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So....remember when I vented a couple weeks ago


uppitycats

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...about our friends, who are building their house, and who keep dropping in unexpectedly, expecting to be "fed and watered" while they deal with their house construction?

Well, they came again yesterday. Visit started out ok -- they came with sub sanwiches for them and us. Then we bought broasted chicken for everyone for dinner. They made their own breakfast (they usually do. I don't find my way into the kitchen until after 10 a.m. -- I'm up way early, just can't bear looking at food until 10 or so..). For lunch I made a macaroni casserole. So far so good.

So what's the problem, you ask?

Well. My husband has been dealing with an infected tooth for the last several weeks. He's scheduled for oral surgery next Wednesday...

but of course, this being Friday afternoon, Friday of a long holiday weekend -- the tooth decided to flare up, causing him all SORTS of grief.

I was planning to cook fresh-caught fish for dinner. It was clear that wasn't gonna happen -- we were on the phone to the oral surgeon, our dentist, the pharmacy, having to travel in to the oral surgeon (45 minutes away), etc. And my poor husband in serious pain.

So my friend says, "That's OK...just set out the stuff you use for your fish batter, we really like that. And I can cook dinner for us!" Great! So I laid out the recipe and all the ingredients, then tended to my husband.

We got back around 5 p.m. from our round of dentist/oral surgeon/pharmacy, my husband still in pain but at least "drugged up" with antibiotics, pain pills, and an ice pack...

to find them frantically cleaning our kitchen, she wailing, her husband just busy scrubbing. There was a small disaster. She put the plastic container of shortening on top of a burner! on the electric stove...then turned on the burner...obviously the WRONG burner, expecting to turn on the burner under the fry pan, not the shortening. Which of course first heated up, then melted, then burst into flame.

Where was she while this was happening? "I hadda go to the bathroom!" Thank heavens for smoke alarms.

Very fortunately nothing was damaged. Lots of nasty smell of burning plastic, lots of grease EVERYWHERE. Fish not cooked. Potatoes boiled over in another pan because they were forgotten in all the excitement.

My husband and I retreated to our bedroom where he could lie down, and I could shut the door away from all the chaos. This was at 5 o'clock. They just now finished cleaning up everything, putting it all back to "normal".

I had offered to buy shrimp dinners for everyone...and knew we'd be home about 5 p.m....could all have eaten, been DONE with it. But NOOOOOO!!!!! Instead, we burn down my kitchen!! (Well, not exactly. Obviously it could have been MUCH worse.)

They now went off to check on their house "and take a walk after our frantic evening". My husband and I snuck out to the kitchen to get something to eat..some soft macaroni casserole for him, some cheese and crackers for me.

Now, she knows my kitchen. She does cook breakfast every time they come -- she HAS to have a fried egg in the morning...so it's not like she's not familiar with my stove.

Anyway. Accidents happen. But THAT's why I whine when they come, and buy meals OUT. So I don't have to DEAL with this mess.

The GOOD news...been real busy with my Washington. Papered 3 of the four rooms yesterday (getting around the staircases is a real challenge, once they're in place!) and papered the fourth room this morning, and cut out all the windows and doors of the 3 rooms I did yesterday (I just paper over them, then cut them out when the paper is firm). I was rolling right along...until the tooth incident...and the travels...and the messed up kitchen.

Think I'm gonna call it a night, now. :)

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Wow, it sure could have been worse but Sheesh Ann, That is bad enough :) !! I hope you guys remain friends after all of this. How long before their house is finished?

Tell your husband that I hope he feels better soon! Those teeth can cause some real pain for sure. You take it easy too & I can't wait to see pictures of the Washington. :)

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oh my goodness, what an evening. you are a very good friend to be so kind to them. i would have raised holy cane if that had happened in my house. I would be so angry, but i have like no patience for other people in my house. i like "my space".

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I have lived in my house for 20 years and have had the same stove. Recently while making breakfast for the birds, giving the dogs their various meds and answering the phone which was ringing nonstop one call after another - I turned on the wrong burner and lit my polished (and laquered) copper tea pot on fire. No serious damage was done, but the house sure did smell.

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Oh, Ann ... I hope the tooth has been subdued and Ralph is resting comfortably, and that the smell is dissipating so you can rest well, too.

Is it still near enough to the full moon to blame it on the cosmos? :)

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Oh, Ann, I'm feelin' for you dear!! It's hard enough having company, never mind them almost burning down your house . . . accident or not! You must be really good friends, because the only one I'd let burn down my house would be my best friend 'Bernie'. LOL!!

