Carbon Monoxide Scare

I grew up with a wood fireplace and I loved it. The hardest part was getting it started and all you really need is the stuff from the dryer and it worked well enough.  In our house here we have a gas fireplace and it doesn't have a pilot light. A little daunting, but not impossible. This ridiculously cold San Diego weather has had us with the fireplace on the last few days.

Well, earlier today I was sitting on the couch talking with a friend and an alarm went off upstairs "beep beep beep, carbon monoxide detected". Yeah, I immediately kind of freaked out.  But I went upstairs, got the alarm down, tried to shut it off, and finally just took the battery out to make it stop and then just sat back down on the couch. Even though I grew up in Florida where hurricanes and generators and carbon monoxide poisoning were all something I knew a lot about -- kind of second nature of sorts. And then a bad snowstorm hit Connecticut a few years ago and my Uncle suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning. After a hospital visit he was ok, but it was a big scary reality check.  Once both my aunt and grandma found out we were using our gas fireplace they both insisted on us getting a carbon monoxide detector. I forgot. So you can see why I was so surprised when the beeping started. The home owners are obviously a lot smarter than I gave them credit for.

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/8769255/?claim=cep9gr42n36">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Anyways, after Nic called freaking out about my "relaxed" text we got out of the house and called San Diego Gas and Electric, at 10:48 am. Well, they informed me that even though it's a fire place, a gas fireplace should burn completely blue -- not any yellow, orange or red. Ours was a beautiful yellow, red, and orange. Whoops.

Now I'm sitting here waiting for these idiots to get here over 8 hours later. When there could be a carbon monoxide leak and realistically we could be dead. The guy on the phone even said not to leave the house unless we leave a note on the door because they'll break the door if we don't answer seeing how we could be dead or dying inside. But they obviously didn't care enough to come in a reasonable amount of time. . And everyone wonders why I dislike people.

The moral of this story is to make sure you have a carbon monoxide detector somewhere in your house, all gas burns blue, and that companies and people pretty much suck. Make sure to stay warm with the right kind of heat everyone.

An update: The man just left after finally coming at 8:30 pm. We learned that the gas fireplace will sometimes burn the yellow/orange pretty colors because they made it that way for the ambiance. . Our chimney wasn't opened. I can't stress how important it is to make sure you have a carbon monoxide detector! He measured how much was coming out and we would have been in a ton of trouble if we didn't. But now we're safe and sound with a safe fireplace again. Wahoo! 

Our Big Little Garden

We've been living here for almost three weeks so I think it's time to finally share some of our house with everyone! If you follow me on instagram you've already seen glimpse of our fantastic yard but I promise there's even more to see.

One of the selling points of this rental was that there was a big yard with actual grass. All of the houses we had been looking at either had no yards, a tiny yard, or no grass -- none of which really worked with our family. I missed my parents yard and knew how much easier it was going to make life with the dogs. I also wanted to be able to have somewhere to keep gardening and actually eat dinner outside. Then we found this house and all was well.

I had a teary goodbye to a tomato plant I'd been nurturing since before the wedding and finally had a bunch of little green tomatoes before we left. The poor thing would have never survived our cross country road trip so I gave it to my favorite people in the whole wide world -- my grandparents. It got a great home. Nevertheless it was depressing, so you have to believe my utter excitement when we walked in the gate and saw our yard and the biggest tomato plant with the largest tomatoes ever was just sitting there. I'm in heaven.

We have plumerias, hibiscus, roses, basil, limes, about 5 different types of peppers that I don't know how to use, eggplants and so much more. And our neighbors have an apple tree and the apples are red but they aren't picking them. I'm trying to work up the nerve to go knock on their door and ask to pick them, but, I'm terrified that they're going to look at me like I'm crazy and say no.

Here are some pictures. If you're ever in California please come visit. I would love to have guests over to sit at our table with some lemonade or mojitos and just talk. (I'm feeling a bit homesick).

We have tons of peppers and veggies that were growing in the yard. Our neighbors also have an apple tree that I was planning on picking from, but, they picked them all a few days ago. 

We have so many different types of flowers blooming! 

We're decorating for fall/Halloween this weekend so you can expect some fabulous festive pictures sometime soon. And next week you might just get to see the inside of our home. Eek!

Visiting Home

As I sat on my flight I realized quite a few different things, the main being that I’m going home and that’s not Orlando. . strange concept. When we were moving me up to Towson mom made a funny comment about how I’m never going to live at home again. I’ll be honest, I blew it off as an emotional mom moment but this past week has made it concrete. I won’t.

:: cue awkwardness as I start to tear up on an airplane ::

I needed this vacation. . not like that was a secret from anyone. Almost four months away from the familiarity, the beach, and having “no worries” was killing me. I missed my old job and coworkers, my eighties nights, being tan, and most importantly – my family. My missing my niece’s birthday party, and knowing it’s not going to be the last big event that I’ll miss was killing me. And knowing that’s a part of “growing up” doesn’t make it easier.

Walking out of the MCO I was greeted with the familiar heat that I miss, a few rays of good strong sun and my adorable niece, nephew and older sister. Kaiden and Vivi were as excited to see me as I was to see them but as soon as I got in the car I didn’t receive a “Hi titi!” but instead it was a “Where’s Eevah!?!?!” – it felt good to be home. Things worked out were I was even fortunate enough to go house hunting with them as they found their new home!

I ventured out with my sister and brother-in-law to re-celebrate my 21^st birthday and their house signing only to almost be denied entrance into I-Bar. My first time out in Orlando as myself and not my alter ego Amanda and my REAL id is almost denied. . . the irony.

The weekend was spent frolicking around St. Pete Beach. I got to soak up some sun, drink some desperately needed lava flows (pina colada and strawberry daiquiri mixed together – oh my lanta delicious) and just relax with my parents. I got to be home for my dad’s birthday.

I saw my old coworkers and hung out with some of my closest friends. I didn’t get to see everyone I wanted to, nor do everything I wanted to, but I’m walking away from home contented. Things change. Sometimes we sadly lose some of our closest friends and we can’t change that.  You can try to change it but sometimes it won’t work. And at least I can say I tried.

I already miss everything about home, but at the same time I’m excited to be back at this “home”. The air is getting a little crisper and I can honestly say I'm quite excited for scarfs and footballs game. Both places seem to be my home now. And as one of my favorite friends pointed out "home is where your heart is, and yours is in Annapolis". 

To part, here's what I saw most of my flight home. My dog is such a diva. (Please note the paw)