Don't let your dreams go up in smoke - practice fire safety. ~Author Unknown

It feels like such a long time since I was last able to really write.  The last real post was about my weigh in on the 23rd of August.  It had kind of been a long week (and it was only Tuesday).  Joe was preparing chicken to be fried and I was finishing up my blog post in the other room.

Without any warning, I saw a bright flare coming from the kitchen and heard Joe scream.  I ran to the kitchen and saw a huge fireball coming from the stock pot Joe was using.  I grabbed the small fire extinguisher from the bottom drawer and started spraying.  It didn't seem to be doing anything really.  Joe had recovered from the initial shock of it all, grabbed the extinguisher from my hand and told me to call 911.  I ran back to the living room (through the grease on the floor from when I had first started to spray) to grab my phone and was on the phone with 911 when Joe finally got the fire out.

That all happened in under a minute.

Once the fire was out, our attention turned to the fact that our entire house was filled up with grease heavy smoke and that we need to get ourselves (and the smoke) out.  We started to open some windows but it wasn't long before we couldn't breathe so Joe ran down to get Taelin (who slept soundly through the fire alarm).  We spent the next ten minutes either staying with Taelin or running back into the house to open another window or door.  Neither of us could really open more than one window before we couldn't breath and had to run back outside.  At one point, I think Joe tried to do more but it resulted in him coming outside and retching into the bush in front of our house.

After we got everything open, I frantically called around to everyone I knew that was close-ish to the house to see if there were fans we could borrow.  Luckily, I got a hold of some people and within 30 minutes after they brought fans the smoke was out of the house.  But a lot of damage had already been done.

For dinner that night, we ate ice cream sandwiches and drank the bottle of Merlot that someone brought along with the two fans they had.  By then, it was close to midnight and there wasn't much that could be done.  Joe had spent some time trying to clean, but honestly he was really just moving grease around.  Luckily, because of where the bedrooms are in our house not much of the smoke reached them and we were able to sleep in our own house.

The next morning I met my co-workers for our "back to school" breakfast.  Two of them were people that brought fans the night before and since I was late to breakfast, they had shared the story with the rest of the group.  That is when one of them turned to me and said, "So you called your insurance company right?"
Umm.....nope.  I hadn't even thought of it.  I don't know why, but I hadn't.  So when I got back to the office, I started that ball rolling which prompted a cleaning frenzy I had no idea would exist.

That night, I was cleaning my house to get ready for the cleaning crew that was coming to deep clean the house (I know...cleaning before the cleaners, but it was necessary).  I was mostly just trying to organize the random little piles of things.  I had looked a little more closely at the damage the fire had caused and the reality of what could have happened had we not had that fire extinguisher in the kitchen had started to sink in. Then, as Joe was cleaning off the top of the refrigerator, he handed me a little paper turkey that was made of Taelin's handprints and footprints last year and casually asked me where I wanted to put it.

I lost it.  I just started crying.  Granted I was tired and my stress level was really high.  I had just gone back to work and didn't have any real option to not be there and take care of all this mess.  As I held that little paper turkey, I realized how close we were to losing our house and everything in it.  I said this on facebook, and to many people since, but there is not a shadow of a doubt that had we not had a fire extinguisher in the kitchen that Joe and I would have stood across the street with Taelin and watched our house burn down, along with all of our things.

I don't think I have ever been so grateful for such an ordinary thing as a fire extinguisher.  We were all safe (well, except for the slight burns on Joe's face and the loss of some of his eyebrows, eyelashes, and hair) and things can be replaced, but I am so glad we didn't have to face that significant of a loss.

It has been about a week and a half and the cleaning service that deep cleaned the house from the ceilings to the carpets are done.  The smell is pretty much gone except for the occasional whiff from one of the fans in the bathrooms.  The HVAC system will be cleaned next week.  The melted hood above the stove is gone and the burned cabinet has been torn down and is sitting next to the house waiting for the rest of the kitchen once it is demolished.

I will admit to the fact that I was slightly irritated each day when I came home after having the cleaning crew here.  Things weren't in the right spot and instead of relaxing at the end of a busy day, I felt like I had to put things back together.  I had to make a list of everything that had to be thrown out and will eventually have to figure out the replacement cost of each thing to turn into the insurance company.  I found myself irritated about that too.  The thought of going through a kitchen remodel gives me a headache.  Every time I have started to think these thoughts I catch myself and then get irritated at my irritation.  I am lucky that I have that headache instead of the headache of being homeless. (Can that even be called just a "headache"?)

Human emotions are strange things.  The range of emotions in the last couple of weeks could probably keep a therapist busy for quite some time.

So with that, here is the list of things I am grateful for:
1. the fire extinguisher (if you don't have one in your kitchen, I certainly hope you get one soon)
2. that no one was seriously injured
3. my friends that answered the call for fans at 10:00 pm on a work night
4. the means to have insurance
5. the cleaning crew that did a fantastic job
6. the opportunity to be reminded that everything is fragile

At this point, I would like to officially request the universe give me a break...at least for a little while.  I don't want preferential treatment necessarily, just a moment to catch my breath.  I would much appreciate it.