A "Heated" Situation

True Story:

I am standing in the kitchen this afternoon making spaghetti while Nate is sitting on the couch watching the semifinals of the US Open. I hadn't known before yesterday that Nate was such a large fan of Andre Agassi...he has been glued to the TV every match the man has played in the last 62 hours. Anyway, I'm just standing at the stove, stirring the spaghetti sauce when I hear Nate say, "Oh, no!" He has been making statements like this repeatedly since turning the TV on, so I am not really concerned. Thinking he is probably referring to a missed serve or a sacrificed shot, I calmly turn around to look at the TV. It is then that I realize our coffee table is on fire. Yes, on fire. Flames are shooting forth from the coffee table in all directions.

I should explain that Nate and I are going backpacking up and around Harney Peak this weekend, and we spent the better part of today getting our stuff packed, meals figured out and all kinds of other details worked out. One of those details included making sure our Whisperlite single-burner stove was in proper working order. Of course this couldn't be done outside--THE TENNIS GAME WAS ON TV! So my husband had decided to test it out on our definitely-not-fire-proof coffee table instead. Genius. I just stood there with the most incredulous look on my face...I could not believe what I was seeing! I was half in shock that there were flames in my living room and half dumbfounded that Nate would actually light a fire inside. !??!?!!??!?!

Not to worry, the coffee table is fine; the only evidence of the episode is slightly shorter fringes on one side of the coffee table covering. But let this be a lesson to all wives: hide the matches and make sure you know what they are being used for (and where!) before you hand them over. :)