[pics incl] The cleaning crew is at our house washing walls, so Courtney and I bailed to the Lambrecht’s. Daxton was thrilled that a friend came to play and after a while one of them decided it was nap time (I’m honestly not sure which). He was SOOOO happy she was still around when he awakened!
[pics incl] The fire/smokey house has brought all sorts of interesting insects out into the open, or namely me shoes! However, today, Heather found a giant beetle and while it wasn’t a spider, it invoked a similar scream from Courtney. [More about spiders: http://blog.scottsontherocks.com/blog/2014/11/08/my-least-favorite-son/ ]
NOTE: The cleaning crew just arrived and the foreman, clearly assuming Courtney is 12, “came running” to ask Courtney “where’s the fire?!” HA HA HA HA!!!
[pics incl] It’s clearly gonna take a while… A LONG while to get this stuff off/out of things. All our coats are heavily smoke filled; well, those of us whose coats were here with us; like MINE. The “cleaners” should be here sometime this week to do stuff like walls, ceilings, furniture… “someone” will do our clothing and stuff too.
[pics incl] I’ve been using the nebulizer but I’m pretty sure it’s not gonna help as long as the smoke is still here. The air purifier is working miracles but it’s LOUD. It’s still pretty smokey so I can’t spend much time on the main floor. And…
After deciding to heat up leftovers in the crockpot and finding the cat under my bed was Heather, I decided I needed to escape!
I went to hang out with Patty and after Burleigh showed up, he insisted on pizza at his place. [I’ve decided that THIS is actually the best way “to cook without and oven!”
[pics incl] There was a racket in my room under my bed, but it didn’t really sound like cats “fighting” under my bed. I actually was thinking “what are they doing now?” when it reached out and grabbed me. I was NOT as properly startled as was expected, only because I was thinking about what was under my bed.
[pics incl] I’m standing in the kitchen trying to figure out what to cook and HOW to cook it…
Last night I was faced with this same dilemma … I have a George Foreman, a griddle and crock pots. Last night I fixed pancakes…
Today, while standing here with the same choices, I see THIS on the counter. WHAT?!? a salt what? why? this was NOT here yesterday, nor would I have known what to do with it if it had been here!
I figure this will be an ongoing list….
1) One does not just grab a soapy rag and wipe away smoke soot. It requires cleansers and scrubbing…
2) Toilets (or anything that holds water) in a home where a fire occurs will collect soot in the tanks?!?! All toilets and A LOT of soot?!? Brita water pitchers… fish tanks… Keurig coffee makers… Cat water dishes!
UGH! and irons! If I’d emptied & cleaned it before heating it up, it might have been fine. At least I always get dust off and “iron the ironing board cover first”…. I *think* I rescued the plate by using a drop of dishwasher detergent.
I have vinegar soaking in it now….
3) The more things you touch that have fire soot on them, will cause fire soot to exponentially spread!
More about the fire: http://blog.scottsontherocks.com/blog/2015/01/14/kitchen-fire-011415/
Earlier this week I kinda wanted to see if I was capable of doing more than one thing at a time. It’s been driving me crazy to NOT multi-task.
I decided to try something like “clean the kitchen.” Not just loading/unloading dishwasher, but something more along lines of “spring cleaning.” My theory is that if I at least stick to one room, I might be able to do multiple things by sheer accident. 😉 I may start unloading dishes, get distracted, start cleaning out fridge, but eventually realize I need to finish unloading dishwasher.
I made a list on my phone and decided to leave my phone, with list showing, on the bar counter. My hope is that if I forget what I was doing, I’ll eventually find my list. 🙂 I wrote a note to myself about what I was attempting to do and to add things to the list OR write down the things that caused me to lose my spot; primarily because I knew I was gonna write a blog about it! 😉 but also because maybe I can track what I’m doing for better or worse.
I have to laugh at myself because I did spend a lot of time standing in the middle of the room trying to remember what I was doing, but for the most part, I think my brain has accepted the fact that “remembering” is an issue and I quickly start looking for reminders.
