Get out now!

Yep.  Those were the words I heard right after Jared got home the other night.  His voice was full of worry, so I listened.  "The house is full of gas--get the kids now."  We got J out of bed, Jared carried a sleeping Lila and I had the wild one already in my arms. 

We got out to the curb and Jared told us that when he pulled in the garage he was hit with the strong smell of gas. When we walked in the house, he said it almost knocked him down and was hazy everywhere.  Then he saw one of the burner knobs was on...

How long had it been on?  Let's back up 3 hours.  I had been cooking dinner--meatloaf, mashed potatoes and green beans.  The kids were especially wacky.  Let's keep that in mind!  During dinner, Cameron got completely nude and shimmied up into my lap.  I was trying to eat fast before she peed on me.  Then the wheels really started falling off when Jackson began yaking at the table.  Was he sick?  Nope.  Just got a hold of "one of those white things."  A diced onion?  Yep--which caused him to throw up at least four times.  At. the. table. 

So is it really any wonder that a burner got left on?  I don't think so!  Turns out it was the little burner that I was using to heat up the ketchup.  It never lit, but I didn't notice it.  I just mixed the brown sugar with the ketchup, then coated the top of the meatloaf and kept going.  All would have been fine except the gas was open without the burner being on.  So no flame.  No burnt pan.  The only sign that something was amiss was my crazy bad headache.  But again, I thought it was just dealing with the kids.  The gas leak was so gradual that none of us ever even smelled it.  That's the scary part.  What if I had lit a candle in the kitchen?  Oh my gosh.

So Jared gets home around 9:20 that night. Smells the gas, evacuates the house and calls the fire department.  They sent three firemen and within minutes were inside our house.  I felt like such a fool and was so embarassed.  How did I let that happen?  They said that although the smell was still very strong inside our house, it was safe to go back in.  We left the windows open a few more hours, the kids went to sleep and my headache finally went away. 

Thank goodness for Jared!  Our protector saved the day!