Note to Self:

Keep all fingers away from the heating element in the dishwasher even if you have JUST turned it on. It gets hot quickly. Kind of like when you decided to experiment with the cigarette lighter in the car just to see how quickly it got hot. It doesn't have to be glowing to burn part of your finger print off.

Yep, this was my klutzy mishap of the day. Earlier this week I managed to bump my face on the moulding surrounding the door while trying to throw things out into the recycling bin. Later that same day I shut my fingers in the closet door. Today, I burnt my finger on the heating element in the dishwasher. It's really not a wonder why Mark worries about me.

I started up the dishwasher first thing this morning and moments later I thought I smelled melted plastic. So I stopped the cycle and opened the door to investigate because a few weeks ago a bottle managed to make its way down to the bottom of the dishwasher and melted all over the place. It smelled to high Heaven.

I didn't see anything suspicious after a quick check so I turned it back on and walked away for a few minutes. When I returned to the kitchen I again smelled melting plastic (Perhaps this is a sign of some sort of mental illness or break with reality? Kind of like how smelling something burning is associated with ghosts. Or, I think that's what I've heard anyway. I could be making that part up. Don't quote me... ). So I stopped the cycle again and this time did a more thorough inspection and still didn't find anything.

I thought to myself, "Self, does the heating element even get hot that quickly? I hope the dang thing isn't about to catch on fire. Mark will really not appreciate that phone call (here I imagine me calling him at work from my cell phone whilst standing in the front yard trying to juggle all the living things in our house whom I had to evacuate due to an electrical fire which occurred under my watch).".

So me being the smart and appliance savvy person that I am, I decided to reach into the dishwasher and put my finger ON the heating element to see if it was even hot.

Guess what.

It was! It was hot. And now so is the tip of my finger. And now it smells like melting plastic AND burnt fingertip.

At this point I decided to give up on the dishes and move on to laundry. I haven't managed to break the washing machine yet.

Let us all learn a lesson from this. Keep all extremities away from anything that may potentially be hot. Shut off anything electrical and wait for the hubs to get home. No independent investigating allowed!