On Sunday night, I was upstairs programming when I heard Rachel call me from downstairs. I hurried downstairs to see what the problem was. She pointed to the candle warmer on the living room table.

At first, I did not see a problem. However, as I got closer, I immediately saw the problem: There was strawberry-scented candle wax everywhere! We initially thought either that the candle overflowed or that one of the dogs bumped the table. A closer inspection revealed a small crack in the candle. A leaf from a nearby plant was touching that crack.

We think that the candle suffered from thermal shock when the plant touched it. Even though the crack was small, it did not stop wax from going everywhere. The candle, fused to the warmer, fused to the table, and fused to the floor. It took awhile to pry the mess off the table. When the wax hit the floor, it splattered on the nearby drapes. It even went down into the heating vent. If nothing else, the house should smell like strawberries for some time. Now, the challenge becomes removing the wax from the drapes and curtains.