Come on baby light my fire

Our neighbor on the left is a single mom. We'll call her Sammi (only because I haven't asked her permission to use her name and I don't want her to be embarrassed if she ever meets you guys) and her daughter is Chloe. Sammi is a working mom - she is a dentist (that isn't made up), and is as cute as a button - maybe 5' 1", blonde hair, pretty smile (obviously) and so sweet. I think, though, she may be a little bit of an airhead.

She and Chloe moved in about 4 months ago, and within the first week, Sammi almost caught her house on fire.

I was finishing up the dishes after dinner-- Carl decided to go outside and turn on the sprinkler. Within a second or two he was back in the house saying "Honey, come out here. I think I hear an alarm or something." We walked out the front door and saw smoke billowing from Sammi's house! Needless to say it scared us to death! I went running around the side of the house while he went to the front door. Her kitchen window faces our house -- it was wide open with smoke coming out of it. As I rounded the back of her house I saw Sammi on the phone and she was holding Chloe. I asked if she was OK and she said "Yeah - I think I almost burned my house down!" Duh!

We met her out front to wait on the fire department. She said that in her old apartment the oven was electric - these are gas. In her old place she used the broiler to hold her pot holders and muffin tins. Well, she did that here, too. It seems that her gas broiler was more than happy to catch her pot holders on fire when she turned the oven on! She was laughing when she said "The one time I decide to cook Chloe a healthy dinner and I almost make us homeless!"

She took it all in stride, but what cracked me up were all the neighbors. The minute you hear sirens, especially in a new neighborhood, you have to find out what is going on. We had folks come out of the wood work. The all walked to our street to see what was happening. It was funny -- people in shorts and on cell phones all gawking at us standing in our driveways.

What does Sammi say? "Hi, ya'll! I'm your new neighbor! Want to come over and grill sometime?!" She'll fit right in. :)