Moving Out of Limbo Land

I feel like I've been in limbo lately.  In my last post I told you how we had to evacuate our house because our carbon monoxide detector was going off...and my husband was away.

We spent 2 nights away from home just to be safe.  The first night we spent with my in-law's and the second night we spent at my parent's house.  

I tried to grab the stuff I thought I would need for myself and 4 boys, and I inevitably forgot some stuff.  But we made do.  

I am so thankful to be back in my house!  My husband came home yesterday (with a deer too!) and we think we've determined that the detector went off for some various reasons...

 - Some home carbon monoxide detectors are hypersensitive and will detect trace amounts of the gas even if it hasn't reached dangerous levels.

 - The coal we were burning while he was gone is a carbon based fuel and emits more carbon monoxide than wood.

 - The chimney and pipe got a good cleaning from my husband ( he did clean it earlier this year too) and that seemed to help

 - We discovered that if we leave certain vents open on the furnace it seems to help keep gases and smoke from backing up and out of the furnace.

We were probably never really in danger.  But it's so much better to be safe.

A couple thoughts from these past few days...

1.  As crazy as my tiny fixer upper house makes me sometimes, it is still home.  And, there is nothing quite like being home.

2.  We are so fortunate that we have family close by and that we have family that doesn't hesitate to lend us a hand.  Even though my husband, my older 2 boys, and I slept here last night, my mom offered to keep the younger 2 overnight again.  And, she'll be bringing them home later today.  She wanted to give me a chance to catch up on some laundry and household stuff.  What a blessing!

3.  Although I sometimes lament that we never call in a professional for anything, it really is such a relief that my husband can handle almost any job that comes up.  He is a very talented man and I'm always amazed at what he is able to do.  He fixes our vehicles, does all our remodeling work, fixes any system in the house that needs attention - electrical, plumbing, heating, etc.  

4.  My boys take the cue from me.  Were we going to treat this whole situation as an adventure or as a hindrance to our life?  I probably didn't set the tone as well as I would have liked.  But, it gave me food for thought.

Now, I really do have other stuff I've been planning on sharing...with pictures!  If I can just get them all downloaded....

Have a great day!