Category: House & Home

That Time I Called 911

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Picture this: It’s 5:45 am and you’re home alone standing in your bathroom naked except for a pair of underwear when your little dog starts growling and barking at the front door. Suddenly the doorbell rings and someone starts enthusiastically pounding on the door. You wait, hoping they go away, but they keep ringing the doorbell and pounding with an increased sense of urgency. You slowly make your way downstairs to see if you can peak through the side window without them noticing and see a big burly guy wearing a white t-shirt and tan jacket. You run upstairs to check if there’s any vehicles parked nearby to explain his presence but there’s nothing out of the ordinary. Meanwhile the ringing/pounding continues. What do you do?

Well, if you’re me, you dial 911 scared out of your mind. Which is what I did this morning. They took my address, name, number, and a description of the guy and then after checking their computer informed me that it was probably the fire department since they had a call for a carbon monoxide leak in a townhome at the end of my attached building. 911 was cautious about everything, however, and instructed me not to open the door until it was 100% confirmed. They also still sent a patrol car (it drove by just as everything was confirmed and I was opening the door). At that time two uniformed firefighters were coming out of my neighbor’s unit with the guy that, if I had nine lives, reduced mine to only eight today. I apologized for not answering sooner and for calling 911 but they were very understanding, as was the 911 agent who assured me I did the right thing by calling. They came inside to check the CO levels in my house and then promptly left.

In hindsight, I feel pretty silly but I was legitimately terrified while it was going on. I recall saying “please hurry, I’m really scared” to the 911 operator. In my defense, the guy at the door was not in uniform, nor did he announce who he was. I also subscribe to the fuck politeness theory and never answer the door unless I’m expecting someone, so I think it might be time to invest in a smart doorbell.

After calming down a bit, I posted what happened to Facebook and was reassured by many of my female friends that they would have done the same thing.

I really hate how hard it is to see out the front when people come to the door. We only have the side window next to the door which I have a shear drape over, so it’s pretty obvious if I look out there and still not answer, so I usually don’t even see the person. There’s awnings over the door area so looking out the side window upstairs reveals nothing, and the front windows are useless because the door is set back so far you can’t see it. It might be time to invest in a smart doorbell!

Game Night & Easter Decorating

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Friday (3/16) evening we hosted a game night for our friends Joe met through a former job. Everyone came over at 6 pm but we didn’t start playing any games until almost 9 pm and with the alcohol some people couldn’t really concentrate to play adequately. So next time we need to play first, then sit around and chat. Don’t get me wrong, it was still fun, but I was bummed we didn’t get to play as many games as I would have liked.

Saturday (3/17) was St. Patrick’s Day so we made corned beef and cabbage in the crockpot. It came out delicious, as always! Wookie spent most of the day sleeping. I think she was exhausted from not napping at all the entire time our friends were over. Plus we took her to Petsmart and Petco to look for an Easter outfit now that we’ve figured out a way to put clothes on her without her trying to bite us (basically we only put them on when she’s getting ready to go for a walk so they have a positive association with them). They didn’t have anything, though, so we left empty handed.

We did grab some McDonald’s for lunch, though. They had a BOGO offer for the fish sandwiches and we needed our annual Shamrock shake. It was rather disappointing, however. I think I’d rather try a mint shake elsewhere in the future.

Sunday (3/18) we tried Taco Bell for breakfast and it was pretty decent. I tried three of their $1 menu items:

Sausage Flatbread Quesadilla
Hash Brown
Mini Skillet Bowl

I wasn’t terribly impressed with the first two, but really enjoyed the bowl. It was larger than I expected for the price. I would definitely get that again.

We ran some errands including stopping at Visionworks in the mall so I could pick out some glasses. I need new ones since I rarely wear my contacts lately thanks to my eyes always feeling too dry. Plus I’ve gotten to that age where I need reading glasses if I wear my contacts which defeats the purpose of contacts anyway. Ugh! I made an appointment to come back and have an eye exam first and then I will order the glasses. I made note of the two pair I’m interested in, however, and they are both kids frames because I have a very small head and adult glasses are too big and tend to slide down my nose.

Before leaving the mall we stopped inside the arcade and I spotted this huge Disney Tsum Tsum game. How cute!

We also went to Half Price Books since it was 50% off coupon day. Joe got two video games and I got a new board game called Split Decision.

Today (3/19) I had to get some blood drawn for some annual testing and afterwards went to Hobby Lobby to look at Easter decor. Two different Instagram accounts had these cute little carrots in their post and when I asked where they came from they directed me to Hobby Lobby. So I picked up one set but now am wishing I had gotten two since they were only $1.80 for a three-pack (normally $3) since the Easter stuff was 40% off. I’m contemplating driving back over there to get more but I am battling laziness at the moment. I also got a pink ceramic bunny for $3.59 (normally $6). I ended up rushing out of there when I realized I had left my phone in my car. At first I freaked out not knowing where my phone was at all, but one it dawned on me I had left it sitting under the radio (because I had used the navigation to find my way from the lab to the store), I got super anxious thinking someone would peek in the car, see the phone, and break in to steal it. It took forever for me to calm down after that. Yay, anxiety!

