Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Vanilla Snowflakes/Please read

Don't you wish that snowflakes were vanilla, yum yum.
While candles make us all warm and cozy, there can be danger.  A few years ago I had been burning a candle that was given to me that had been hand made.  The wax had all melted.  When I blew out the candle the flame went into the wax and exploded.  If you are shaking your head saying that can't happen, it really did.  Wax was everywhere, including my face.  It was all over my clothes and all over the table that the candle was sitting on. Hot wax even went into my eyes.  I was babysitting, of course.  I tried not to panic.  I called my son who had just left my house from picking up his little girls.  He came back to help me.  I was in alot of pain but we didn't know what to do.  I called the baby girl's mom and told here to come pick her up.  Meanwhile while talking to the hubby by phone, we decided to go to my eye doctor.  We called and she said she would wait on us to get there.  She put a contact in the eye that was injured the most.  It acted like a band aide.  I have never even tried contacts.....let me tell you that it really helped.  She had me use burn ointment all around my eyes and face.  The next day we returned early in the morning (son driving, of course).  She called a surgeon who saw me right away.  He took that contact out (ouch ) cleaned the eye and put drops in and the contact back in.  My eye doctor told me that day, if I could live through the pain for a week my eye would heal.  It did.  Yes, I have scars around my face but my eyes healed.  I looked like I had been in a fight for a couple of weeks.  So my dears, please do not blow out candles.  Snuff them out.  Don't let the melted wax build up.  Be careful near the flame.  I once lit a birthday candle and Doodle's one strand of hair caught fire.  I had it out in a second but that was scary.  Hold your children's hair when they blow out candles.  I have already seen pictures the past few days when the flame was way too close to something.  I knew that I needed to post this once again.  You don't want ...........................................................................

30 comments:

Debby said...

Oh my gosh, I had all kinds of trouble posting this. If you see a stray letter here or there I tried to remove, but nothing was working. So I apologize.

Unknown said...

Hi Debby-
good reminder! That had to be awfully scarey. I'm thinking I should only use those electric kind since Silly Scully thinks EVERYTHING is fascinating and wants to play-bat it all-LOL

Debby said...

Tomorrow I will talk about alternatives.

Julia said...

Hi Debby, a timely reminder about the danger of candles.

A few years ago, I was burning a tea candle in a diffuser. You put water on the top and a few drops of scented oil in the water and the little tea candle goes in the bottom. The wax was all melted in the tea candle and all of a sudden the little bit of oil caught fire and a flame went up. Luckily I was right there to snuff it out.

There was another incident when my kids were young and we were in church. I was sitting in the crying room ( as they called it in those days) behind a glass window separating us from where the alter was in front. They had asked the young kids to come and make a circle around the alter and had them hold a thin lit candle. Now I cringe at the sight of kids holding lit candles. They have alternatives now, thanks goodness...

My young daughter wanted to go so I let her while I still had the baby in my arms and a toddler by my side. All of a sudden my daughter's hair went up in a puff of smoke. Luckily, there was a grownup person next to her to quickly pat her on the hair to snuff the flame. They got the kids to extinguish their candles.

A neighbour lost his house and the family barely got out in time when in the dead of winter, a scented candle was left unattended and they went to bed.
The house completely burnt down.

Candles should NEVER BE LEFT LIT UNATTENDED...

JB

Sweet Posy Dreams said...

That's a scary story. I never heard of that happening. Glad your eye healed.

Kimberly said...

thats a scary story!! use SCENTSY....no flame, lead free, soot free.
Like my plug.

Hope your having a good day!

Just Mags said...

Oh, my! Sweet Debby that had to be really painful. I am so happy for you that your eye healed and you were not injured any worse.

Posting this every year would be good because it is a great reminder that we should always be very careful with candles. Hugs

Unknown said...

Oh Debby I'm so sorry that happened to you.i can't imagine how bad that must have hurt. Our eyes r sp sensitive & it's not like you can immobilize it until it healed. I'm so glad it healed...as far as the scars.....they r testimony to trials we have overcome. Can you imagine how scary it was when before lights they put candles in Christmas trees?

Erica of Golden Egg Vintage said...

Oh my gosh you are so lucky that you didn't lose your vision! I'm so sorry that you had to go through that Debby. We LOVE candles around here, and burn them most nights. We have snuffers but they never seem to be around at the moment that you need them.
Thank you for the warning! We better buy a few more snuffers and place them all around the house!
Erica :)

Crystal Rose Cottage said...

Wow Debby! Thanks for that information. That had to be very scary. You would never think that something like that could happen but it can. I am glad you have healed with no repercussions. ~Hugs, Patti

Unknown said...

