Before we even moved into our newly built home three and a half months ago, Andrea and I made a list of things we NEEDED to have and things we WANTED to have. One of the things at the top of the list of “need to have” was a fire extinguisher. So, the first week we moved in, I bought one for the kitchen that was designed for grease and electrical fires along with a larger one in the garage. At the same time, I convinced Andrea that we no longer needed her ugly toaster oven that she was so in love with and that we could finally use our beautiful stainless steel toaster we had received as a wedding gift.

Now, when you buy a fire extinguisher you never think you’ll actually have to use one. However, when you’re buying said extinguisher, you probably aren’t thinking that someone (who shall remain nameless) will attempt to toast a tostada shell in the beautiful stainless steel toaster and then forget about it.

Andrea and I both were sprinters in college. However, it could be debated that we never moved as fast as we did tonight when we heard a small explosion and looked into the kitchen to see the beautiful stainless steel toaster spewing flames that were reaching our brand new, upgraded cabinets. As we sprinted into the kitchen, Andrea ran straight for the toaster while I ran straight for the extinguisher. She moved the burning toaster to the island in the middle of the kitchen in time for me to blast it with the fire extinguisher. Crisis averted.

Once we cleaned up all of the powdery residue and threw away our beautiful stainless steel toaster and had finally calmed down enough to relax on the couch, Andrea turned to me and said, “This wouldn’t have happened if I had my toaster oven.”