I mentioned in my post yesterday that my parents cooked at my house when my step-cousin visited because they wanted the food to be edible. It wasn't an exaggeration. Let me tell you about my latest adventure in the kitchen.
Yesterday afternoon, I started the dishwasher and looked inside the oven. There were some spatters of grease from the steaks my parents had broiled the day before and I didn't like that. This was my nice, brand new oven and I wanted it immaculate again, so I hit the button for the self cleaning feature and went to the living room to work on the computer. To set the stage, my kitchen, dining room, living room and foyer are all one big room with a vaulted ceiling. As I'm sitting there, I smell something. I shrug it off. It's probably burning the grease off the interior of the oven, not a big deal. I go back to work.
I'm not sure how much later it was, but I start thinking, wow, it really smells smoky in here. But I don't look up from the laptop.
Finally, even I couldn't ignore it any longer. It really stinks and there wasn't that much grease in the oven. I look over, and hanging like a haze in my great room area is smoke. Lots and lots of white smoke. My eyes widen. I look up at the smoke detector. The last thing I want is that going off. I put down the laptop and scurry for the oven and stop the cleaning feature. It begins its cool down procedure, but the smoke is still thick. Yikes!
I run for the windows and start opening them wide. It's 29 degrees outside with a frigid wind, but I had to get rid of that smoke somehow and I'm dreading the screech of the smoke detector. All my room fans are at my parents' house because I didn't think I'd need them now that I have a home with central air. I run and flip on the vent fans in the laundry room and the guest bathroom, although I don't think it'll do any good since they're both enclosed rooms and the smoke is mostly in the great room area.
The smoke doesn't seem to be dissipating too quickly, but the house sure got cold in a heartbeat. I don't know how long I tried to tough it out on the couch, but I finally moved myself and the laptop into the bedroom where it was warmer.
I can still smell the smoke this morning, although it's much less than it was last night. They build these new houses so tight now, that I think I'm going to need to open the windows again today to try and get some of the stink out. Sigh. It's 37 degrees.
Lesson: Don't let me near an oven, even when it doesn't involve actual cooking.
