Friday, October 10, 2014

Use Your Words: The one where College Boy lights my car on fire

Today’s post is a monthly writing challenge. If you’re new here, this is how it works: participating bloggers pick 4 – 6 words or short phrases for someone else to craft into a post. All words must be used at least once and all the posts will be unique as each writer has received their own set of words. That’s the challenge, here’s the fun twist: no one who’s participating knows who got their words and in what direction the writer ill take them. Until now.

Use Your Words | www.BakingInATornado.com | #MyGraphics

At the end of this post you’ll find links to the other blogs featuring this challenge. Check them all out, see what words they got and how they used them.
I’m using: cold ~ frozen ~ let it go ~ sizzling
They were submitted by Evil Joy Speaks.

Many of you who follow my Facebook Page saw this status update at the end of last month:

Tomorrow, when I’ve (hopefully) calmed down a bit, remind me to tell you about how my son and his friends lit my car on fire tonight . . .

Obviously this kind of a post brings a lot of questions. But tomorrow never came (so to speak). I seriously, up until now, just haven’t been able to put the words together. I mean it’s the kind of situation that makes your heart go stone cold. But when I got my words for today’s challenge, they seemed to actually be telling me that it’s now time to get it out.

Let me step back a minute and lead up to the story.

This summer, when College Boy was home from school, he needed to make money, a lot of it. He had spent every penny of the money he had saved, which should have lasted years, during his first year. He now wanted to get an apartment with friends for his sophomore year and couldn’t afford it.

He ended up getting a job on a farm a half hour from here. He worked hard, from 4 am to sometimes 10 pm. Due to his hours and how far the farm is, he ended up basically taking over my car. I’d had it for just a year and lost it to him for the summer.

One day this summer I was coming into the garage from out front and noticed quite a bit of damage to the rear bumper of my car. And guess what? He didn’t do it, knew nothing about it . . . I suppose it’s possible that someone on the farm scraped the car. Whatever. We buffed it and touched it up.

But suffice it to say that every time College Boy came home in my car, once he went upstairs, I’d always sneak over, open the garage door and just . . . you know . . . quietly take a peek. Even after he was done working on the farm and now still living at home and taking my car to school every day.

And on that fateful day, the same thing happened. I checked the garage and yup, car was there. Phew.

So imagine my surprise when College Boy came right back down to the kitchen and, visibly uncomfortable, said “Mom, I have to tell you what happened with your car. It was an accident. A bad one.”

I was confused. I’d seen the car, or the front anyway.
Me: Tell me.
College Boy: Well, after school I had to drive two of my friends home.
Me: Just tell me.
College Boy: I am . . . they had gotten a ride into school and needed a ride home.
Me (now shaking): Tel me what happened to the car!
College Boy: I’m telling you. It was an accident. We stopped at a drive-through to grab some food.
Me: WHAT HAPPENED?
College Boy: One friend asked what to do with the trash, his receipt. And I said  . . I was just kidding, Mom, I swear . . . I said “I don’t care, light it on fire . . .”

{{ You see where this is going, don’t you? }}

College Boy: He did. I didn’t know he would. We were just joking. but the inside of your car caught fire. The ceiling. It was an accident.

Me: {{ blink, blink }}

College Boy: His Mom’s boyfriend works on cars and we went over there to see if he could do anything. We painted it, that’s all we could do right now. It looks a little better but . . .

I stood there. Frozen. I hear that shock is your brain protecting you from that which you find too traumatic. I think I went into shock.

On shaky legs I went out to my car, opened the door and looked up. Yes, they had painted over it, but that didn’t matter. In my mind’s eye I could see the flames. I could hear the sizzling, and I knew the danger they had all been in.

Burned Car Ceiling | www.BakingInATornado.com


College Boy immediately made it clear that he’s take responsibility for getting it fixed but there was much discussion about maturity, safety, making bad choices. For days I was terrified, drowning in thoughts about all of the ways this could have turned out so much worse.

But the part that made me the angriest? Continues to infuriate me? It’s not the burnt ceiling of my car, that has me more scared than angry. It’s that College Boy says that he’s taken responsibility so there’s no more need for discussion. I should get over it. Let it go.

