October 8, 2006 (or sorry my posts are so long lately...)
12 a.m. I turn off the light after sketching a few designs for a new craft project.
5 a.m. I suddenly wake up because of a tightness in my lungs. My nose can be a super sleuth sometimes and my first brief thought was that I was simply smelling the smell you might notice when you use the fireplace for the first time in the fall (which we had done a last night). Because I am still a little under the weather, I dismiss the thought and started to fall back to sleep. I think a bit about how the heater had just kicked on and maybe that was part of it. I close my eyes.
5:07 a.m. The tightness in my lungs is significant. So I get up. And walk down our little hallway to the kitchen/family room. To a room full of pretty thick smoke. I check for fire and notice the smoke billowing in from the two inch opening in the glass doors in front of the fireplace. I yell for Jon (and probably scared him more than he wants to admit) and start opening the sliding glass door and windows. He goes to the fireplace and starts breaking up the “fake” Duroflame log we had used the night before. He first checked the damper; it was still open. He started feeling the wall and it wasn’t hot. The smoke was still thick. We still have two fans out from the summer in the house (because we never put things where they go…like out in the garage when it is cold enough for a fire in the fireplace), so we got them going to get rid of the smoke.
5:15 a.m. I call my dad because I figure he is the only person I know awake on a Sunday morning. With the time change I could be sure of it. He agrees with us but is worried about a chimney fire. Jon goes outside and checks the chimney. Of course, it is dark here but he feels it and it isn’t hot. No flames coming from it. So we open up every single window in the house.
5:25 a.m. Millie looks at us like “are you kidding me? all this excitement and you aren’t even gonna let me out to do my business?” Jon takes Millie outside.
5:30 a.m. We get back in bed. I, of course, bring my laptop because I am wide awake!
{Note: The log didn’t really “work” right last night. Not sure how to explain but it never really began the nice usual, although brief, nice roaring fire. At this point we realize 1) we could have broken up the log before going to bed, 2) it smoldered all night and the fire wasn’t hot enough to push the smoke up the chimney and the cold air starting coming in and pushing the smoke down; when the heater kicked on and affected this all somehow [or something – this is the fuzzy part], 3) the smoke alarm did not go off, 4) we are lucky to be alive, 5) we are going to get the chimney professionally cleaned, and 6) we need to change the filter in the furnace.}
5:35 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. I start blogging in bed. During this time, Jon wakes up several times to complain that it is as though the sun is in the bedroom (aka my laptop screen). I find a great meme at DebR's and figure I might as well post in my blog since I am up. I change clothes and put on several layers and look for a hat to wear because I am freezing. I don't find a hat in the bedroom so I get back in bed and pull my turtleneck over my nose. Jon wakes up and thinks I have the turtleneck over my nose because he is breathing in my face. Nope. I email Lynn to ask if I can come over later to escape this freezing cold smoke-filled place we call home. I find lots of inspiration at the craft blogs I have started reading. I get two more blankets for our bed and snuggle closer to Jon (and Jeero, Moxy, and Babo – our uglydolls) with my laptop. My dad calls to check on us.
8:35 a.m. I close my laptop because my eyes are drooping. I put my laptop at the foot of the bed and wake Jon up to tell him not to kick it off the bed. (Has to be one of the oddest moments of the day. Totally something I would do but totally rude to wake him up. But I was so cold that nothing was getting me out of that bed.)
At some point after I fall asleep my mom calls the first of two times. She has no idea about what happened and just wants to chat about things she is finding as she is cleaning the basement. Ahhh…hello people…it is early here. This happens to us a lot on the weekends. People back "east" call us early when we are sleeping in. I want to gently say, "It was 3 a.m. your time when we went to bed." (It is okay. I know, I know, I don't have to answer the phone but I always do.)Even though it isn’t as early as it was when I was first awake it is still early. After I hang up with my mom, I blog a bit more. Then go back to sleep. She calls again. Jon gets up. I go back to sleep after agreeing that no, I dont' want the (very cheap) train set that I bought for my brother one Chrismas and stayed up late putting it together so that when he woke up in the morning there would be a train set running around the tree.
11:00 a.m. I finally get up. I blog some more.
11:11 a.m. Lynn emails me back and says, “come over.” We email a few times to confirm.
