Flaming Aftermath

We are going to be out of town for the next few days. Hubby has some male bonding convention/sport thing and invited us along for the hotel pool privileges.

I may or may not post. Just depends. My hope is to get some work done now that the stomach flu has had its way with me. I've been kind of useless most of the week due to all the puking.

So...the fire. The dry cleaner is cleaning the drapes with some kind of ozone therapy which is recommended for fire damaged textiles.

We will be throwing out the area rugs in the dining room and the blinds in the kitchen. The hubby has the nose of a dead man and thinks everything smells fiiiine. So we are in delicate negotiations regarding what will be kept and thrown out. I am losing, badly, which is kind of odd given that if I can smell it and I have asthma and since it bothers me, shouldn't we cater to the more sensitive nose/pair of lungs???

We are also washing the walls and cupboards with baking soda water. Plus, setting out bowls of vinegar. Yes, vinegar, plain white vinegar. It's actually really good at absorbing odors from fires. Just like the internet said. Amazing.

For the most part, the way I look at it, we learned a very important lesson on fire safety at a very low cost.

We need smoke detectors in completely different locations. Our house has a closed floor plan and smoke travels slowly (in fact most of the smoke damage came after the fire was out) meaning, by the time our current detector sensed it, the fire would have outpaced the smoke and we would have been trapped.

Basically, our previous level of fire safety? Was lethal. I'm grateful we are finding this out now.

Note that our fire safety met recommended guidelines and conformed to popular advice. Make of that what you will, but the fireman friend I talked to? Gave me tips that run counter to what the officials say. Such as there should be a smoke detector in your kitchen, even if that means it goes off every time you cook.

He also rolled his eyes at me a lot and thought stupid at me so hard, I could hear it.

I'm adding a new rule for living with whacked out adrenals: No cooking when you are so tired you can't see straight.

And everyone should take a second to be sure that their fire detectors work and maybe add a few. Smoke detectors have a life span of about 10 years. The battery may be okay, but the sensor can go bad, so if your smoke detectors are about 10 years old, pitch 'em and get new ones.

PS: I haven't had to updose yet! Yay! I am tired. Not gonna lie. But I think it will be okay.

PPS: The asthma is okay. I'm congested enough to have lost my voice, but not tight and it's probably going to be fine.

PPPS: Remember the five cavities I had filled? Weeeeell, I'm having some issues (Of course! Silly me expecting things to go well!). Crossing fingers I don't have to go back in for a root canal, a redo on the filling or antibiotics for an infection.