Almost a Kitchen Fire

So tonight was a little more eventful than I would've liked. Boo was up running around. I was getting ready to settle in on the couch with a netflick and put Boo to sleep, but decided I needed some popcorn for the duration. So, I set about making my popcorn as usual. I use a stovetop popper with the handcrank and cook it with the oil - none of that overly dry airpopped crap for me. Anyways, for some reason my pot started smoking really badly. I'm not real sure why. It is an older pot, but it's what I've always used. Anyways, by the time I realized just how bad it was smoking (I'm stuffed up, so it took me awhile to smell it) I started hacking and my eyes and chest hurt. Poor little Boo was playing in the next room and he started hacking. So I turned off the burner and moved the pot, which had smoke pouring out of it by now. I grabbed some baking soda and threw it in the pot. The air was getting smoky. My fire alarm didn't go off. But it was hard to breathe in there. So I threw open a couple of windows and grabbed Boo and put him in the car. Once he was safely in the car I went back in for the pot and set it outside. Then away we went to let the house air out. My original plan was to get Dairy Queen and head back to the house, but I decided just to go to my parents' home for the night. I figured a fifteen minute trip to DQ and back probably wasn't going to air out the house enough. So hopefully it will be fine by morning. But I've had a pounding headache ever since we left. I'm glad I caught it though. It's odd. I've had other smoky kitchen incidents in the past, but this one really affected my lungs right away. I don't know if it had to do with the metal that it was burning through or what. But it hurt to breathe. Hence my decision to leave. I didn't want Boo's little lungs to be hurt. Anyhoo, crisis averted. Yay!