Let it go? There’s not enough booze on the planet . . .

I’m not clairvoyant but I’m thinking that if he lives here much longer I may end up having a very intimate relationship with a defibrillation machine.

You think Halloween is scary? I think LIFE is scary.

Help me.

And with all this talk of heat and fire, what would be the perfect recipe to share today? Devil’s Applesauce, of course:


Devil's Applesauce | www.BakingInATornado.com | #recipe  #Halloween
Devil’s Applesauce

Links to the other Use Your Words posts:

 

Baking In A Tornado signature | www.BakingInATornado.com | #MyGraphics
 
 
 
 
Devil’s Applesauce
                                                                                                                                         ©www.BakingInATornado.com
 
Printable recipe
 
Ingredients:
10 apples
½ cup Red Hots
1 cup Apple Ale
5 – 8  TBSP sugar (see NOTE below)
1 tsp cinnamon
 
Directions:
*Peel, core and slice the apples. Place into a large microwave safe bowl.
*Add the red hot candies to the apples.
*Pour in the Apple Ale, then add the sugar and cinnamon. Mix.
NOTE: You will want more sugar for a more tart apple and less for a sweeter apple.
*Cover your bowl with plastic wrap and slit to vent.
*Microwave for approximately 20 minutes. Remove from microwave and very carefully remove the plastic wrap. Pull it off to the side as you could burn your hand if it’s over the top when the steam escapes.
*Using a fork, mash apples to desired consistency. I like mine a little chunky, but you can certainly process in a food processor if you want it more smooth.
*Allow to sit and cool. There will be a lot of liquid when it first comes out of the microwave but will thicken as it cools.

41 comments:

  1. Oh Karen, you are a trooper and a half. First of all, let me say how happy I am that the boys are safe. Actually, there isn't a second. That's it. I'm hugging you from here.
    The applesauce. That photo made me smile :)
    Hope you're getting some much-needed rest. <3

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  2. Holy cow, that's scary! I'm so thankful there wasn't anyone hurt or more damage...I WILL have to try that applesauce. I never make it because it never occurred to me that you can cook it in the microwave.

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  3. I like you had a very similar situation with my son and his thenbto be wife. It was much more serious than a car burning but like yours salvageable. My son said im taking responsibility for it...I almost blew a gasket...unlike you I do have a pacemaker defibrillator and thought better of the next step I was going to take.

    I'm glad that your situation wasn't worse than it could have been...as parents we can see what could have been.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, I can see all of those "could have been" scenarios in my head.

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  4. So he is buying you a new car with the money he earned???? Life is a hard lesson college boy!!

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    Replies
    1. Yes, sometimes those lessons are tough ones. This one almost killed me.

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  5. OMG! I would have had a heart attack!!! HUGS HUGS HUGS!!!!!

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  6. LOL! At least he owned up top it and is taking responsibility.

    Not like the time as a wee lad I almost burnt down our kitchen, and tried to cover up the burnt hole in the linoluem with small pieces I cut from some extra I found and and glued over it!

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    Replies
    1. Ha ha, very similar to College Boy spray painting the top of my car.

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  7. I. Would. Die. This sounds EXACTLY like the kind of thing my youngest son would do…..

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    Replies
    1. I came damn close to dying I'm sure. I swear could hear ringing in my ears and everything was going black.

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  8. Ohh...red hot applesauce sounds good!

    And...oh my goodness woman...I'm sorry they caused damaged but so glad nothing worse happened in the car.

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  9. Burnt the roof of the car? Good grief and 'let it go" are you kidding? NO WAY I'd be letting anything go, especially the car. HOW many bottles did you consume after this? sheez

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lets just say it's a good thing my bar is well stocked . . .

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  10. When something like this happens, and you realize just how close one of your kids came to your worst nightmare, it takes a while to get over - I've been there. Junior year of high school, my older son almost went with some friends to get a slurpee after school. He decided instead to come home - and the friends had a terrible accident. The driver was killed and the others were seriously injured. It has been three years now and I still don't think we're quite over it. So glad everything turned out fine with your son - and I'm sending hugs to your heart :)!

