You're fired!

Last Monday was an awful day! For dinner I was making some egg rolls (which I was very excited about, by the way... they smelled SO good!) so I put about 2 inches of oil in a pot and put it on the stove, then I turned around and started putting the egg rolls together. When I was done, I turned around to check on the oil and there was a HUGE fire blasting out of the pot all the way to the ceiling! It was SO scary!! I didn't know what to do and I started freaking out... Garrett wasn't home and Abby was just playing in the living room area right by where I was. Anyway, I know you're supposed to put baking soda on a grease fire, but the baking soda is right next to the stove and I didn't want to go near there! And I couldn't turn the burner off because the burners are on the back of the stove. I grabbed Abby and started running to the neighbors' house for help, but their car was gone! So... I called 911 and told them what was going on but I was totally flipping out... it's so embarrassing to think about now. But I was so scared! Finally the fire trucks came. Not one, not two, not three, but FOUR firetrucks! I was out in the driveway waiting for them, so in all honesty I have no idea if the fire was even still blazing by the time they got here, but I think it was. Anyway, the kitchen cabinets above and around the stove are ruined, and so is the fan and light above the stove (thank goodness the fan wasn't going). The ceiling also has to be redone because it's all black, and pretty much all the rooms in our house have to be repainted because of the smoke damage (there was so much smoke!). Everything in our house had a layer of soot and ash on it, and it smelled bad too. So, yeah, this has not been fun! Wednesday morning an estimator came by and assessed the damage, then a cleaning service came to clean the entire house (it was such a hassle living in the soot and ashes, so getting a cleaning servicse for the entire house was great!) I mean, this is all just so awful, but I will not mind a new coat of paint throughout the house (insurance company will pay for all this). Thankfully the estimator said that they could probably match the cabinets, so that's good. I mean, it would have been nice to get new cabinets, but what a hassle that would be! And I don't mind my cabinets too much anyway.

But now I'm really paranoid to cook anything at all ever again! But that's ok because from the looks of things, I won't even be ABLE to cook for a while! I will say that I am crossing my fingers for a new stove, though... that would be great! Anyway, I'm just glad everything wasn't a lot worse. It could have been truly awful... instead, it's just a big hassle. And it's funny because for MONTHS I have been meaning to go out and buy a fire extinguisher... now I really will! And for anyone else looking to buy one, I recommend the "ABC" ones... they are good for any kind of fire, including grease and oil fires.