An Interesting Day

I woke up at 5:30am to the intermittent beep of smoke alarms. The sound has a certain quality/pitch that cannot be ignored (at least by me). So I got up to investigate, figuring they probably needed new batteries. I thought I'd just remove the drained batteries and then replace them at my leisure. However, even with batteries removed the alarms continued to beep. So in the pre-dawn hours I drove to Wal-Mart to buy fresh 9-volts (and to escape the nerve-grating noise). But after I returned and installed the new batteries, the smoke alarms continued to beep!

During all of these efforts, it hadn't occurred to my tired mind that the alarms must have another power source, but a friend responded to my Facebook help request (thank God someone was awake), giving advice that jogged my thinking. So I headed for the circuit panel in the laundry room and cut the power to the three bedrooms and the hallway (which is unfortunately on the same breaker as the dining room and part of the kitchen). At last, silence reigned!

An electrician that my mom recommended is due here first thing Monday morning. I'm glad he responded to my request so quickly!

So I've spent the day in partial blackout conditions in order to have peace & quiet. I made myself tea, boiling water in a pan on the stovetop instead of using the microwave. I always use the microwave timer to remind myself when the tea is finished steeping. I set the timer as usual and then it occurred to me that if I could set the timer, that meant the microwave had power. I bust up laughing at how silly I'd been. ;-)

But no Internet! The wireless router is on a jack in one of the bedrooms. A real loss-- no Facebook friends for company, no quick lookups of info (such as garden frost warnings or farmer's market times), no emails or job searching.

And only one kitchen light-- so I made dinner in the dark: salmon with a marmalade-chipotle-five spice glaze. The glaze was mild-tasting-- pleasant but nearly bland, but the salmon itself was delish. (I've eaten so much seafood lately-- can't seem to get enough!)

And no movies! I've about "musiced" myself out listening to all the songs on my iPod that I enjoy-- I'm "full" now! I seriously considered moving the TV and DVD player into the living room where there is power. But surely I can live one day without a movie??? ("My name is Angel, and I'm a movie addict...)

I've played a lot of solitaire on my iPod today too; I'm up to $51,000+ in winnings. (Lest my readers fear for my sanity, it has taken more than 3.5 months to reach that level.)

I did some chores: dishes & laundry. I quick-read a magazine and a cookbook (which is where the salmon recipe originated). I also napped for three hours, making up for the time the smoke alarms stole.

And naturally I keep flipping powerless light switches on. Can I just say that I'll be glad to get back to normal?

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