The Day My House Almost Burned Down

Okay, well maybe it didn't almost burn down, but I'm so thankful that it was only smoke I came home to and not fire!! That, up above, is the culprit of my very long day. I put a pot of water on the stove this morning to boil my Norwex rag. Because it's such tight microfibre, washing it in the washer doesn't get the bacteria and smell out. So you have to boil it to get it clean and fresh smelling. Well normally I only boil it for 3 or 4 minutes. Today, however it ended up boiling for a little bit longer. Like over an hour.

After I put the pot on to boil I took the girls outside (I was babysitting the neighbor girls) to have a snack and play. Then I got a phone call and was distracted. Then we decided to go for a walk to a garage sale that Esther and Josie were having (as a fundraiser for bringing their new babies home from Africa). We spent a while at the garage sale and when it was time to go I really felt that it would be silly to go the long way home (the way we'd come) so I picked a shortcut. Thank the Lord for that. When we got home I went to put our garage sale bag in the house and when I opened the door, black smoke came billowing out. I freaked. Panicked doesn't really begin to describe what I was feeling. I ran around opening doors and windows after I'd removed the pot from the stove. The smoke had filled every corner of our house. It smelled so bad. I can still smell it. I honestly didn't think I'd get the smell out ever. It permeated.

Thankfully I spent the rest of the day cleaning walls and windows and floors and the front of cabinets and airing out drapery and doing laundry. I say thankfully because I was thankful that I had a house standing to clean. Thankful that our house had been spared. Thankful that I listened to the small voice that told me to take the short cut home and save me 25 minutes on my walk. Thankful that the girls behaved so well while I sorted out the whole mess.

Now I'm exhausted and weary from all the hard work and worry that I went through today. I had such a wonderful evening with a whole bunch of friends and it was such a good end to that day. I think I'll sleep good tonight.