I did things like taking all the dishes off a shelf and cleaning it. I left a couple times because I had laundry timers go off; each time I had forgotten what I was doing, started unloading the dishwasher, only to find all the dishes stacked on the counter?!? The wet rag in the cabinet was a giveaway! I’d laugh, go check my list, and add “clean out cabinets.” I think I went to fix myself tea multiple times, only to find a lukewarm mug sitting there; once I went to heat up my tea and found another mug already in microwave! 🙂 I know all these things because I followed my note and wrote it all down and laughed every time I did it… and sighed.
My only real trouble was when I moved my phone or turned off the list, but time would eventually bring me back to the kitchen and something out of place would remind me… like all the plants sitting in the sink 😉
I didn’t completely finish my “spring cleaning the kitchen” task.
That is probably a good thing, considering the kitchen caught on fire yesterday…. Murphy’s Law! Now, I HAVE to finish once the cleaning crew is done.
Guess I’m getting a bit better at working around my memory. 🙂 Might not be perfect but at least I feel like I’m “doing something” vs. going stir crazy. Maybe just repetition is the key? Anybody have a completely boring, repetitive task they want me to try? 😉
Ha ha ha… would you believe me if I said they were in the kitchen? Hehe, didn’t think so. They will get done soon… and Courtney’s China pics… and Heather’s wedding announcements…..
Well, you successfully reached 22 in one piece, even if it was a close shave right there at the end 😉 LOVE YOU and hope being 22 brings you joy.
I HAVE NO IDEA 😉 OK, as of a few hours ago, he found out he WILL be getting leave after his graduation on Jan 23rd. He will fly here, during which time there will be a flurry of paperwork, including marriage, so he can get married housing arranged before they drive out to SC in time for him to return from leave. There is no exact date set, but I promise to staple them to a wall and take more pictures for announcements! I think they are registering at Sears once they have some dates in place. (they were going to do all this by mail and Jeff was going to drive her out to him, seems like KARMA had a say in that too).
Drew: I’d like you to know that I am very proud of ALL the hard work you have done to reach this goal to test for graduation. Focus on your tests and we’ll all go from there. GOOD LUCK! See ya, soon.
[pics incl] If you were paying attention, TODAY, is Ashley’s 18th birthday (and tomorrow is Heather’s 22nd birthday). We figured that KARMA has decided that I was NOT GOING TO COOK for them for their birthdays 😉 [ http://blog.scottsontherocks.com/blog/2015/01/14/kitchen-fire-011415/ ]
So, dinner with Jaime it is! [ http://blog.scottsontherocks.com/blog/2014/07/16/la-fogata-071614/ ] Of course, we had planned to come soon, for their birthdays… but when we told him about the fire, he kidded that we’d have to be there every night. The first thing he noticed was William’s voice has changed 😉 [Notice, William has a plate of SLICED tomatoes… read previous Jaime stories for that one!]. He sat and visited with us at the end of the evening (and THANKS, to the crew for letting him slack on his chores)!
Jaime hasn’t been at the restaurant the past few times we visited so it’s actually been a while since he’s seen everyone. William is MUCH taller; Ashley is a senior; Courtney has been in China; and, Heather is getting married in the next few weeks. He and Ashley discussed school dances, which prompted Courtney to discuss the 1.7×1 male/female ratio in China… “guys say they don’t ask girls out, they wait until girls ask them…” William had been playing a game on his phone but without missing a beat, nor looking up, he said “well, THAT would make life easier!” Jaime fully expects us to have some sort of dinner at La Fogata… where HE will be a GUEST 😉 OF COURSE!
One Year Ago: http://blog.scottsontherocks.com/blog/2014/01/14/happy-birthday-ashley-2/
[pics incl] Our angels were working overtime! No, I didn’t do it! Jeff, Ashley and William left this morning…
Heather, Courtney and I were ASLEEP when the stove caught fire. Heather’s calm, quick thinking saved us & house.
Very thankful to be alive, details & pics later, we have abandoned ship to Starbucks while smoke clears.
