Lesson Learned . . .

I am definitely feeling grateful today.  I'm thankful that my husband FINALLY cleaned up the garage and put all the empty cardboard boxes we've been unpacking up on the garage beams and out of the way!!!!

I'm VERY thankful that I woke up this morning to two dead cockroaches in my entry-way!  Hey -- that sure beats the four live ones I've found other mornings and killed this week!  Looks like the spray is WORKING!!!!

And I am incredibly THANKFUL that I learned a valuable lesson.  Yesterday, I put the twins down for a nap and went to take a shower.  Without realizing that one of them had turned the dial on the stove and turned on the GAS.  Oh, yes!  Which would have been one thing if my trek to the shower had been just a normal trek.  But it was interrupted by a few things, and then by a screaming Abby who decided to cut her nap VERY SHORT and . . . so I could still GET that shower . . . subsequently got a shower with Mommy while Isaac finished his nap. 

As we emerged from the shower and came out into the living room to get Abby dressed, I was amazed to turn the corner in the hallway to be nearly knocked off my rocker by the smell of gas.  I immediately went to the kitchen and saw the dial that had been turned to HIGH and turned it off.  Then I did what any uninformed, well-intentioned mother would do.  I got the most powerful air purifiers from our purifier-filled house and moved them into the kitchen and entry way.  And I turned them on high.  

In the meantime, Isaac woke from his nap; and they both wanted to watch the "frog movie" -- The Letter Factory Alphabet Movie.  So I decided we needed out of the house as soon as possible and put them in front of the t.v. while I ran back to finish getting dressed and get out of that house.  But I stopped dead in my tracks as I remembered that Dave had the car, and we were pretty much stuck. 

By this time, I mused, the smell was already subsiding a LOT, so maybe it would be okay if we just waited it out.  And we did.  And it was.

And then Dave came home and told me -- oh wise Electrical Engineer that he is -- that I had done the WORST possible thing you could do in that situation!  Huh?  Well, apparently the air purifiers don't clean gas out of the air (though it sure appeared to me that they were doing a fine job!).  No -- because gas is a chemical or something or other and can't be cleaned OUT of the air like dust or pollen or whatever. 

In fact, the electrial currents from the purifiers COULD HAVE CAUGHT ON FIRE from the gas and BLOWN UP OUR ENTIRE HOUSE!!!  Wow.  That's kind of a bigger deal than I thought.  And then he informed me that even using my small cell phone could have caused the same reaction and that the BEST thing to do in a situation like that . . . should one unfortunately occur again . . . is open the windows and leave the house immediately!!!

So now you know.  Just in case you ever find yourself with a gas-filled room because some curious toddler turned the dial on the stovetop.  Or for whatever other myriad of reasons might leave you caught in a similar situation.