And just like that, no more wood stove.

I'm way late on blogging about the holidays and whatnot, I know. BUT, seeing as how we came close to losing all our worldly possessions last night (save for my car, purse, and Hadley's basketball she somehow grabbed in the semi-chaos that was us evacuating) I feel the need to blog about this first.

So...yesterday was my last day off and I had the girls at home, fire going, almost all day save for an hour or so when the girls were at Mary's and I ran errands (I'm pretty sure I'm getting an iPhone5 for my bday, yeah!). The girls were good, we had fun, and then their witching hour before dinner began (you know, I'M STARVING and WHY CAN'T YOU HOLD ME AND COOK AT THE SAME TIME?! Joy, let me tell you.). After dinner, I just needed some me time so Adam took the girls downstairs while I cleaned up the kitchen to relax (reference Monica Geller). I was just putting the last dish in when Adam called me to come downstairs.

Somewhat annoyed (what could they POSSIBLY need now, I was almost done...) but equally curious at his tone of voice, I went downstairs to see what was going on. I quickly realized that there was WAY too much crackling in the woodstove pipe (what we now know is the super illegal, shouldn't have EVER passed inspection/code/anything pipe) and it was extremely hot (the pipe - the fire in the woodstove looked normal). Shoot. Chimney fire? We weren't sure but Adam choked out the fire from the woodstove end and went outside to look at the roof/chimney...only to find sparks flying out. For you non-woodstovians, that's not good. Or normal.

I started to freak out in my head but put on my big girl pants and removed all the super flammable dirty laundry from under the hot hot horizontal-going-to-fall-and-ruin-my-washer/dryer-start-my-house-on-fire pipe. The girls started to get curious about why we were running around doing unusual things so I took them upstairs while Adam looked for the number to the fire dept and I texted my dad (the fire king of all woodstoves). Adam went outside and looked again at the roof and told me I needed to take the girls and the dogs to Jason and Julie's.

Now, if you know Adam like I do, this guy does NOT freak out about anything (unless I'm out of line and freaking out about something for hours...he gets a little antsy about that, I suppose). Kid falls down stairs, fine after being checked? He's moved on (or at least looks all cool and smooth on the outside). Tire flat? Meh, fix and move on. It's how he is. He moves on quickly and well. SO, to have him tell me to pack up the kids (ie. coats on, maybe footwear) and throw the dogs in back of the Highlander and go meant that he was seriously concerned and I should probably freak out by jumping up and down crying in a snowbank outside. Thankfully that last little bit didn't happen and after a frantic "We're coming!! FIRE!!" phone call to the Gregory family, we were on our way and Adam had called 911 with a fire truck on the way (it ended up being 2, actually. See pictures on Facebook since I haven't had time to figure out my picture issue on here yet).

While the dogs hung out in the car and likely barked at the firemen for an hour, the girls and I hung out at the Gregorys (thank you thank you thank you, guys, for letting us interrupt your life! with company over!!) and Adam helped the firemen at our house. Some things we learned were:

1. Our woodstove is super illegal. Well, not the woodstove, that's a nice piece of work and would be expensive to buy. The hookup to outside? ILLEGAL and totally unsafe. The pipe went straight up out of the woodstove, 90 degree turn to a 6-8' horizontal pipe, and then another 90 degree turn up out the roof. We often wondered about this but it passed home inspection so...what do we know? I'd like my money back now, please, bad home inspector.
2. The woodstove is no longer connected to the grand outdoors. We have a big hole from our laundry room to the open outside and I'm sure it's only a matter of time before some idiot bird falls down the hole and we have him trapped in there sitting by the towel that is preventing the outside from coming in at the moment. The dogs will think this is the grandest thing ever and will likely never leave the laundry room when this finally happens. New Brittany Spaniel vertical jump records will be made.
3. Adam said the firemen chucked logs on fire out the door into snowbanks outside. He also said that when they took the super illegal horizontal pipe off to also be thrown in a snowbank outside, it was GLOWING hot and very much on fire. 
4. We learned that our chimney sweep we've used for the past 4-5 years is a moron who might not really know what he's doing. I'd like those $500 back now, please, thankyouverymuch. 
5. Our entire house now smells like we had a campfire in the middle of it, which I suppose we sort of did. Minus the marshmallows and s'mores. Bummer.
6. I am so very thankful that I didn't see most of what I've mentioned already, as my anxiety was kept to a moderate amount after the firetrucks arrived. They used huge fans to blow all the smoke out of the house so we didn't have to breathe it all in. The Wilton Fire Dept did a great job and we are indebted to them for their help.
7. I couldn't believe how clean they left the house. After 10 firemen traipsing through my house, I expected mess/footprints/debris galore but instead, it was minimal and cleaned up quickly. 
8. We won't be having fires in this house as long as we live here, even if the guy they recommended to come look at it and see if we even COULD legally/safely connect it again figures out a way to make it happen.
9. Our heating bills are going to skyrocket. 

 Things I am thankful for and proud of:

1. Morgan did extremely well when we told her there was an emergency (she understands this) and we had to leave NOW. She got her boots on, was in a good (not scared like mom) mood, and followed directions well. Since she didn't see anything really scary, she thought the whole thing was pretty neat, actually. We came home about 5 minutes before the firemen left so she got to talk to them and see their trucks from the outside. She got a teddy bear and Adam got a Wilton EMS bottle of water. I got a Hadley to hold. :) 
2. The Wilton Fire Dept. Excellent work, boys. And thank you. And please don't be so far away from our house next time b/c 25 minutes sort of seems like 25 days when you're hoping your house isn't burning down.
3. Great friends who took us in even though they had family visiting and fed my daughter another dinner b/c she acts like she's never been fed before if someone else is eating.
4. I'm beyond thankful it all went down like it did - It happened while Adam was home AND he was in the basement - I had that thing burning all day and it could have flared up any time and I was never down in the basement (except to watch Cinderella with the girls - that's right, I forgot) but it was almost perfect timing, if there is such a thing for this sort of adventure. We were able to give the girls their baths, get to sleep in our own beds in our own warm, functioning house, and everyone and thing was ok. 
5. I'm thankful for Febreeze and Wall Plug Ins. Hopefully we'll stop stinking soon if you have the honor of smelling our house any time soon. 

So now we find someone to cap the hole on the roof to avoid the idiot bird issue (or worse yet, furry critter!) and see if we are able to hook the woodstove back up for resale purposes. Adam will have to have a fire when I'm on the other side of the country b/c as far as I'm concerned, I'm done with them at this house. It could have been so much worse - thankfully it wasn't. Thank you to the outpouring of support and offering of help on Facebook last night. Lots of thankful prayers coming from the Schmidt household....