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    Replies
    1. What a devastating story. Something you never get over.

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  11. I would given a lot to have seen the look on your face. What blows me away is your CALMNESS (is that a word?) I know screaming would not help but come on.... he burnt your CAR! Thanks for sharing the story -- how many years will it take College Boy to live this one down?

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  12. Holy bajoly Jupiter. Sweet mercy. I'd have had a heart attack. I'm so grateful they're all okay.

    I cannot believe his friend would do such a thing. I hope he helps handle the expense of fixing your car. It's truly his fault.

    Please tell me he's not one of the friends College Boy wants to live with.

    This applesauce looks amazing. Will be trying it asap. I have an applesauce addiction.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, College Boy's roommate from last year and probably this year too. I may need valium.

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  13. I have been waiting patiently for this post. Leaving satisfied. Glad it turned out ok and only the upholstery got hurt.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Definitely could have been so much worse but still . . .

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  14. Now would be a good time to do one of those, "Hey son, why don't you invite the kid who set his receipt on fire over for dinner?" So you can do that whole, 'Now that I got you here, let's talk about respecting other people's property, more importantly, respecting my property... So my son takes "full responsibility for your actions," how do you feel about that? Do you not have any responsibility to accept for this?... You know in grown up world, I could technically sue you for the damages.... You have to remember that there are consequences to our actions. Think things through a little better..." Way I look at it, you can't choose his friends for him, but you can raise his friends right. And at that age, I'd be like, "Lecture for you. Lecture for your friends. You all deserve huge long boring lectures. With bible verses."

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    Replies
    1. I hear ya. I figure I've got enough to do trying to raise the 2 I've got. I'll let my son deal with his friend.

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  15. How is he still breathing? I'm pretty sure that this would be a justifiable case of "I brought you in to this world, I can take you out!" And that friend......how the hell did he make it to college with such a lacking of common sense?! lol I'd been wondering what happened.....I'm happy it wasn't anything serious.

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  16. Michelle L. Grewe I agree with you with the exception of cooking dinner for them...

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  17. Geez, I had forgotten about that FB post, and now I am shocked. Smart, young people, college students, and then this :-(
    I could have been the one making that silly joke, but would I ever expect my friends to go through with it! Aaaarrrrggggghhhhh!

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    Replies
    1. Yeah, they all had a brain burp. But I also don't like that instead of coming right home they tried to spray paint it to cover it up a bit . . .

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  18. Wow! Yep we're in a parallel universe. You love your kids, but you've got one just like me who has made every bad decision in the book. Then you look at the other going WAY over and above what you ever expect. Whose maturity level being the youngest far outweighs the older. I'm starting to believe that unless we start showing them that their screwups do have consequences and the decisions they make they have to suffer the consequences. We need to find away to show them that making bad decisions will make life harder. Maybe we should just say enough is enough I'm not financially responsible anymore. Like a sink or swin intervention! It's not fair to our good ones who always make the right decisions.

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    Replies
    1. It's so hard because although it's OK to make mistakes, this was way more than a mistake, it was dangerous. Really freaked me out.

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    2. Definitely kids just don't get how serious a stupid stunt could end up. I am so glad he and his friends are okay!

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  19. I'm so glad they are okay. How scary. And how eye opening that our kids are that...still kids. I think of my oldest two as much older than they actually are....good reminder that they're just kids. Thanks for telling your story with my words.....

    Hope you're enjoying your time with him.

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  20. This story had me frozen in my chair, eagerly anticipating a sizzling fire, but instead a let it go moment. Time to come in from out of the cold, accept, and move on! yes, it is the hardest thing to do and even two years out of college, I still try to maintain a sense of calm whenever I talk to my son. He is in China, so it is not a wise move to yell over the phone! Love the addition of cider in this. And I thought my mom was the only one that used red hots in applesauce!

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    Replies
    1. I had never put the red hots into my applesuce before, just did it this time for this Halloween recipe. Guess I'm not the first to have this idea. Sure did like how it came out.

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