Of smoke detectors, candlelight, and slippers

    Ok, so my rather uneventful life has suddenly gotten a little more exciting. First: smoke detectors. Here's a little history that will give some context for this week's occurrence. Apparently I have them in my apartment. Being the naturally observant person that I am, I had not really noticed that, mounted on the ceiling in nearly every room of my house is a smoke detector. This is probably a good thing, I suppose; however, upon my return from Chrstmas in Jordan, I noticed this beeping. "Hmmmm. . . " I thought. "What IS that beeping?" Alarm clock? No (I had to test this by taking the batteries out of said clock, putting them back in, resetting it, and then hearing the same intermittent beep). Eventually, I figured out that it was this thing on the ceiling that was beeping. I must admit that I did not first recognize that it was a smoke detector (can you tell they're not something I grew up being familiar with?). Great. Now I know what the problem is, but how do I fix it. This would be a good place to mention that I am about 5' 6"ish and my ceilings are a good 10'. Fortunately, my bed was located under the beeping alarm (which could be heard throughout my house, thus necessitating it's being silenced). A blanket/pillow stack was thrown together, and (after a quick phone call to determine how to take the thing down) it was removed! Hooray! Apparently the battery was dead. How it was still beeping with a dead battery I do not know, but this magical device also figured out a way to beep even after I took the battery out! So, it ended up out on the balcony where it could beep to its heart's content and not bother anyone (anyone in my house, at least:)).
      What does this have to do with this week? Well, I returned from school one day, and what sound greeted my ears? You guessed it! That same beeping. However, now I was prepared with the knowledge that it was another smoke detector dying. I located the offending unit (fortunately, my house is not that big, so it didn't take too long:)): the living room. Uh-oh. . . No handy bed to use as a stacking device. . . I don't have a ladder. . . back of the couch won't hold my weight. . . stool on couch is too rickety. . . ah ha! Stool on chair might work! Thankfully, it did! and without the images of broken legs that were running through my head becoming a reality. This detector joined its brother out on the balcony. Here's a picture of my "ladder.":)

     So that was my smoke detector adventure. Now for candlelight. Last night I had gotten back from school, eaten my left-overs, and sat down to organize and grade papers (a never-ending job, as any teachers out there will know). Just as I was starting to get really into the job. . .POOF! out went the lights. Now, losing power is not an incredibly unusual thing here, but since I had so much to get done, I was slightly put out (:)). I checked the fusebox. There was nothing wrong as far as I could tell. So I set myself up to work in the dark. Thanks to my mom's thoughtfulness, I have nearly a million tea-light candles, so I pulled them out, set them up around my papers and proceeded to grade in the dark. I would pull out the flashlight on my phone to more closely examine projects that were supposed to be colored. Now that I think about it, not only was it a huge fire hazard, but I wouldn't have had a smoke detector to go off if (perish the thought) the candles had caught some papers on fire! However, after fearing for those papers, the next thing that came to my mind was water. I did still have water, but my concern became about whether or not I would be able to take a hot or even lukewarm shower the next morning since my heater is electric and the gas one also has some kind of electrical connection. My gracious neighbor K offered to let me shower at her house in the morning, so I went to bed with a back-up plan, praying that the power would just come back on during the night (though the fact that it seemed I was the only one in my building without electricity didn't seem promising). 

     Next morning: no power. I was too lazy to go to the trouble of taking all my stuff over to K's, so I decided to brave the cold shower (with the plan that if I took my shower early enough I would be able to get back under my covers and warm up before going to school). I began taking off layers to help lower my body temperature so that the freezing water would not be such a shock. The sweatshirt went first, followed by the socks. I shivered and psyched myself into the shower, turned on the water, and  . . . . it was hot! I have no idea how it was hot, but it was. I think that it was my Father looking out for me, answering my pryers for power by giving me hot water. He blessed me beyond measure!:) 

     This story also has a happy ending. While I was wearing my awesome slippers (hence the title) for pajama day at school (picture below), our amazing handy man (for lack of a better title) came and fixed my electricity! 

    So, that's my exciting week. Who knows what lies in the three days left of the week!