Hi Debbie, I know this is true because something like this happened to me however, not with this much damage. There was a flame/fire in the jar and the glass broke, the wax got on my hand as I was trying to move away, and I still have the small scar there! I suppose this is why they caution not to leave them burning in a room alone! Thanks for the reminder.
Hugs

Gina said...

Oh my goodness! That's a scary story. I can only imagine how painful it must have been.

~Lavender Dreamer~ said...

That's such good information.I don't light candles as much any more. I use the fake ones and have 4 that stay on for 5 hours in the evenings. That really is scary to think of having the hot wax on your skin or in your eye. I'm glad you wrote this to caution everyone! Sweet hugs! Oh...my boys had a big ladder truck like that, too!

Kelly said...

That is such a good tip! I try to only snuff them out too. I have seen how the wax can splatter. Glad you ended up being ok after that scary incident!

NanaDiana said...

You CANNOT be too careful when it comes to wax and fire. I was melting some wax on the stove (inside a water filled pan) and it caught fire. My 15 year old son was standing there- panicked and ran it to the kitchen sink and caught the curtains on fire. We quickly pulled them down but we did have some fire damage. Scary stuff!

How awful about your eyes. I am glad they are okay. xo Diana

donna said...

Oh my gosh Debby that is so scary. So glad your eyes are ok. I always blow out my candles but after hearing this I will be changing my ways and getting a snuffer.
You have a really cute fireman there.
Hugs
donna

Grandma Yellow Hair said...

Oh Debby what a horrible thing to happen. Thank goodness you did not loose your eye. I had no idea something like this could happen.
No more blowing out candles for me. I need to copy and paste this and send it to everyone on my email list.
I do know that all through school I felt so sorry for a classmate of mine who had burns all over her body and especially the face where the pumpkin she carried at Halloween caught her costume on fire.
Love this picture of Mr. cozy and his firetruck. Brings back memories seeing pictures like these.
Take care dear friend and thanks for sharing this who knows who will be saved from reading it.
Love ya
Maggie

Gillian Roe said...

Hi Debby,

Thanks for all your kind comments at my blog. I read this post with interest - I honestly had no idea a candle could explode like that. I don't light many candles usually, but at Christmas there will be lots. Thanks for sharing you advice.

Gillian x

Little Susie Home Maker said...

I can understand how scary that was to go through! So glad you went and got medical attention right away. This is such a good thing to know about. Thank you so much for sharing. I am sorry you went through this, but very thankful for your warning! I love the truck and the childhood picture is just is wonderful!
Blessings,
Susie

Little Susie Home Maker said...

And your little fireman is just so cute!!!

Marissa said...

Debby, that was a scary story!!! I always forget to turn mine off. Then when I remember they have very little flame..I recently changed to Lampe Berger Lampe.. I don't know if you have heard of it I love it...I have the lamp and go with different oils not necessarily Lampe Berger. I also like La TeeDa.

Unknown said...

Oh Debby! The glass of the candle was not heatproof. I have heard of this happening with homemade candles. What an ordeal!
Oh my gosh that firetruck is cute with it's trees. Thank you for sharing the vintage photo. It's wonderful.
Warm weekend, yard work! Have a good one. E

At Home in English Valley said...

Dear Debby, I am so sorry that you had that horrible accident. Thank God your vision was spared. I have a healthy fear of candles, and the fireplace too. The holidays just wouldn't be the same without them, so I am very cautious. Like checking a few times to make sure... Have a great weekend my friend. Love,Penny

RURAL said...

Debbi, that's one too many incidents with a burning candle for me. I am so glad to hear that you are OK.

I've had too many run-ins with lit candles, and wax. Now we use the wax candles with the timers in them, they look so real, and I don't have to turn them off and on.

I have a post on them coming up soon because I truly believe that live flame candles are dangerous.

Jen

Manuela@A Cultivated Nest said...

That must have been scary. Thank goodness you didn't lose your sight! Good advice about blowing out candles. I use one of the candle snuffer thingies.

Julie Harward said...

Oh Debby, that is so scary! I am so glad it healed, and yes, we all need to be so careful. (No, Jonah didn't pee on his tie! LOL)

Nan said...

Well that was a terrible experience all from blowing out a candle who would have thought!

Cottage and Broome said...

Wow, a good warning! I'm glad you are ok, that must have been so difficult and painful. Thanks for stopping by, Laura

Claudia said...

Such good advice! Thank you for the reminder and I am so glad you came through that terrifying experience.

xo
Claudia

Cassie Bustamante said...

that truck is AWESOME!! love it!