Names have been changed to protect the innocent...and my husband...and me...but not the dog. His name is Dexter.

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Mama told me there'd be days like this

Ya know when you have one of those days where it seems like everything is going wrong and you're not at your coping best and then your oven catches fire? Yeah, well that was my day on Friday.
Let me explain.....it all started on Thursday night at 7:20 p.m. when when C.G. received a phone call asking why we weren't at home for our 7 p.m. appointment to show the house. The appointment that we had no idea about. So, we rushed home because the family still wanted to look at our house and we needed to get home and try to work a miracle with our house. Did I mention that it's not on the market yet? And that it's not "show ready" either? Yeah.
So, we got home and were rushing through the house trying to make it look as fabulous as possible and my sister came to help us. We were both working on the kitchen and she told me that she was putting a plastic bin in the oven for now and to remember to take it back out before we used the oven. I said "don't worry, I always check the oven before turning it on". Never say that. It will come back to haunt you.
So, Friday was a rough day for me, to say the least. Towards the end of this very long day, I was making dinner for my family like all good domestic goddesses do and thinking that nothing else could bring me down more. Never think that. I smelled something funny but I couldn't figure out what it was. I glanced down at the oven door and saw what looked like a flame. Thinking that I was delusional, I opened the door to see what was going on. Smoke came billowing out of the oven and I looked in to see what was making all that smoke. The plastic bin. So much for me always looking in the oven before I turn it on. And so much for having garlic bread with dinner. As shocking as it is, I actually remembered that it's a good idea to throw baking soda on a kitchen fire. Now, where is the baking soda.....oh yeah, the laundry room. I go trucking along down the hall, grab the baking soda, run back to the kitchen and sprinkle it onto the flaming plastic. The fire was out, emergency adverted and then the smoke alarm went off.
Cleaning up was lots of fun. I can now say from personal experience that if you throw baking soda on melted plastic, it will make the clean up easier. Also, the magic eraser does a pretty good job. And Robogrips are a must for any melted plastic event.
I would have taken a picture of the carnage but, alas, our camera is broken. It's been a rough week all around. And after all that, the couple decided that it wasn't the right house for them.
On a brighter note, Babs reached an important milestone in life. She had her first Otter Pop. It was grape and she loved it! She ate the entire thing and didn't even make a mess. Precious Otter Pop cannot be wasted.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, no!! I'm glad you don't need to buy a new oven or something spectacular like that. Ugh! Smart thinking to throw on baking soda, though.

Brad and Jenn said...

Oh my! Don't ya hate it when your righteous indignation colmes back to bite you? That happens to me all the time! I'm glad you didn't burn your house down!

jillytacy said...

Wow! That was a really bad day! I'm glad you diverted the crisis and were able to get it all cleaned up. What a pain! Hopefully things are looking up now. Really, what are the chances you'll have a repeat of the melting plastic event. Very slim so it's got to be getting better. I hope you have a great day!

Lady of Perpetual Chaos said...

Let's all hope that's the last time. I was so worried that we'd have to replace the entire thing. Replacing the racks isn't that big of a deal, but the rest of it! Oy.

Anonymous said...

I'm just glad it wasn't your tupperware. Because you invest in tupperware as opposed to the disposable stuff in the grocery store, it seems to have a moving target pasted on it when it comes to melting incidents. The cheap stuff lives forever, while the fabulous tupperware seems to seek out heat sources. Hopefully, all the bad stuff is done now and the rest of your house selling will continue without incident. It's a nice thought anyway.:)

Michelle said...

We used to use our oven as a bread box (due to a lack of counter space in the kitchen) and I once (maybe twice!)turned on the oven to preheat it with a 12 pack of Coscto muffins in the oven. The plastic wrap melted rather quickly and the card board tray was just starting to catch fire when we realized what the funny smell was...
after that we used to hang a post-it note that said "muffins in the oven" next to the oven temperature knob to remind us not to do it again. Good times! Maybe you need a "plastic bin in the oven" note on yours. :o)

Scullerina said...

I had a similar oven incident on my mission...thanks to a surprise visit from our nosy landlord we threw the dirty dishes in our oven. Days later we smelled a strong plastic smell and finally figured out all our plastic handled utensils were a melted gooey mess. Thankfully nothing ignited but I am pretty sure melted plastic gives off toxic fumes too. Glad you (and your oven) recovered quickly.

Lady of Perpetual Chaos said...

I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one melting plastic in their oven! Maybe it's a right of passage...I'm a real grown up now!

And the tupperware has already been melted, sad to say.

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