First: Praise the Lord, the KTbunch is well & unharmed.
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I had a VERY restless night Sat. I was up all night as an insomniac! I even kept praying for God to show me whatever HE wanted to show me so that I could get to sleep!LOL
My H had to work Sunday so he finally got up after the alarm going off for what seemed forever. WHen he got out of the shower, he smelled something 'odd'. He went into the living room to check it out & to iron his clothes for work.(yes he does his own ironing! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="images/icons/grin.gif" /> )
HE opened the hallway door (I ALWAYS keep it shut) & was blasted w/ a wall of smoke. IT was like black/brown fog & he couldn't see anything.
I was still in bed & heard him start calling for me. It had been rainy & stormy all night (& for the past week) so I thought....."oh no...did it flood into the living room or something?" THen I thought, "he better NOT be waking me up just to show me the water is up to the curb or something! arghh!"
But I quickly got up, hearing he urgency in his voice. I was soon welcomed into the smoke filled room. I saw the flames on top of the piano. I woke up groggy but it was as if a switch was flipped & IMMEDITATELY I was clear headed, wide awake & in gear!
There was a chair in front of the piano. I climbed on it & started to remove everything from the top of the piano so that the flames could not spread.
H was asking, "what should I do? What do I do?" I responded: "There is a fire extinguisher in...there is a fire extinguisher in the dog's room." He said, "No, no, I 'll get some water, we need water."
I said, "No, there's baking soda in the bathroom, I'll get it." I hopped down & got it really fast & then dumped it out on the flames.(it was started from a candle so I thought w/ wax, maybe we should not add water to it, either way...) IT was out immediately. Then we quickly opened up the door & the back door to let all the smoke out & close the hallway door again to try to contain the smoke...a little late but it still helped.
WE live in an old house so I could not get the windows open. THey stick severly when the weather changes. Now that the major danger was averted & the frustration w/ the windows...I began to melt into all the 'what COULD have happeneds'....& broke down..wondering how I was gonna clean up all this mess, how stupid I was to leave that candle on...how STUPID, STUPID, STUPID! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Embarrassed]" src="images/icons/blush.gif" /> <img border="0" title="" alt="[Confused]" src="images/icons/confused.gif" /> <img border="0" alt="[Teary]" title="" src="graemlins/teary.gif" />
Everything was black & covered in a sticky black layer of ash & soot.
EVERYTHING My face was dirty, my hands & feet, inside my nose, dirty black foot prints all over the kitchen & bathroom floors & fixtures.
H was now running late so he quickly cleaned up & got going. I was focused on getting the ktbunch out of the house (2 out of 3 w/ asthma). I got them dressed as quickly as I could (momma why do I have to put my pants on OVER my pajamas? Just do IT--NOW!)
I took them to my parents & came back later w/ my SIl & brothers to try & clean up as best as we could. IT was nasty.
There is a HOLE burned into the piano, & it's all black around the edges of it (wierd!). The room still smells toxic. The walls are impossible to clean--we tried-it looks like some sort of faux finish gone really, really, bad-(what? you don't like the FOG look? LOL)
We are renters-no I don't think we will tell the landlords. We suspect that the toxic smell can be taken care of by removing the piano & painting the entire living room. There wasn't much furniture & it was old & leather so it cleaned up ok. THE luvseat had a slipcover which was easy to remove & throw in the washer.
Not sure about all our coats & jackets on the coat rack, I'm gonna try to just throw them all in the washer today.
I was exhausted (mentally & emotionally) by the end of the day & slept pretty good last night.
I am feeling a bit depressed. I shouldn't considering EVERYTHING I have to be thankful for. I feel stupid for leaving the candle on-my fault-I KNOW better, I know, I know!
Above the piano are the most darling framed pics of the ktbunch & none of them got burned or anything, just smoked & all the pics on the piano as well. THings that were important to
me, God was gracious enough to spare.
No serious damage anywhere. Just the smell & the horrid looking walls.
But I gotta say-if you're gonna have a fire-just let the whole thing burn becuase it is impossible to CLEAN! IT's crazy.
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I have soo much to be thankful for today & everyday. WE ALL do-ANYTHING can happen-@ ANY time! You just never KNOW!
Another crisis averted & another story to add to my collection of ktchronicles!xoxoxoxoxoxox
kt
