Campfire on the Carpet

Every six months or so, I have one child, my 5 year old, that is involved in some sort of accident. Most of the time Mr. Chris ends up in the ER with a cast or stitches. This time we stayed home, but his heart was still pounding!

I was upstairs putting away groceries. Chris was downstairs playing. He decided that he was going to hide a paper fortune cookie (origami paper fortune teller) in the wall light to keep his sister from finding it. Yes, the light was on!

As I was putting the milk away I heard, "FIRE, FIRE, MOOOOOOOOOOOM, FIRE!" I dashed to the stairs and immediately saw and smoke. I pause to tell you that we are staying at my in-laws for a few weeks while we do some work on our house. I have been a bit fussy (ok anal retentive)about everything- eating and drinking only in the kitchen, toys get put away, no crayons or markers or playdoh downstairs, clothes picked up etc. So, the smoke and fire sent me into a panic.

I leaped down the stairs to almost the bottom to a nice pile of burning paper on the steps. I put the fire out and to my amazement Chris was distraught because I had used his favorite notebook to smother it!

I wanted to ask, "What were you thinking?" but instead muttered up, " Are you ok? Did that scare you? Where did you find fire?" After some discussion I mustered up the energy to get the wet/ dry vac and suck the ashes up and then drag out the carpet scrubber and rinse, rinse and rinse again the carpet. After about 10 rinses and a bit of cleaner, it was looking a bit better.


But I have a bit more cleaning to do! Perhaps even a haircut to get rid of the melted strands.

Needless to say, the smell of campfire has invaded my in-laws home. I chuckled to myself and thought... I wonder if there are any marshmallows and chocolate bars around. The greatest challenge to the whole situation is telling my in-laws. They are gone for a few more weeks so I may have a bit of time to get the carpet looking even better. Maybe they won't notice? Then I took quick glimpse, I decided they had to to be told. Perhaps, the 5 year old should break the news. You can't get upset at him, right? And after all they did survive raising my husband who can be "accident" prone and very curious and spontaneous..... Hmmmm. Yes, Chris will break the news!
Now to find the chocolate!