At least we're alive....

I guess it's a GOOD thing when your morning is defined by the fact that everyone is still alive but by golly I don't need this kind of stress right now!

Yesterday my husband suprised me by telling me "by the way, mom & dad are coming over for dinner tonight." If he was any other man I probably would have slapped him, but lucky for him he's special lol. I cleaned up real quick and managed to put together a dessert and shoved it in the oven. My husband grilled pork ribs and I baked potatoes and we cheated and bought salad from our local convinience store. All in all, it was a great dinner, and the dessert was suprisingly fantastic.

I did not use the stove-top, I used the oven and I usually (obsessively compulsively) go ahead and make sure all five dials are in the "off" position before I leave the stove, then double check the oven dial because once I accidentally left it running and I have never ever heard the end of it from my husband. However since people were there and since I knew The Mr was grilling outside and did not use the stove and since I knew I used the oven I just made sure I shut the oven off and that was that.

This morning I woke up to a strange smell. My brain told me it was gas but I figured it couldn't be because I made sure the oven was off. The Mr didn't say anything about the smell and I knew my sense of smell isn't the best so I tried to ignore it but it wouldn't go away. I asked my oldest daughter Poinsettia to check all the knobs on the stove and make sure they were off. She came back in a microsecond and said they were off.

I suspect she just looked at them though and didn't acutally check because the smell started really freaking me out and I finally checked it myself and guess what? The left front burner was turned up all the way open!

Three possibilities: One: Somehow I turned the thing on without realizing it (hopefully NOT in my sleep - that would be very disturbing). Two: A kid (or two) came out and either messed with it or tried to turn it on or maybe even wanted to try to cook something and since it didn't light they just left it. Three (and the most popular according to the children): A ghost did it.

I'm thinking it was #2 but of course no one will admit to it. I freaked out anyway. Luckily I was too lazy to turn off the two exhaust fans last night but since I did not there has been a constant stream of outward air flow all night long, so all I had to do this morning was open up a few windows and the smell was gone inside of two hours. Isn't the gas that comes out of the oven carbon monoxide? I thought it was one of the main components. If that's the case and it was on all night couldn't we all have died or am I overimagining things?

But first of all, I have no clue what kind of gas comes out of that thing, and second of all, the CO detector did not go off so I have to assume no one was in actual danger...but I freaked out anyway. I'm a worst case scenario type of person. I and my people believe this to be a self-protecting trait because I imagine the worst thing ever to happen and then whatever actually happened is a lot easier to deal with. And now I'm sure I will be back to obsessively compulsively checking all the oven knobs twice every night to make sure no one will die in their sleep that night because all morning all I thought was "we could have all died! we could have all died!"

Maybe I was still stressed because I've been dealing with a horde of trojan viruses on my computer and I'm terrified of loosing the three years of pictures I still have on it. I need NEED to back those things up asap - but in my mind if I try to back them up the trojan will sneak onto my CD and then infect every computer I ever install those pictures onto. Worst case scenario LOL. So The Mr and I are busy trying to get rid of all traces of the stupid viruses.

To add to all that today is the day I am meeting our new lawyer to discuss our current situation. The situation that I of course can't even talk to anyone about until it's over - which is just as stress inducing because I like to get a hundred different opinions on such events to figure out what to do and it's highly stressful to have to keep it to myself (&the immediate circle of family/friends). That added to the fact that The Mr and I feel it's best not to discuss any part of it with the children who are my main source of conversation during the day is loads of "fun" also. I struggle with this decision. Ever since I was told my mom was getting better every day and she died (breast cancer) I don't feel like I should keep things from my children. I know some can handle it but some wouldn't - at least not very well. On one hand I feel I shouldn't make them worry if I don't have to but on the other hand if there is going to be a big change in their lives I should really prepare them. But the Mr is adamant on keeping it quiet until we know for sure there is something worth talking about so I concede to his will this time.

Stress! Wish me luck (and make sure your oven is off!). I will be having a long discussion with all my kids on WHY the oven should always be shut off and never played with and I am seriously entertaining the idea of installing security cameras in my house to find out who is stealing my food & pop and who is now apparently playing with the oven! What if someone is sleepwalking?