11:28 a.m. My friend Missy calls and we briefly talk. (Hi Missy.)
11:45 a.m. I finally get out of bed and get ready and to go to Lynn’s.
12:30 p.m. I gather my stuff to leave. My husband stays behind because he is worried that there could be a fire. I leave him grading at the dining room table where he is wearing flannel pajama pants and a hooded sweatshirt. He is wearing the hood. I get into my car and turn up the heat! I talk to my friend Rebecca on the drive to Lynn’s; it is her birthday. (Hi Rebecca. Come visit out here to see if you guys might want to move here. We have the mountains AND the ocean.) I also chat with my friend Heather who helps me through a mini-crisis.
1:30 p.m. I get to Lynn’s and LoveShack’s home (they live about an hour from us) and they both tell me they are glad Jon and I are okay. (me too.)
The rest of the afternoon I have a really good time with Lynn but have no idea of the time. In no particular order, over the next few hours: We chat and laugh and I eat some Cheese Nips. Lynn introduces me to the nitty-gritty of how bloglines work (yes, I have been blogging for a year and don’t subscribe to something like this). I like it. I contemplate using bloglines and maybe even getting rid of my blog roll (because the only reason I have one is to have a lot of the blogs I like to read in one place so I can access them from any computer). I explain my concerns about how blog rolls accidentally seem to hurt people’s feelings. (In my mind I think about how it is kind of like that moment when the drama teacher posts who made the play and you watch the person next to you look for her name and run her finger down the entire page. and she doesn’t find it.) Lynn and I talk about Poetry Thursday. We brainstorm prompt ideas and she tells me about the one we decide to use for today. I love it. We spend some time talking to Tater (Lynn’s hamster) and I call coo and try not to squeal too loudly about how cute tater is. We talk about sex and orgasms and bad experiences at the doctor and how teachers talked about sex when we were in grade school. I teach Lynn about imdb.com. Lynn makes me laugh. I decide I need to eat lunch. Even though Lynn is in the middle of today’s PT post and wants to finish it, she feels bad that I am starving and, even though it is out of character for her, pauses finishing her post (I don’t think that girl likes to leave things unfinished). We go to the kitchen and get stuff together to eat lunch. We realize it is 4:30 p.m. LoveShack come and eats something to and we have an interesting conversation about moms. I call Jon and he tells me he thinks the odor is getting better in the house. Lynn and I go to Ross Dress for Less and she buys three t-shirts and I buy a very soft green blanket for Jon to thank him for staying behind and keeping the house safe. We go back to Lynn’s house.
7:20ish p.m. I leave to head back to my house.
7:23ish p.m. I take a wrong turn and end up going up, up, and up this huge hill. Bet it is pretty in the day time. I turn around and head back in the right direction after about two minutes. I don’t panic.
7:30 p.m. I eat a piece of string cheese.
7:40 p.m. I call Jon to tell him I am on my way home and he talks to me for a while because I am kind of sleepy. The string cheese kicks in and I am awake and hang up and then sing all the way home.
8:20 I get home. The smell is better. So much better. Thank goodness. We close all the windows but one and turn up the heat (don’t worry, Jon did run the heat during the day at different points so he didn’t freeze to death).
8:30 p.m. I change back into the layers of clothes I had on earlier and put on my favorite wrist warmers (given to me by acumamakiki). Jon makes me some soup for dinner. I start to worry about North Korea. Mille stares at me until I let her up on the couch. I start up my laptop and check my email.
8:45 p.m. I eat soup and finish up some editing.
10:00 p.m. I watch Without a Trace while reading a few blogs and answering some emails.
11:10 p.m. I start writing this post.
11:50 p.m. I write down five things for which I am grateful today. You can probably guess at least one if not all of them.
lists
Reader Comments (21)
I love your nose, or maybe it's your lungs that I appreciate the most. I'm so glad you and yours are okay.
And, thanks for stopping by for a visit and leaving me your wonderful warm words. If I inspire you, my friend, then my work here is more important and well-rewarded than I ever imagined.
So much love to you, LE. Thank God for your nose. And your safety.
DO get that chimney checked before building another fire. You know those books I write--one of them was about fireplaces and I know how important this is.
Also, if the chimney sweep doesn't find anything to explain what happened, have the flow of air in the houe checked. If your heating and ventilation system creates negative air pressure, this could happen again. You (and we) might not be so lucky next time.
