So, I get home last night from being out of town for a few days. I am talking to my MIL on the phone, commenting about a small crack in my ceiling where it looked like an old leak had caused some damage, so as I am looking around at my ceilings, I notice a big black hole in the ceiling above my kitchen counter. I was absolutely perplexed trying to figure out what happened. As I am walking around my counter to take a closer look I almost trip over a thermos on the kitchen floor. I pick it up and the odor is overwhelming. Inside some mush of fremented macaroni and cheese. My floor is sticky and my counter has some flecks of macaroni mush on it.

On Wednesday, my daughter had macaroni and cheese for lunch and I asked her to put her thermos on the counter in the kitchen. Since my dh has deployed, I just haven't had enough dishes to run a load more than once or twice a week, so I just put her thermos on the counter and forgot about it.

Sometime while we were gone, the macaroni and cheese fermented and built up so much pressure that the pressure blew the lid off the thermos with such force, it sent the thermos lid through the sheetrock in my ceiling. It is a good thing we were not here when it happened because I would have left a BIG puddle before I realized it was not a gun shot in my house! Needless to say, I am in the market for hiring a handyman.

wow, and I thought I was a "random" housekeeper!!

Random? I don't quite understand.

Hello Kitty had a party. It's not that hard to repair they sell kits at the hard ware store.

Ouch!!! I never would have thought about that happening :thumbdown: :thumbdown:

you know, some days things get cleaned, some days they don't...

Definitely NOT Martha Stewart!!

This is actually kind of scary! I didn't know that could happen. Fortunately my DH is a retired contractor and I could get it fixed right away. Hope you get help soon!

OMG~ That's some serious damage...good thing you all weren't home when it happened.

I thought about that, but I am worried it would look bad.
I put a hole through the basement wall a couple of years ago and tried to patch it. I made a mess and it looks horrible. I am just going to hire someone to fix it right... and fix the hole I tried to patch downstairs. Not only that, but standing on a ladder (or counter) to fix a ceiling is not something I am comfortable doing.

my goodness!! hang a picture over it!!!

YEP... Martha Stewart would shudder if she walked in my house. I do not have a dirty house... just a well-lived in house. With working full-time, having two kids, and a very busy schedule of Taekwando, piano lessons, guitar lessons, and Awanas, I clean when I can.

Sorry didnt mean to laugh this would happen to me but it would have been left in my car :)

I can't. It is on the ceiling. (I have a recessed ceiling in my kitchen where the track lighting goes. Over the counter, the ceiling drops down about eight inches, then comes back up in the familyroom.)

Oh my! I just have this vision of exploding mac and cheese and have to chuckle. I think I would have had a puddle too. Doesn't look like it will take much to fix it. I'll have to remember this because my husband is forever using our thermos and he just leaves it sitting on the counter. So from now on I will at least loosen the lid when I see it sitting there. Since there are just the two of us like you I don't always get to the dishes when I should and they sometimes sit.
PS. Thank you and your husband. My cousin is in the Army and has been deployed twice to Iraq. It is hard when they are gone and I just wanted to say Thank You for being a Military wife.

Wow that is amazing, I never thought that could happen. And you are right very scarey. Can you imagine if you had been anywhere near that thing when it exploded? Short of causing some serious bodily injury, I have to agree, my undies would definitely have been trashed if it were me. :lol: So I have to ask, is the thermos now toast or was it actually salvagable after that?

I think it is okay. I have it in the sink, soaking. I haven't tried the lid back on to see if the threads are gone. I will put it in the dishwasher after dinner this evening and see if it still is usable once it is clean.

is this a glass thermos? i would think it would have exploded the glass and not the stopper.

No, it is a metal one. It is designed for a kid's lunch. My kids like to take hot food to school, such as macaroni and cheese, soups, or ravioli to break up the monotony of PB & J sandwiches, so I bought a few of these... they are Thermos brand, so I know they are good quality and obviously air-tight, or the fermenting gas would have escaped instead of blowing the lid off.

Oh My!!! That's kinda funny!! It could have had a worse ending. So glad that no one got hurt! I've had stuff ferment and pop but not to that extent. It must have come off there with quite a lot of force!!!

Honestly, I would have been coming down the stairs with a shotgun had I heard it in the middle of the night.

I just put the thermos in the dishwasher. It appears to be fine. I have a feeling I had just barely put the lid on when I had it sitting on the counter because the threads are fine... including the lid that damaged the ceiling. Had it been fully tightened, I think there would be imbedded metal in my walls because it would have blown the metal to shreds.

Wow, I can NOT believe it. I would never have guessed that macaroni could become a weapon. Something for MacGiver!

Hmm wonder how I dodged that bullet for so long???????
do you have "Angie's list" for your area? Maybe ask around and see if there is a retiree in your area that could help? It's probably a small enough job a contractor wouldn't give it high priority.

I am going to ask around at work tomorrow. Hopefully someone will know someone.

When my daughter was deployed there was a Family Support Group - volunteers signed up to give assistance with household 'things' from shoveling, babysitting, repairs...


does your DH's unit have anything like that? It would be free since these volunteers want to show support to our troops.

