how to get candle wax off carpet 101

D and I (mostly me) learned something new today. Well, a couple of things, actually. First, I learned that you should never, ever leave a candle on the carpet - even if it's on a candle warmer. Second, I learned that candles can shatter from the bottom while they are on candle warmers for absolutely no reason at all. Third, I learned how to clean candle wax off of the carpet using an iron and paper bags - a skill I thought I would share with the world because it completely saved our bums today after our "candle incident."

Honestly, I have no idea how it happened. First there was a loud popping sound, then out of nowhere half of a melted candle was soaking into our bedroom carpet. Half is also not an exaggeration. Did I mention the candle was purple? It was purple.

So what does one do in a situation like that? Generally freak out in my case, and remain totally cool and calm in D's case.

M: "How on earth does that happen!??!?!!!!"

D: "I've heard of it happening before."

M: "Why didn't you tell me!??!!!?!"

D: "Because...I don't know. Do you want to google this or should I?"

So I turned to google. The first video I watched was hilarious, but not in a good way. If you watch it, picture me, completely panicked, sitting there listening to them list off the 423 supplies you will need to get the wax off the carpet. Oh, and then if it's colored wax, you will probably have to call "the professionals." Thanks for the faith.

The second site I tried told us to wait until the wax dried and scrape it off with a butter knife. Nope. That worked about as well as me staring at the wax and wishing it would go away.

After a few more failed google attempts, I let Daniel look it up while I did the only other thing I could think of. I called my mom. She only laughed at me a little bit, but she gave us some awesome ideas that turned out to be very similar to what Daniel found online. Moms know everything.

To make a long story short (too late) we spent the majority of our Tuesday evening ironing purple candle wax off the bedroom carpet with paper bags. Although everything within 10 feet of the "incident" still smells like lilacs, I am pretty impressed with how it turned out! Assuming our apartment manager doesn't read my blog, I don't think we'll lose the security deposit over this one. phew.

Here's a video of our escapades to show you what to do if you happen to spill half of a melted candle on your carpet.

Oh, and we also learned that going to get Maverick hot chocolate with our animal hats on can make even the worst evenings more bearable :)