This is what almost burning down your house looks like

In my defense, I can't smell anything.  I have a cold again.  I've been sick for the past two months and this is how this whole house burning business started.  It began in Boston, where I got a simple cold, which then turned into a full blown sinus infection in Michigan.  Back to Austin, where the cedar is in crazy full bloom in addition to having a housefull of people who were just on airplanes and we were all sick again.  Fastforward about a week and I found myself in Seattle, filled with astronomers who care way more about SCIENCE than their health (and I guess that includes me), and then I got the flu.  I was getting a lot better until everyone in the astronomy department in Austin got sick and now I'm going to the doctor.

Which is why I was home.  Colby asked me to make him this boxed couscous crap for lunch.  The directions read: "Boil 1.5 c of water with 2 t of butter and the seasoning packet".  Our stove takes forever to boil water, so I turned the burner on high, put the pot+lid on the stove and walked away.  I used a pot that I got in undergrad when I moved into my first apartment.  Boxed couscous doesn't deserve good cookware. ;)  Also, all the good stuff was dirty.  What you should know about this crappy pot is that it's blue enamelware, super old, and chipping.  I guess you can't expect quality from $10 K-Mart specials.  (JK. I'm sort of surprised it lasted this long.)

I went back to the home office and started doing more science.  (Man, science *always* gets in my way.)  I totally forgot about the crazy hot stove with the crappy old pot until Colby came home for lunch and asked what the burning smell was.  I couldn't smell anything, but I could see the smoke wafting through the kitchen and living room area.  Oops.  Colby tried to get the pot off the stove, but it was stuck.  The enamel on the outside had MELTED onto the burner and now my stove looks like this:

mm mm blue goo