait. Tomorrow is trash day, and my not-so-good-ol’ crockpot will be in the bin on the curb. It looks like I’ll be asking Santa to bring me a new one.

As I drove to work today, I couldn’t stop thinking about how lucky I was that my crockpot instantly smoked up like it did this morning. If it had malfunctioned at some other point today, like while I was at work … well, I don’t even want to think about what could have happened. It could have been bad.

So today, I’m thankful for some nicely-timed smoke signals, and for the great fortune I had in dodging what could have been a disastrous outcome to my dinner plans. I’m thankful that, even while juggling multiple things this morning, I noticed the problematic crockpot right away. And so, instead of being upset that I had to come home to a house without the smell of a pork chop dinner to greet me, I’m thankful that today I had a house to come home to at all.