I am blessed with two very cool and awfully nice kids. People LOVE them. They are smart and love to learn. They are kind and generous to each other, their family and friends and even strangers. They love to be silly. They bring me joy every day. Which is much better than bringing the fire department.
Sara has a friend over for a long weekends sleepover, now that school is out. They've been having a ball. We live so far away from both kids core group of friends that they have been lonely for their buddies. So the girls decided at my bedtime last night to make cupcakes. From a box, the white cake with confetti kind. Yummy sugar high in a little paper cup, covered in frosting and sprinkles.
They asked permission and seemed to have cleaned the kitchen properly after their little gigglefest. I'm sure batter was eaten straight from the bowl. I hope they had a great time.
One little problem... the GAS STOVE was left on all night.
Now, we live in a smaller house (900 sf upstairs and a couple hundred sf more in the basement where my son has his Man Cave/bedroom) and it would not have taken long for the pilot light to go out and for us to get sick from the fumes or for a spark (say the hot water heater pilot lighting) to torch the place.
Yes, slightly over dramatic, I'm sure, but Sara is notorious for leaving things on when she's done (as am I - but it was different with an electric oven). At least it wasn't a burner, where the flame is more easily blown out, allowing gas into the entire house.
So now I sit here wondering if I should punish, create a stern lecture (OK, that's kind of funny to write. I'm hardly ever stern) or just ignore with a subtle "um, remember to turn the stove off when you're finished". It wasn't intentional, she knows she's supposed to turn off the oven, she just forgot - but bad things can happen when you forget little things some times. She also just cost me, on my very small budget, about 9 hours worth of natural gas.
Anyone out there have a good story about how you were reminded gently of a safety issue and it worked well? Or, do you have kids or grand kids or others in your life that you are molding into people that can go out into the world and survive without you to turn off the gas? Because I'm getting ready to release these to into the wild and I don't want to have to call every night and say "is the oven off?" That would be MY mother...
Wow, those look yummy. Can you put a note on the stove? Or whenever she cooks she should write herself a note before cooking...
ReplyDeleteI have no wisdom to impart but am glad A) you were safe and B) you got the opportunity to consume such tasty looking delights
ReplyDeleteWhat my parents had to do to me??? At 13 I synthesized TNT (cause nitro was way too sensitive) and my first batch was tested (unsuccessfully) under a row of boxwood scrubs, they lost a lot of leaves in the resulting fire. My parents did not know I was so into chemistry (they had an inkling, but not much). I did not want to tell them I failed so I said something about the charcoal grill falling over. they always watched me about the grill from that point on and told me to be real careful. if they had known, then probably would have been surprised
ReplyDeleteAgree with Darth! I don't have any nice parental stories, because mine tend to overvalue goods. But my ex's son broke a snowglobe of mine and was totally worried that I would be upset - and he was thrilled when I told him I was just glad he was OK.
ReplyDeleteGosh I just didn't want to think of the extreme but I suppose I will have a one-to-one talk and explain the seriousness of this. I think she'll understand and be extra careful.
ReplyDeleteOr...how about putting up a small little note next to the stove - Remember to turn off after use :D
Nice cupcakes :)
Oh yes - a suggestion just came to mind - you could casually mention that my ex-boyfriend knew someone whose house burned down while he was making macaroni and cheese! Stop laughing, it's true! He, too, forgot to turn the burner off.
ReplyDeleteI am also married to someone who forgets to turn the burner off - so he turns on the over-the-stove light every time he cooks, and turns the light off when he turns the burner off.
Nice cakes. I'm always the last one to go to bed at night so I always check that everything is turned off. Except for the dishwasher that is turned on, and me of course. :D OOps sorry.
ReplyDeleteI'd just casually mention it. And, eat a cupcake!
ReplyDeleteI ended up casually mentioning it and eating a cupcake AND going with Riot Kitty's idea of leaving a light on. In this case, the fan, since we only have one kitchen light.
ReplyDeleteThanks! And whitemist - TNT?!?!?! I knew boys loike you when I was younger!