Sorry to hear about Ralph's tooth! Hope he's doing better soon, although I'm sure that won't be until some time after the surgery. Thank goodness for drugs!

Take it easy and I hope you'll be able to keep your sanity . . . isn't that why WE build dollhouses?

BTW, I'd freak if something like that burned in my house . . . it would most likely kill my birds! :)

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Ann, I hope Ralph is feeling better! And I hope you are no longer as stressed as you sounded. My gosh, the woman sounds like a disaster.....but as you said, accidents do happen...... I'm sure she and her hubby feel just terrible about the whole ordeal.

Get some rest, work on minis and try to calm down.

Hugs,

Wolfie

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Wow, you must be the best friend ever!! I cannot imagine having that happen. I hope your husband is feeling better soon. And I hope their house is finished soon so they can have you over for many meals.

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Good Lord Anne...I hope your friends realize what a good friend they have in you...I don't think that I could have been very nice to someone who almost burned my house down...let alone be a good neighbor to them...At least they took care of the cleanup and didn't leave it for you...I am hoping that your husband is feeling better...Toothaches are the worst...411, in case of emergency tooth pains due to infection, rinse with Hydrogen Peroxide, followed by a Listerine rinse...every couple of hours...works like a charm until you can get to a dentist...

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Breathe in Breathe out..

How far along is the construction process? LOL

Sorry for the kitchen disaster. Yes it could have been much worse. But it wasnt, except for the smell. How many of US have done something like that? And to do it in your friends house must have been equally embarrassing.

Hope hubby`s surgery goes okay..take it ez!

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My biggest kitchen boo boo was to leave an aerosol can of oven cleaner on top of the stove with the oven on. Luckily, no one was in the kitchen when it exploded, spewing acidic cleaner and shrapnel all over or it could have been a real disaster. It's interesting what the cleaner will do to various surfaces.

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Everything's back to normal...they left! :)

They did a good job of cleaning up everything. The wife was too embarrassed to even say anything about it, and we just acted as if it was normal to come home to find grease spread about the kitchen :) As I said, we retreated to our bedroom, and I didn't know this, but my husband saw that the husband -- who did all the cleaning up -- was also the one who ended up cooking dinner, and then breakfast the next morning. I think she was too scared to get near the stove again...

and then they packed up and left, mumbling about having to get back home to do laundry. And so they're gone.

I'm sure they'll be back by next week. Guess I'll have to do some meal planning and make sure there is stuff here that doesn't need THEIR attention! :)

I gave Washington's inside windows their first coat of paint yesterday. I'll give them a second coat this morning, and by noon should be able to install them. Then I'll take some in-progress pics for y'all. :wave:

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I'm glad that they've left you to some peace and quiet, but then again you said it all..."they'll be back." If I were in your shoes I would get some small fire extinguishers and place them about the kitchen and teach everyone how to use them. By the time you find your regular fire extinguisher the fire would have spread about 10 feet in each direction...it's best to keep one hanging near to the stove for these types of emergencies. They have them for grease fires now too.

Accidents do happen yes, but you can be prepared too.

Wolfie who has one on the counter of the island close to the stove......

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Yes, well, we actually DO have two small fire extinguishers right on the counter next to the stove, right in front where they can be seen and grabbed. Having had one house burn down around us (not a kitchen fire...and not our fault...a gas water heater's pilot light went out, gas built up, the back end of the house exploded...)

where was I. Oh yes. Fire extinguishers. Since another house of ours burned down some 22 years ago, we've been REAL sensitive about fires and fire prevention, so have those two handy, lots of smoke alarms, other fire extinguishers where they seem they might be needed (like in the attached garage, and near the water heater -- see above!).

It's just that..she panicked...and instead of just sweeping the plastic cannister off the stove, she screamed for her husband. He came running upstairs (he was in the bsement) but by that time the cannister was flaming. I don't quite know HOW they put it out...nothing is scorched, and now spotlessly cleaned! :p ... so all is well.

Anyway. Ended up going out for a drive this afternoon, so didn't get as far on the Washington as I had hoped. Ric the Archaeologist is just going to have to wait another few days.. :p

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These must be really long-time friends. I don't know of anyone who would put up with this even if it meant ending the friendship. I have let a friendship go over the years for much less. But then I'm really not very good in the tolerance department. I hope things get better for you soon and everything gets back to normal.

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