Day 300

There are many items out there you can go for months and not need, but when you need them—you REALLY need them.  For instance, it took me nine months to require an ironing board, which I thought we brought with us.  I realized the deficiency about 36 minutes before my daughter’s piano recital.

And for the record, if you think hanging your clothes in a nice steamy shower will help matters in any way, you are deluding yourself.  You still look a rumpled mess, and just slightly moist.

Last night, after a long day of school, work and Valentine ’s Day partying, a fire alarm started to signal its distress over a low battery.  You know that torturous intermittent high pitched squeak?  Well, as it turns out, whoever designed the fire protection in this house was either some sort of sadist or really not very good at their job.  The fire alarm in question was actually placed at the top of a vaulted ceiling over a landing that appeared to require scaffolding to reach.

It is difficult to see (apparently my phone isn’t designed for this type of photography), but if you squint and look at the very top, perhaps you can make out the light circle that is the offending device.

We are not currently in possession of a ladder.  At this point there were a couple of options:

1. Borrow ladder from neighbor- Neighbors house was dark and I wasn’t keen on teetering on the top of that thing 35 feet above the ground.
2. Ignore it- Fire alarm was placed conveniently outside my daughter’s bedroom, too loud for her to sleep.  Plus the dog, who once tried to take on a 500 pound bear, had started to shake uncontrollably and was trying to bend physics by squeezing his 70 pound mass into a 20 pound space under the ottoman.
3. Shoot it-  OK, I don’t have a firearm either, and I’m afraid of guns, but I had reached the point that if one had been at the ready, I’d be repairing dry wall today.
4. Pack up kids and dog and go to hotel- Don’t kid yourself, this was a viable option to my knackered brain at this point.
5. Call my husband who is 500 miles away and whine.

I exercised option number five.  My husband in turn called a friend of ours who drove over with his ladder hanging out of his minivan (that wasn’t on my list of original options) and between the two of us we managed to wrestle in a new battery. Well, actually, the battery was sort of new, we had to cannibalize from some other source since, of course, I didn’t have and extra nine-volt battery on hand. But, that’s just how the day was going.

Although there is probably a fine line between being prepared and hoarding, I think I have learned, some things are worth owning, like ladders, snow shovels and jumper cables even if they don’t get daily use.  Plus, I should probably stockpile a few batteries.