[smooth=id: 81; width:550; height:600; timed:true; arrows:true; carousel:false; links:true; info:true; align:center; frames:false; delay:6500; transition:continuoushorizontal;]
[later in the evening] OK, details…. apparently a plastic igloo cooler was on the oven cooktop and somehow bumped the knobs to turn the burner on. Once it caught fire, it set off the smoke alarms but only for like 15 seconds and then off. It repeated that. Courtney and I were on the top floor with doors closed, each telling the other to “MAKE IT STOP!” thinking that it was just the batteries dying [http://blog.scottsontherocks.com/blog/2013/02/22/was-that-a-fire-alarm/]. Heather also made that assumption. UNTIL, they began BLARING. Fortunately, I did have in earplugs and it was LOUD but I thought it was coming from upstairs somewhere and I had been looking around my bathroom for something that would make them beep. I decided it must’ve been Courtney’s alarm beeping so I opened my bedroom door….. AND THAT SUCKED ALL THE SMOKE UPSTAIRS!
Meanwhile, Heather (lives in the basement) took off upstairs and found the fire AND THE SMOKE. She kept her wits about her and realized that we were still upstairs. Realizing it wasn’t a grease fire, she grabbed the water sprayer from the sink and started spritzing the cabinets and microwave to put out some of the leaping flames. Meanwhile, she was calmly but LOUDLY SCREAMING for us to “get out of the house the kitchen is on fire!” When we opened our bedroom doors, the upstairs filled rapidly with smoke. All three cats tried to rescue us and stayed right by our feet begging us to pick them up.
When the cooler caught fire, it burned away the stovetop knobs and we were unable to turn off the burner, nor stop the fire of all the melted plastic, until Heather bolted outside to trip the breaker. It took a minute or two for the fire to dissipate. The entire house was full of very opaque white smoke… and toxic.
We left all the doors and windows open, and I turned off the heater. We changed clothes because up until this point we were all in PJ’s of t-shirt and shorts (it was 26 degrees outside)! We also grabbed our “go bags” (hehe… ok not really). We had a pre-determined plan so Courtney rescued her teddy bear and was ready to meet at the McLain’s trees. 😉
Knowing we were getting the fire under control quickly, I didn’t need to call 911, but I called Jeff who was still in route to drop kids at school… at this time, the safest place for them to stay. He met us at Starbucks and we grabbed some breakfast while waiting for the smoke to clear. During this time, Heather started feeling bad so we left and went straight to urgent care. Jeff dropped us off while he and Courtney went to check on the house and call the insurance. When the doctor called Heather back, I was still coughing pretty horribly, so they ordered me back with her. Her chest x-rays were clear… WHEW! (I didn’t take any) but we both have some smoke inhalation (Courtney probably does too). [NOTE: we still have the nebulizer from when Jeff and Heather had pneumonia before Christmas.] The ordered us to do nebulizer treatments for a few days.
I have to say, THIS COULD HAVE BEEN A TOTAL LOSS! While the photos show the fire damage is contained to the kitchen stove area, the entire upper two floors are covered is ash and soot from the smoke.
Our insurance company is AWESOME! The claims adjuster was here shortly after we came home from the doctor office. While he was here, he called the “fire mitigation team” and they arrived within and hour! The removed all the damaged appliances, set up some sort of air purifying gadget with the blue lights 😉 and they will be back tomorrow to begin cleaning and removing soot from each of the rooms, walls and carpets from both upper floors. (the basement didn’t suck any of the smoke down).
COUNTING OUR BLESSINGS AND HUGGING OUR KIDS!
**[NOTE UPDATE : Some funnies in the face of danger 😉 and “more details” for the “Rest of the story”
**When the alarm kept buzzing, Courtney and I were hollering at each other through the wall. At one point, she said “Are you cooking?!” Me: “Shut-up, I’m not cooking, it’s 6:45am… I WAS ASLEEP!”
