IT ONLY TAKES A SPARK TO GET A FIRE GOING

Today was a pretty normal Wednesday or so I thought.

I usually go and get groceries this day and now I have added cleaning up
the house to the list because of our youth services being in our living room.

I went to Wal-Mart and got some great deals on pajamas and shirts for
Kailey.

I get so excited when I find things on sale.

I was able to get her about 30 shirts and capris for $1.00 each that she
will be able to wear next summer. She will be able to wear some of them now with
long sleeves under them.

They also had some cute St. Louis Cardinal jackets for $1.00.

My original plan was to go to Wal-Mart and get groceries and refreshments
for the youth.

I got to Wal-Mart and was sidetracked by all the great sales I found and
ended up not getting the groceries or the refreshments.

I hurried back home as it was starting to rain and rushed inside to start
making sure the house was picked up.

I started going from room to room lighting
candles.

I lit them in the kitchen, the bathroom, the living room and my bedroom, in
that order.

As I was going into the living room I noticed smoke and the smoke
detector started blaring.

I mean blaring. John and I quickly started trying to find out where the
smoke was coming from and couldn't see anything in the bedrooms, so we sent the
kids out of the house until we could get the situation under
control.

When I got to the bathroom I saw it.

Fire was blazing on one of the countertops where
I had just lit a candle.

We have two sets of countertops in the bathroom and one of them has a set
of cabinets above it.

This is the one where the fire
was.

Apparently, the candle was too close to the flower arrangement that was on
the counter and it caught fire.

There was a woven basket next to the arrangement where I keep my makeup bag
and it was on fire too.

I could not believe how quickly the fire
started and how big it was. The cabinets are charred on the bottom and I'm
assuming they would have been the next thing to catch fire, but the smoke detector alerted us quick enough that I
was able to get the water bottle and get the fire out
before they went up in flames.

The arrangement was burnt to death and the basket was burned around the top
of it. Our walls have some kind of tile stuff on them and now there is a burned
place behind where the arrangemet was, so I guess we'll be replacing
that.

We raised all the windows and got the smoke out of the house. You can still
smell it in the bathroom. I'm hoping it will get better.

I am just thankful that we were home and that we have a smoke detector that
actually works.

The strange thing is there is a smoke detector right beside the bathroom in
the laundry room, but the one that went off was down the hall by the bedrooms.
They must be different brands, I'm guessing we need to get another of the good
ones.

Fair warning people, don't leave candles next to anything that is flammable
and definitely don't leave the house with them unattended.

I am so glad that I didn't run over to the church for any reason, which is
what I normally do on Wednesday nights because if I had we probably wouldn't
have a house left standing tonight.

The day was salvaged and I was able to get back to Wal-Mart in time to get
the youth their snacks before everyone got here.

Everyone watch those candles and Christmas lights. This time of year is
prominent for house fires. Be careful.