Man, I'm just so glad for you that the thermos wasn't lying on its side and there wasn't someone standing nearby!!

Here's what you do......
Contact the JAG (military law) Office; apply for a patent; approach the military brass with this new weapon design for use with Homeland Security; make buckets of do-re-mi; retire with DH and start the largest quilt store cum quilt retreat business in the midwest!!

Jan in VA

Jan, you are hilarious :lol: Mistymarie, let me add my thanks to you and your family for your service to our country. I cannot imagine how difficult it must be at times.

Definitely one for MythBusters - those guys love an explosion!
My Nana always said ' A tidy house is the sign of an unlived life'. My life is certainly being lived!

My husband is IA (Individual Augmentation) so he deployed out of San Diego, which means that I have absolutely no military family support while he is deployed, since I am in Colorado. (I do have family about three hours away, though). This is his third deployment and the first where I am on my own without the support.

I do have some great ladies from my kids' school who are more than willing to help me out and neighbors who would be over in a heartbeat if I really needed some help.

Last deployment, our daughter was born three weeks after he left. She was six weeks premature and the hospital made a clerical error and sent me home the day after an emergency c-section to take care of a newborn (that weighed less than 5 pounds) and a 2 year old... with absolutely NOBODY at home. I was an absolute basket case. My husband's CO's wife came by and checked on me about an hour after I got home, brought me some preemie diapers because I was not adequately prepared and the hospital sent me home with three diapers, and brought me a hamburger from Burger King. She stayed for about ten minutes and left. Thirty hours later... on my own for all that time with NOONE coming by to check on me and NO phone call from the hospital to see if I was okay, my aunt and uncle arrived from Southern California (clear up to Whidbey Island, Washington) to help me out. (My mom was snowed in up in the mountains.) It was a true miracle that we survived, because Maggie, my daughter, ended up spending a month in the hospital shortly after she was a month old with failing lungs, a severe viral infection, and dialated intestines... brought on by inadequate post-natal care. (Her body could not cope with infections and her lungs needed more oxygen and more time to develop in an incubator.) Fortunately, by then, I was back in the bosom of my family and my mom and MIL were able to give me the support I needed. My dh met his daughter when she was six months old... and healthy!

So... an exploding thermos lid (and if you read my thread from a couple of months ago about the plumber killing my refridgerator the week after my dh deployed) is mild compared to the last time he left.

Good Lord, you must be one tough lady! I didn't read about your plumber but your story about baby Maggie filled my eyes with tears. Glad to hear you have some helpful friends nearby now. Take good care of yourself & thank you for the sacrifices you and your kiddos are making to help keep our country free!

MistyMarie, your life and mine almost parallel except maybe 20 years in between. Husband deployed for 8 mos, had baby two weeks later with major problems and with no help. He saw his son at over 7 mos for the first time. I feel for you and yes I would have left a puddle if I had heard the cap come off. I had many times like that. One deployment our son was three and decided to use his play razor like daddy. My husband would knock his electric razor off into the toilet to clean it so it was the day of deployment and my husband had just left. Jamie went to the bathroom and then came back to me and pointed to the bathroom. I ran to the bathroom and the toilet was overflowing. I turned off the flow and got a plumber. He had to take the toilet off the floor and found a toy razor in it. You learn to be self sufficient. Good luck and if you ever need to talk, just pm me.

Hmmm, this happening never occured to me! Hope you find somebody soon to get it fixed..it shouldn't be a big job..maybe tell your DD to cock the lid next time so air can escape!

that is just crazy i guess there is a reason to do dishes LOL

We donn't have to be Suzie Homemakers when we are Mom's. Just keep it clean enough to be healthy and messy enough to be happy; With hubby deployed, you've got your hands full. Glad you didn't get frightened out of your wits, and glad no one was injured. You'll find a handyman, just look in your local paper

Misty, just put a poster over it.....LOL Or better yet a quilt block!!

Great idea!! And when people ask about it boy do you have a story to tell!!

Lucky no one was in the kitchen at the time it blew. That was some force to go through the ceiling. Good Luck with the repair. Wonder if they sell thermos' with a release valve like pressure cookers have?

I'm sorry but this is so funny I am still laughing!!
Too bad you couldn't have filmed it and sent it to the funniest home movies!!! Glad no one was hurt. Thank your husband for his unselfish service to our country. Hugs to you and your daughter.
Shirley

I am sorry but I had to laugh. That is something I would do...like the time I was trying to squeeze the last bit of brown oil paint from the tube and it squirted out dark brown paint on my nice white ceiling...or the time (right after we moved into our brand newly built house) shook a bottle of salad dressing and didn't realize I had taken the lid off...or the time...are you beginning to see a pattern here?

Please thank your husband for me for fighting for our freedom. And also, to all of you who have loved ones fighting, or even who have fought and are now out of the service, please convey my gratitude to all of them. I pray that God will keep them safe, and should God already have chosen to bring them home to Him, then please accept my gratitude to then and accept my deepest sympathy for your loss(es).

repair kits at Walmart also. Not too hard to do.