The smell? I know just how annoying it can be. Last week I set fire to a piece of toast in the oven (long story) and the house reeked for three days. And THAT was only a little piece of toast!
I find myself grateful that Jon takes such good care of the treasure that is you.
i'm am sososo glad that you are okay. i'm happy that you woke up in time, i'm happy that nothing else went wrong...i'm just happy.
(hugs)
Sounds like quite a Sunday morning--but, I'm glad to hear you made the most of it. I enjoyed following your day...if only you didn't live on the opposite side of the country, I could have taken you up on that nice pot of tea and filled another hour! So glad all is well now...
Some days are just surreal.
I'm glad you're ok and very glad to hear all the steps you plan to take to make sure nothing like that happens again.
I love this slice of your life. Maybe I'll do this too - documenting according to time. I am scared to see what will be revealed!
Wenda - thanks! i am a big fan of my nose too. and yes, you do inspire me with your words and the way you commit to writing and looking at the world through your words.
Jerri - the smell is even better this morning. it is still around but better. and thanks for the tips. the airflow - that is a good thing to think about.
bee - me too! me too! hugs to you too!
left-handed trees - how i wish i could just wrinkle my nose (ala bewitched) and appear wherever i wanted. we could have tea every single week then. (thank you)
deb - look at me being like you and Lynn and replying in my comments. this is fun! i am glad you were up and emailing yesterday morning so i felt like i had a friend out there to share my craziness with. :)
I loved a day in the life of Liz and Jon. I'm glad your nose works as it does and that you both are good and safe. I need to get some work done on my fireplace too, which is why we don't light fires in there.
How scary, SO glad you are ok. I wonder why the alarm didn't go off... We have about 10 in our house so I hope at least one works!
whew! what a day!
glad you are safe - hope you manage to catch up on your sleep soon :-)
p.s. i've just discovered bloglines in the past fornight -absolutely brilliant, isn't it?!!
Glad to hear the two of you are okay. I'm surprised Millie didn't smell it and wake you up.
Thanks for dropping by while you were surfing in the cold.
kristen - you are smart not using the fireplace. i do think it was something wrong with the log and our lack of thinking about making sure the fire was out before going to bed. (i admit that these day in the life posts are fun - you should do one soon)
jennifer - i am embarrased to admit we only have one (our house is small...but...). it worked when jon checked it but we are getting two more. like today.
la vie en rose - no kidding...
bb - thanks (and yes, bloglines is a good thing. and i will be able to confirm this for real once i start using it. soon!)
star - millie is good at keeping me safe from all things squirrel but not so much from smoke i guess.
Oh Liz, you are so cute! And just so you know, your posts could never be too long. I enjoyed reading the play by play of your day...but mostly I'm just glad that you survived it! Love to you.
j.
How scary scary scary! You know, we have a fireplace (in a duplex!) but I am a little leery - my grandparents' home burned from a chimney fire so I am extra special careful. A chimney inspection is really not in our budget so we'll just leave it be.
I'm so glad you're okay. It made me happy to think of you and Lynn giggling away with each other...silly, funny, wonderful girls!
Wow, how lucky you are that you caught on to the fireplace problem before something REALLY bad happened. One of my neighbors had a chimney fire and it was pretty bad. I have been religious about getting a chimney sweep out every year, ever since.
jessie - thank you! i think the posts are just going to stay long for a while...
sam - it was pretty scary but luckily there was no fire. yes...lynn and i had lots of fun giggling part of the day away.
violet - we are going to get someone out to clean the chimney before our next "fire". we. have. learned. our. fire. safety. lesson.
I don’t think that girl likes to leave things unfinished.
Heh. Nope, I don't. But in this case, I made an exception because I didn't want you to starve. (I was really hungry, too, but my typical approach would be to finish what I was working on and then eat as a reward. I do the same thing when I have to pee: Finish whatever I need to finish up, then run to the bathroom just in time. It's not right, but it's me. Heh, I say again.)
I loved reading this. I don't think your posts are too long at all:)
I too am glad you are ok and there was no big fire.
I am a bit envious of all your blogging time-guess I could wake up in the wee hours too, but the little one takes all my day-at least most of it:)
Love you
XOXO
I LOVE how you posted things by each minute/hour!