In which I reveal that when I get tired, things don't work out so well

The other weekend, my husband and I went to a dinner party at a friend's apartment. We brought along curry and rice, so of course I had to do two pots of curry - one mild and one with spice - and then a third pot with rice so that people could get their personal favorite rice-to-curry ratio. What I'm getting at is there were a lot of pots.

And because there were a lot of pots, and because they were very hot when we brought them over, I wrapped them all in a bunch of towels. I need to look into that cool 3-pot slow cooker carrying station. But I didn't, so there we were, with a plethora of pots and towels and the evening had come to a close and it was time for us to take our pots and towels and be on our merry way.

I had been mildly busy all day and was rather tired at this point. My main goal was to carry as many towels as possible along with two of the pots and to not spill leftovers on my dress. It turns out that my goals were the wrong goals.

As I stood there, yawning and watching as everyone gathered their things and said their good byes, I noticed a smell. It was the kind of smell that you don't want to notice. It was the smell of something burning that maybe shouldn't be burning.

I looked down and noticed there was a jar candle on the table I was standing near. I continued to look down and noticed that one of the towels I was carrying appeared to be on fire.

"Uh, hey, guys."

Everyone was still chatting and not freaking out about the on-fire towel that I was holding, so my somewhat-sleepy brain decided the fire couldn't be that bad. I paused a second and then said, in what I thought was a very loud and firm voice, "I think that I am holding something that is on fire. Please help me put it out."

It took people a moment to turn around and see that, indeed, the towel was on fire. I remember hoping that my dress wasn't on fire and that my hair also wasn't on fire. I considered dropping everything onto the table but I really didn't want to spill the leftovers. Luckily, the towel wasn't too on fire and it was quickly put out. I shifted the pots and towels in my arms so that the burned towel could be brought to the kitchen for a quick dousing of water.

Luckily, the towel I burned was already in somewhat rough condition, compared to the others. And luckily, it was the only thing that I have set on fire in a half-sleeping state. So, here's hoping everything around me stays fire free!