Mice and fire

Both of the above words caused me quite a bit of anxiety yesterday. Our bedroom is in an addition in our house; therefore, it does not have central air/heat. Is that what it is called? I don't know much about the technical terminology here. I just know that we have a space heater in the winter, and a window A/C unit for the summer. The space heater works great. My mother-in-law was kind enough to give it to us. It heats the room extremely well...too much at times, which is great because that means we won't overheat it during the winter months, like we have with space heaters in the past.

The air conditioner is a different story. During the hottest summer days, it barely cools the room down. The room remains humid and smells musty all summer. But it is better than nothing. So I am thankful for it, though I am never content wouldn't mind a better window unit. We've had it for years and it was well-used before we took possession of it. So I am convinced that if we had a better, newer model that our room would stay pleasant and we could actually keep the door open. Currently though, it cools the room better and keeps our central A/C from kicking on too much if we leave the door shut. Which is just as well since our bedroom is a an embarrassing disaster area that I am absolutely ashamed of, yet unwilling to do anything about catch-all for pretty much everything that doesn't have a home.

ANYWAY...

Last night while we had friends over playing bridge, I started smelling something. Burning. Something was just not quite right. It seemed to be coming from the kitchen. Of course, I remained rooted to my spot, envisioning Kris opening up the bedroom door (that is off the kitchen) and flames being everywhere, however unrealistic that might have been. It wasn't nearly that bad, but there was smoke throughout the room. The wiring or something went wrong behind the outlet the A/C was plugged into and melted the faceplate and a plug cover that was in it. Who knows what else would have happened if we hadn't been home! I am so thankful we were there and awake and able to deal with it. Kris and one of our friends went to Walgreens to get a surge protector and/or something else to hopefully keep it from happening again.

The mouse we've been housing for a week or so made another appearance last night. It was hiding out underneath the dishwasher and kept peeking its head, looking at me. Testing me. Taunting me. Of course it creeped me out. I didn't scream so much. I'm pretty sure I freaked out a little bit though and got some laughs out of my friends and husband (i.e. I'm pretty sure they were making fun of me!) I'm a little hazy on the details. ;-) I hate that stupid mouse.

As I was writing this, a neighbor came over and said "Did you know your grill was on fire like that?" I asked in shock "It is?" Sure enough, when I went out there, having just preheated it to grill some pork steaks, it really was on fire. Not just on the inside either. The cover and handle are scorched. I turned the grill off but couldn't get close enough to turn the gas tank off yet. I couldn't lift the handle either (too hot) so it's still smoldering on the inside. My overactive imagination is now playing out scenarios where it explodes.

Granted, the house burning down would (hopefully) ensure that the mouse problem is solved. But I'm pretty sure I'd rather keep the mouse for a pet than go through that! A little later I decided to cook a pizza and also some toffee. I couldn't help but think "I wonder if one of these appliances will catch fire." They didn't. Today anyway...