Glenn is in Paris. I'm on the front line.

Bedtime Check List

Doors locked.

Check.

One extra light on so it looks like someone is awake all night.

Check.

Porch light on.

Check.

Doors locked.

Check again.

Kids in beds.

Check.

Just as I was falling asleep, all of the fire alarms in my house started wailing.

Note to self:  Do not ignore the chirping of the fire detector that it does when the battery is low.

Apparently it doesn't like to be ignored.

In my defense, Glenn had just put in a "new" battery so I thought it was just being a squeaky wheel and since Glenn has been in Europe all week, I was too busy putting out other fires (pun).

So in the midst of the noise (Noise is too nice of a word for what I was hearing.), I ran to our battery cabinet and frantically searched.

Alarms were blaring all the while.

I couldn't find a battery!

Christian woke up at this point and started helping me.

Dang the 9 volt battery.  

Finally we found one.

I ran to the offending smoke detector and searched for the battery slot while on a stool.  I found it, but couldn't get the new battery to stay put.  My ear was 2 feet away form the alarm.  Soon my brain started pulsing with each repetitive scream.  That's when I noticed a nifty button you can hold down to get it to stop - sure wished I had noticed that 10 minutes ago and 10 headaches ago.

I got the battery to stay.

Yes!  Now I could get some sleep.

The chirping resumed.

None of the other kids were awake.  This was both good and bad all mixed in one.

So there I was standing under the fire alarm and it continued to chirp every so often.  Two conclusions came from this.  Either I just put in an old battery even though it was in the place where new batteries are stored (Excuse me as I vent for a moment.  No one in this family likes to clean up after themselves, but why is it that when it comes to dead batteries, they put them right back where they found them without being asked?) or the fire detector was broke n and malfunctioning.  The battery Glenn had put in a few days ago had lasted a week chirping and since I was out of options, I figured I could live with that, at least until I could get to the store the next day.

Around this time, Porter got up to go to the bathroom.  It was silent, other than an intermittent chirp.  Christian asked Porter if he had heard the beeping.  Porter, still half asleep said, "Yeah."  No big deal.  Stranger things had happened.  He wasn't worried.

Second note to self:  I think a family fire drill in the near future would be beneficial to us all.

Christian's little brother's nonchalance had him concerned.  He took matters into his own hands. "That was the fire alarm!  If that were a real fire then you would be dead!"  Porter was wide awake after that.  Thanks Christian.

I told everyone to get back in bed and I followed.  My blood pressure hadn't even had the time to regulate its self when the alarms all throughout the house started yelling back and forth to each other.

Again.

Noooooo!  Now what was I supposed to do?

Was it the alarm or the battery?

Would it go on all night like this?

Should I pack everyone up and show up on Glenn's parents front porch and let the alarm go on by itself?

That was an option.

I decided to try to deactivate the bomb.  The plan was to pull the alarm off the ceiling and find the wires and simply disconnect them.  So with shaky fingers I easily twisted the alarm and pulled.

 

Remember the movie Arachnophobia? 

Well coming straight for my upturned face was a spider.  That didn't sit well with my already overactive adrenal gland or my vocal chords and out came my own little alarm.  I think that scared Christian and Porter more than anything.  I quickly tracked the spider down on my spider colored carpet, made the kill and put the alarm back up.

I wasn't about to try that again.

So I moved onto plan B.

I called Glenn's mom who quickly came up with two 9 volt batteries.

I replaced the battery, again.

Chirp.

Quiet.

It worked.  My nerves were still a little frazzled, but I was thankful.

Today, the fire detector in Warrick's room started to chirp.  I ignored it.  Just kidding, I now have a new respect for those sweet little chirps.  I immediately replaced it with the second battery that Drusilla brought over the night before.

I wondered if Glenn was eating a French pastry at that moment or a bonbon.