What Would You Grab?

     My internal clock wakes me up at the same time every day, which means I rarely ever sleep in. When Saturdays roll around I  am up at my regular time while the others grab an hour or two of extra sleep.
    And so it happened that I was once again up early. I headed to the living room and my favorite chair, grabbed my laptop and got to work in the peaceful quietness.
    The sun came up, extra bright it seemed. The amount of dust motes dancing in the streams of light coming in through the window seemed extraordinarily heavy. I didn't pay much attention to them though as I focused on my task at hand.
    Before long Sharon came down the stairs. She poked her head into the living room. "Why does it smell like burnt honey nut cheerios?" she asked.
    It was then that I noted. The dust motes weren't dust motes at all, instead the air was filled with smoke and I had been so focused on my project I never even noticed, and without a sense of smell I didn't have that to alert me either.
    With the furnace off for the season, and nothing happening on the stove in the kitchen I knew there was something a bit scarier happening. I ran up the stairs to wake LV. He immediately smelled the smoke and said it's definitely something electrical. He flew down to the basement and shut off the power at the breaker box and then called for help.
    We tried to locate the source of the smoke, but couldn't. 
    We gathered up all our important papers and then surveyed the rest of the house helplessly. Should we start running things outside? Should we assume since the power is off now everything is okay? At what point will the smoke turn to flames? And why in the world is it taking so long for help to arrive?!
    When it finally did they clumped throughout the house looking at all the electrical outlets. They found several that needed to be replaced, but none that looked like they were the source of the smoke.
    Finally they turned the power back on and then we noticed. The one living room light was completely brown, Further investigation revealed charred bits in the ceiling behind the light.
    They removed it and we got it replaced. 
    The panicked helpless feeling though before we knew what was causing the smoke was awful. And other than important papers we still can't answer the question of what we would grab first if the house was on fire.
    Do you know what you would grab?

Currently

Reading ...  in the Bible I'm making my way through II Kings. In other reading I'm stalled out. So far this year I have reread several of my favorite series, but any other books I'm picking up are simply not holding my attention. It doesn't help that there seems to be a thousand and one other things begging for my attention

Watching ... Steven informed me that there is a spinoff series of Andy Griffith called Mayberry RFD, so I went ahead and requested it from the library. We have been watching an episode after lunch most days. It's decent, if you're okay having different main characters, and Millie doesn't get on your nerves too much.

Listening ... to happily singing birds, pleasant notes from the wind chimes as it sways in the gentle breeze, and voices in the other room.

Baking ... there are some chocolate chip cookies in the oven.

Cooking ... I have been trying a new recipe everyday so far this year. I have really been enjoying it and the family has not been complaining about it either. Two of our favorites so far have been recipes for honey pepper chicken and a creamy ravioli soup.

Feeling ... energetic and ready to tackle life with renewed vigor. 

Disliking ... the spiders that are beginning to create their webs in the corners of the windows.

Several years ago someone introduced us to some spray to to use outside windows and doors to keep spiders away. It worked beautifully. Prior to using it the outsides of our windows got dirty within a day or two of washing them because of all the spider activity. 

I didn't spray last year and now this year they seem to be returning so time to dig out the spray. I have searched both basement and attic and have been unable to find it. Unless I am able to find it in the next day or so we'll have to buy some more because I really don't want to have to do battle with spiders until winter rolls around.

Loving ... all the flowers that are blooming right now. I'm featuring two of my favorites here.

 

Playing ...  Skyjo is still one of my favorites, but House of Anubis has been making it to the table quite a bit lately and it's always a good time to be had by all when we play it.

Cleaning ... I washed some windows today, but decided to wait to do the rest until I locate the spray for the spiders.

Creating ... things for the upcoming wedding. 

Thinking ... I really want to get back to blogging more regularly.  I've missed it during my almost three month absence.

I've instructed myself to make at least one post per week for the rest of the year with occasional extras tossed in.