**When I said I was looking in my bathroom… work through this w/ me: I had been asleep. My head had been seriously hurting so at around 5am, I txt’d Heather that I had already taken showers, meds, etc… “I’m taking ‘real drugs’ so that puts YOU on call, in case kids need anything.” “OK, let me know if you need anything.” Remember the time 6:45am… I WAS DRUGGED.” I stood here, arguing with Courtney but at the same time… ” could something be causing the alarm?” Let me check in that bathroom, in case my mostly bald husband, decided to turn on my curling iron and set something on it?… For the record, it wasn’t on 😉 I can neither confirm nor deny if he had used it. ;-P
**Heather ASSUMED correctly, that Courtney and I would NOT get up to replace a battery. Tag, she was it. She also KNEW I was drugged and was kinda panicking that I would not be awake.
**Courtney was still IN BED, when I opened the door and got blasted with smoke. I BANGED on her door and yelled “there’s a fire!” I managed to get to the stairs and only THEN could I hear Heather screaming about the fire. I yelled at Courtney and worked my way down the stairs in the smoke. to the kitchen.
**As Heather was spraying the ceiling, the smoke would briefly clear and I could see the ice chest on the ceramic cooktop, it was roaring flames and had melted the microwave & started a fire on the microwave. The plastic from the microwave was “dripping” onto the burner that was on. Continuous loop, cooktop melts icechest–more fire–fire melts microwave–more fire UP… liquid plastic onto burner–more fire. Microwave caught cabinet above on fire and ceiling. ice chest caught the burners on fire, the melted off. Burner was STILL on. I said “burner is on, knobs burned off, we can’t turn off!” THIS IS WHEN I CALLED JEFF… ALARM BLARING…me: “the kitchen is on fire!” Jeff: (I dunno if I was on speaker or not, I couldn’t hear over the alarm) “What?!” “ya’ll set the kitchen on fire! ice chest on the cooktop, burner is on, knobs burned off, we can’t turn off!”
But at the same time I pointed to out power box and that is all I needed to do. Heather ran outside, in 12 degrees, left front door open. Jeff: “do we need to come back?” “NO! TOXIC smoke, we are leaving, Ashley can’t be here! I’ll call you back!” [ALARM STILL BLARING!!]
**Courtney got down the stairs as I was sliding open the back door. Heather banged on that window and Courtney ran to open it. Heather had tripped a breaker but wanted to be certain it was the right one. Within moments of turning it off, the plastic FROZE IN PLACE (it was now abt 40 degrees in the house and dropping.) We all met near the hallway… with the cats… AND THE ALARM. We could see the fire going out, Heather sprayed the cabinet and ceiling again from “the backdoor area” of the sink. I turned off the heater. All of us back to the front door… with the cats… [ALARM STILL BLARING]
**All of us talking… “We need to leave, this is a chemical fire/smoke ” “do ya’ll have things you can grab in 1 minute?” “Go change, grab you laptops IF THEY ARE HANDY, I’ll get “important papers go bag” [that’s not what we call it ;-)] but you have 2 minutes to get back to this spot or I call 911.” “go!”
**We all had our laptop bags actually packed up already, so THAT was easy. I grabbed the important papers, jumped in jeans and we all were at the door again in about a minute!
**”Cats?!” Heather, they followed me to basement, it’s clear of smoke. I closed the door.” [ALARM STILL BLARING!]
**Leave door open, let’s go. [ALARM STILL BLARING!] I called Jeff. “We got it out, we are leaving to to Starbucks at Safeway!” Jeff: “kids wanna come back, do we need to meet you?” “we are safe, fire is out, (now in car), it’s still deep thick heavy smoke and Ashley cannot be here w/ asthma. we are going up to wait for it to clear and we need chocolate!” “I’ll drop them off and meet you there.”
**he met us there but very quickly we decided “we need waffles” AND “we NEED pie!” http://blog.scottsontherocks.com/blog/2012/11/29/the-story-of-pie/
Cannot believe Ashley is 18! I am so proud of the young lady you have become and I am looking forward to your future. Luv you!
[pics incl] Poor Jeff met several co-workers et.al. at Mile High for the game today. His group was given several tickets. Here are a few photos he took. We won’t discuss the game itself! 😉