I also stopped at Michael’s and got a couple of things, one of which I’ve decided to take back – a bouquet of fake flowers – since it’s “shedding” little plastic pieces all over and annoying me. Plus Wookie will just eat them if they get on the floor so they aren’t worth keeping.

Once I got home I pulled all my Easter decor out and decorated the house. I have a bunch of things I’m going to get rid of that I never use that I put in a box in the garage which will make room for my newer pieces. Here’s how everything turned out:

The bunny on the left is from Hobby Lobby, the clear cake stand is from Target, the doily is from Michaels ($1.50 but got it for $0.75), the bunny is from Hallmark from many years ago, and I’m not sure where the larger bunny on the far right came from since I’ve had it so long.

The Easter sign is from the Target spot ($3) and the bunnies might be from Michaels but again, I’ve had them too long to remember.

The mantel photo above looks weird because I used the panorama function on my phone and it didn’t do the best job. I believe the tin cups are from the Target spot, the brown bunnies I’ve had for awhile, the gray bunnies are from Walmart, and the carrots are new from Hobby Lobby. The actual spacing between the grey and brown bunnies is wider than shown in the photo due to the strange perspective of the panorama.

The white planter is from Savers and the carrots are from the Target spot and were $3.

Home Security

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Quite awhile ago, Joe purchased an Almond 3 Smart Home Wi-Fi System primarily as a wi-fi extender so we’d get better signal on our second floor. However, it can also be used as a home security system. The problem is trying to find compatible devices. After some searching he found motion detectors and sensors for the doors and windows that work perfectly. He installed and tested them today, including a smart outlet that can be programmed to switch on and off at particular times and tied to certain rules. An example would be “if off, but the back door opens past x time, automatically turn on”. Everything can be monitored and controlled from an app on your phone and tablet too. It’s pretty cool.

Needless to say, we’ll be cancelling our $40 per month home security plan with Comcast/Xfinity this week since we’ll no longer need it. I’m looking forward to getting rid of their home screen device and special router so I have more space on my desk.

Transition Piece(s) & Oktoberfest

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Friday after Joe came home from work we took care of some errands which included taking donations to Savers (remnants of what we weren’t able to sell at the garage sale last year plus some clothing I no longer wanted) and recycled our old lightbulbs at the Lowes before shopping at Costco.

Saturday was our busy, but fun, day this weekend. Joe installed the transition pieces in the morning and I think they look pretty good. 1st photo is before and 2nd one is after.

The only thing that annoys me is that crease in the carpet. It was there before, though, I just forgot about it because we were using an area rug to cover the spot to stop Wookie from picking at the carpet. I just have to get used to not stepping on the transition piece directly which for some reason I tend to do.

Saturday afternoon we went to our town’s Germanfest (aka Oktoberfest) with our friends K & E. I had a schnitzel sandwich and Joe got the pork shank which he thought was good but not worth $16 for the plate. Between our food and his single beer we spent $33! It was hot outside and even though we were in a tent away from the sun it was still too warm to spend much time there, plus the band was hella loud, so after an hour we headed back to our place to cool off.

We played a game called Loaded Questions which our friends brought over, had dinner (Joe made meatball sandwiches), and watched Popstar. I don’t think our friends enjoyed it as much as we do, plus I was annoyed by the fact that the Blu-ray wouldn’t load. Luckily the set came with a DVD version but that sucks because Joe bought it for me back in January for my birthday and I hadn’t opened it so there’s nothing I can do about the issue now.

Our friends had fun interacting with Wookie. She has gotten better with people in general, but especially those she remembers, so she didn’t bark at them when they first came over. In fact she wouldn’t go to sleep after they left because I think she thought they were still there. I had carry her through the house to show her it was empty before she’d calm down. I think because she didn’t nap most of the day she was overtired, but she made up for it on Sunday with several naps.

Sunday I made chili in the crockpot and Joe made cornbread in his cast iron skillet. Both came out delicious! Now that it’s football season our Sundays will be mostly at home days although I plan to get to the arborteum soon to check out the changing leaves. We can get there early and be in home in time for a noon game though.

Things I organized over the weekend:
The portion of the garage in front of my car including the shelving unit
My marbles and candle stuff in the hall closet
The pet room

Fall Decor Whore

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I know that fall isn’t actually here yet but that didn’t stop me for decorating for it on Friday.

Nor did it stop us from picking up some Halloween, Day of the Dead, and fall decor from Target and Michaels respectively.

From Target we got Day of the Dead light-up canisters and a Halloween sign I plan to hang in my work cubicle.

From Michaels we got the red leaf in the middle of the CD cabinet (the rest of the items being given to me by my mom last year) and the skull placemat that we intend to hang on the wall. We also got a pumpkin praline scented candle for only $2 and lit it as soon as we got home. It smells amazing!

I love fall so much! Too bad it turns into winter which sucks.

On the plus side, I picked up two sets of wool socks from Costco so my feet should stay nice and toasty.

I especially love the patterns available this year.