SmmOOOOkin'
What's smokin' you ask?
My Wall.
Or really, my wall sconce-the electrical kind.
Oh, yes, welcome to my life.
So 20 minutes before I'm supposed to head to Sari's 3 year well check at our Dr.'s (50 minutes away), Mimi comes running to declare that there is smoke coming out of the hall light. Luckily, Marie's husband had just arrived to pick up M, and so he helped me get the breaker turned off (in an old house, finding the right breaker takes flipping every one until you just hit the right one-this one light switch, near our master bedroom, shares a circuit with ONE outlet in the kitchen, our phone outlet, and the washing machine, LOL).
He also gave me the number for an electrician that would not break the bank, which was good because my husband was down in O-town, and couldn't get back any time soon. We have such OLD wiring that it is knob and tube (I think that's what it's called) and it is wrapped in HEMP. Yep, so I could have left the light ON, stood in the hall way, and inhaled deeply and not cared that my house was burning down OR I could have turned the light and breaker off, had the hemp wrapping smouldering in the wall even with the breaker off, and have it spontaneously combust at 2 AM. SO, I opted for the third option, which was cancel the Dr.'s appt., say some ridiculously cruel things to my husband (NOT advisable, by the way...boy do I have some apologizing to do) about the fact hat he wasn't able to come home and deal with this, and call the electrician Marie's husband recommended. The electrician was wonderful. Originally, he wanted to come tomorrow, but when I explained that I needed to know there wasn't a fire lurking in our wall, he LEFT THE JOB HE WAS ON, and drove to our house right away. He found the problem, fixed it as best he could without pulling all new wiring to and from that outlet, and then REFUSED TO BE PAID. I'm still floored. He left his card, and I'm happy to pass on his name. We will certainly use him in the future for our many "to-do" electrical things. THAT was an answer to prayer from a faithful God even when I am behaving poorly, and that's grace, pure and simple.
Here I was angry with my husband about how much calling an electrician would cost us when my husband could probably fix it himself if he would have put the family needs first and just come home. But God's plan is so much better and bigger than ours. He had it all under control. My husband's job keeps the roof over our head, and I know that, but having grace in stressful times is something I really struggle with, so God gives me the opportunity to practice it frequently. Sadly, I'm dense, and I will probably take a long time to mature on that front.
Kay Arthur just had a tidbit on our local radio station about wives and husbands and I heard it 2 days in a row. I know God needed me to hear it and really learn it as truth, but I am a little (okay-a lot) hard-headed in that area. So instead, I live it out with an almost-fire in my wall.
But we can sleep well tonight, and have bought ourselves some time to fix the larger "ancient wiring runs throughout our house" problem. And the electrician had some heat shrinking wire wrap that my husband would not have had that he was able to use to coat the wiring that had begun to smoulder. (Here's proof that God is in the details-the electrician did not have his heat gun with him to use that heat shrinking wrap, but WE had one-our friend loaned it to us a few weeks ago to work on our floor project. SO he was able to use that product, and it was a much better solution than electrical tape would have been.)
Anyway, I'm off to bed for a smoke-free night. Praise God!
My Wall.
Or really, my wall sconce-the electrical kind.
Oh, yes, welcome to my life.
So 20 minutes before I'm supposed to head to Sari's 3 year well check at our Dr.'s (50 minutes away), Mimi comes running to declare that there is smoke coming out of the hall light. Luckily, Marie's husband had just arrived to pick up M, and so he helped me get the breaker turned off (in an old house, finding the right breaker takes flipping every one until you just hit the right one-this one light switch, near our master bedroom, shares a circuit with ONE outlet in the kitchen, our phone outlet, and the washing machine, LOL).
He also gave me the number for an electrician that would not break the bank, which was good because my husband was down in O-town, and couldn't get back any time soon. We have such OLD wiring that it is knob and tube (I think that's what it's called) and it is wrapped in HEMP. Yep, so I could have left the light ON, stood in the hall way, and inhaled deeply and not cared that my house was burning down OR I could have turned the light and breaker off, had the hemp wrapping smouldering in the wall even with the breaker off, and have it spontaneously combust at 2 AM. SO, I opted for the third option, which was cancel the Dr.'s appt., say some ridiculously cruel things to my husband (NOT advisable, by the way...boy do I have some apologizing to do) about the fact hat he wasn't able to come home and deal with this, and call the electrician Marie's husband recommended. The electrician was wonderful. Originally, he wanted to come tomorrow, but when I explained that I needed to know there wasn't a fire lurking in our wall, he LEFT THE JOB HE WAS ON, and drove to our house right away. He found the problem, fixed it as best he could without pulling all new wiring to and from that outlet, and then REFUSED TO BE PAID. I'm still floored. He left his card, and I'm happy to pass on his name. We will certainly use him in the future for our many "to-do" electrical things. THAT was an answer to prayer from a faithful God even when I am behaving poorly, and that's grace, pure and simple.
Here I was angry with my husband about how much calling an electrician would cost us when my husband could probably fix it himself if he would have put the family needs first and just come home. But God's plan is so much better and bigger than ours. He had it all under control. My husband's job keeps the roof over our head, and I know that, but having grace in stressful times is something I really struggle with, so God gives me the opportunity to practice it frequently. Sadly, I'm dense, and I will probably take a long time to mature on that front.
Kay Arthur just had a tidbit on our local radio station about wives and husbands and I heard it 2 days in a row. I know God needed me to hear it and really learn it as truth, but I am a little (okay-a lot) hard-headed in that area. So instead, I live it out with an almost-fire in my wall.
But we can sleep well tonight, and have bought ourselves some time to fix the larger "ancient wiring runs throughout our house" problem. And the electrician had some heat shrinking wire wrap that my husband would not have had that he was able to use to coat the wiring that had begun to smoulder. (Here's proof that God is in the details-the electrician did not have his heat gun with him to use that heat shrinking wrap, but WE had one-our friend loaned it to us a few weeks ago to work on our floor project. SO he was able to use that product, and it was a much better solution than electrical tape would have been.)
Anyway, I'm off to bed for a smoke-free night. Praise God!
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P.S. We eat hemp seed in our smoothies occasionally. It's funny how it's so nutritional in seed form.