Superbowl Sunday: The Blow Up (and Menu Plan)

Thirteen days ago I blogged about a middle of the night wake up call at our house. A week or so ago as I was browsing my blog reader I came across this post over at YoungHouseLove and I thought, how timely.  I cannot stress how ill-prepared we were before our wake up call. We didn't even have a fire extinguisher for the kitchen!  Thank goodness we rectified that situation before yesterday...

So, duh, it was Superbowl Sunday yesterday and we were keeping it low key. Jim wanted to enjoy the game at home in front of his own TV. My mom had to work until right before game time, so we invited my parents over to have some grub and catch the game.  Jim was craving chicken wings and because of our money saving efforts we nixed the idea of spending $50 or more on a few buckets of wings from somewhere and decided to make them ourselves. Well, Jim decided to make wings...I was in charge of the "nachos supremos" (and they were delish, by the way).  So when Jim got the bright idea to use my big pot with the colander insert to deep fry the wings, he only met mild protests from me.  I'm not sure it will work I said, that colander isn't made for deep frying, but I let him go. My husband is usually a master of common sense (compared to me, anyway) and I figured he had everything under control. He's deep fried wings before so I figured he could handle things without me butting in--besides I was too busy jockeying for counter position and the ideal burner to use for my nacho making duties. 

There were a few tip-offs that things were not going to go as smoothly as anticipated. First the wings hadn't completely thawed. We had taken them out earlier in the day but they were still slightly frozen.  The second tip-off was when Jim asked if we had any more vegetable oil in the house. This was after he had already used the two large bottles that I had in the pantry. Absentmindedly, I pointed out an almost full bottle in the lazy susan. My dad stepped in with a cautionary comment about too much oil...but I think Jim was preoccupied with the idea of cooking boat loads of wings at once El fry cook style to heed the warning. The next tip-off was Christina Aguilera botching the words to the national anthem...come on girl you are a professional! I was too busy critiquing, to notice Jim stuffing the basket with too many wings.  He was getting nervous as pre-game festivities were winding down and the game was about to begin and the wings were not yet frying. His master plan had him plopping in front of the TV with a plate of hot crispy wings before kickoff.

I think you all can see where this is going...but if not, let me paint the picture further.  Wings with stray ice crystals clinging in a colander not made for frying.  Gallons of bubbling oil.  Too many cooks in the kitchen. Game clock about to start ticking. Wing cravings messing with the calibration of the common sense meter. Down goes the wing pot. Ice and hot oil react. Pot bubbles over. Three foot flames come shooting out of my kitchen!  Jim tries to blow out flames with slightly more force than blowing out candles on a birthday cake. The flames do go out for a second but then reignite!  Exhaust fan is on fire.  Hot oil is on the floor. Someone grabs the fire extinguisher (I think it was Jim but he doesn't remember doing it). And the fire is out!  But  not before a three foot layer of smoke clings to our ceiling.  Jim spent the entire first quarter cleaning and airing out the kitchen and living room. I suggested we try baking the wings, but he was so disgusted with his temporary lack of common sense that he tossed the whole bag.  I didn't give him much grief, just sent up a silent Thank You that it wasn't me and that the only damage to be seen was a small singe mark on the stove. The floor is still a little greasy this morning but at least my kitchen is in tact and we didn't have to evacuate the house. The girls had been watching TV in the office and didn't have any idea what had happened...The smoke detectors work though.  I urge you once again to get prepared for a fire if you are not. You never know. I am so relieved that we had the fire extinguisher on hand...two weeks ago we would have been not so lucky I think.

So I had to share that story, much to my husband's chagrin. But I also want to share my menu plan for the week.

Thanks for visiting from I'm an Organizing Junkie! And head on over there if you would like to check out more weekly menus!

Here's mine:

Monday: Chicken Teriyaki and Fried Rice (since we had Superbowl food minus wings, this meal got pushed)
Tuesday: Meat Pies, Green Beans, and some other side--I haven't decided
Wednesday: Hot Sausage hoagies, Corn, Potatoes
Thursday: Grilled Chicken Salad, Fresh Bread
Friday: Crab Soup, Biscuits, Spinach Salad
Saturday: Date Night--we are going to Atria's...the kids will probably have frozen pizza's
Sunday: Chicken Parmesan, Pasta, and Salad

I realize we are having salad a lot this week...but we've gotta get those veggies in and salad dressings can be so varied that it's hard to get sick of salad. 

Have a great week everybody!

In the Middle of the Night

In the wee hours of Monday morning, I was ripped from sleep by the sound of our smoke detectors going off.  We have the kind that are wired together so that when one goes off, they all do.  It was loud, ear piercing, and alarming (which I suppose is the point!). My first thought was "Oh, S#!T! Jim has left for work already!" He wasn't in bed next to me.  I didn't smell smoke, feel heat, or see flames. What should I do? How do I turn these alarms off? Where are my kids? What should I do first? All of this ran through my head in the split second it took me to leap from my bed and out towards the girls' rooms.  Instantaneously, Jordan appeared from her bedroom with Ava close behind. Both were covering their ears. I could see a look in Ava's eyes that said "Mommy, my worst nightmare is coming true!" and Jordan was shouting "Everyone get up! There's a fire!"

Jim was there in a flash.  There was no fire, but one of the detectors was malfunctioning and he had to figure out which one. For about 30 seconds the girls and I stood there, adrenaline pumping, while Jim  ran from place to place trying to find the culprit. The basement smoke detector had gone bad. He ripped it out and the sound was gone as quickly as it had started.  I looked into the babies' room. I was standing outside the door. Livi was still in bed, awake and looking at me.  Chloe was sleeping! Jim and I herded the older girls back to their room telling them that there was nothing to be scared of, that it was a false alarm but that they had done the right thing by getting out of bed and coming to wake us.

I went back to bed. But I couldn't go back to sleep. Blood was still quickly pulsing through my veins and my mind could not shut down.  What if this had been an actual fire?  What if Jim had been off to work already?  What if my front door was engulfed in flames? How would we escape this house?  My older girls had woken up right away, left their room to come and find me, but the little ones did not know what was going on, had not moved from their beds. The baby had not even woken up at all! They would be dependent on me to get them and get them out of here and how would I do it? 

We all sleep on the second floor. There are no overhangs to jump onto.  If we had to jump, I guess we would jump from Jordan and Ava's room because that's the highest point in our yard, the lowest jumping point,  and we would be jumping out onto grass.  It was three degrees last night!  Would I grab blankets? Shoes? Or throw my children from the window in thin nightgowns and bare feet?  Would they jump? Would I jump first and try to catch them? Would we all jump together? And what about Kingston? I hadn't even given our beloved pet a thought! He is crated at night and would be trapped on the first floor.

We are unprepared. Plain and simple.  Jim got all new smoke detectors today and hooked them up after work. He bought a small fire extinguisher for the kitchen. I am going to find those ladders that attach to the windows and buy them.

I have thought about what might happen if our house caught fire. I have never made a plan.  This is a mistake. I am grateful for a malfunctioning smoke detector. 

Do you have a plan?