Holy SMOKES!

UHHH OHHHHHH.......
Yesterday Kaden was being the little mischief maker that he is and was reaching for a large, three wick candle I had burning. I blew out the candle and set it on our gas log fireplace, out of his reach. I made a mental note to move it back as soon as it had cooled. Then, we got busy and ran out the door to run some errands and go to my dad's Christmas concert. When we got home we heard a beeping...yes, coming from inside of OUR house. I had no clue why the alarm would be going off, so I went to check it out. The house absolutely REAKED and was so smoky I couldn't breathe or see anything. I ran through the house opening doors and windows and starting fans. I was calling our kitty Isabel over and over and just knew she couldn't have survived. I didn't want to go looking for her, for fear of what I would find. I remembered her hiding place in the hole in our box spring mattress. I found her there, barely breathing and took her to our car. We stayed at my parents house last night, and this morning my mom took Isabel to the vet. I feel SO awful that I caused pain to a little animal. I hope that she is alright. I couldn't stand being in there for more than a minute at a time....so I know it had to have been awful for her.

So....now we have a layer of wax residue on all of our things, and a house that smells horrible. My dear mom and her friend are busy cleaning and scrubbing...it is going to be a LOT of work. I will get someone to watch Kaden tomorrow and head down to help. My Dad went down last night really late to get things squared away for us, since leaving the doors open would freeze our house, which could be an even bigger problem. It is such a mess, but we are so blessed. My dad says that the vapor from the wax SHOULD have combusted with the pilot in the water heater and exploded! Thankfully, there was so fire. I am always SO careful with candles, the stove, etc. but I guess sometimes I just have too much to think about, and something gets forgotten. Lesson learned......