Monday, November 16, 2009

Fire In The Hole!!! (of my oven)

Does my kitchen look a little smoky to you?
How about my living room?
I was chatting with my daughter on IM tonight. I told her I needed to throw dinner in the oven. She had a long story to tell me so I hopped into the kitchen while she typed.
The oven in this new apartment is VERY old and we discovered the wonkiness of the thermostat when I burned a pan of brownies to a crisp in 20 minutes.
I knew I wanted to cook the pork chops at 425 degrees. So this is the number I had previously, randomly twirled up on the knob.
Suddenly the apartment was full of smoke!!!
I ran to the oven, pulled open the door and the floor of the oven was on fire!!!
4 inches of flames!!
I threw poor Tigger into the bedroom and shut the door.
I dove into the Cesspool Of Useless Information in the backyard of my brain and saw the post-it note that said "Electrical Fire=NO WATER!!"
So, picture me now, standing in front of the oven, BLOWING OUT the fire.
Whew! That worked. I guess I need to clean the oven tomorrow.
Back to Sorority Girl on IM...
Me: The oven caught on fire. FML.
SG: Well. That makes my news less exciting!
SG: Firefighter Required?
Me: No, I blew out the fire.
SG: ??What?? You blew out the fire lol
Me: I should have taken pictures for my blog!!
SG: You should be worried about the rest of the house burning down.
Me: It's just really smoky and my eyes are burning. I'm going to take pictures
Me: OK, I opened a window and turned on the ceiling fan. First I took pictures!
Me: Now I'm fanning the smoke with a towel.
SG: Go worry about the house and I'll see you tomorrow.



8 comments:

Lover Lady said...

Our oven thermostat is the SAME way. We have to adjust down 25-50 degrees AND shorten the cooking time. One day, one day, a bright shiny new stove will appear with my name on it and we'll live happily ever after. Sigh.

PS, glad you are safe!

Monnik said...

Oh wow! That's crazy! Glad there wasn't any further damage...

Anonymous said...

NO! THank goodness you were home and caught it..."Firefighter required?" That cracks me up.

Cat said...

I think the building management needs to get you a new oven since this one is a proven fire hazard and could easily burn the entire complex down. Feel free to use that sentence when talking to them about it.

Jen on the Edge said...

I'm glad you're okay.

Now I wonder what SG's news was?

velocibadgergirl said...

Holy cow! I think you need a new oven :S

Meg at the Members Lounge said...

I love how you took photos after extinguishing the flames! Quick thinking!

Missy said...

I hope you get a new oven. The fact that nothing got damaged and no one hurt makes it a funny story. I do that too...."Wait! I have to take a photo!" You need a Cafe in Cafe World on FB. I will send you an invite!