A lesson in Carbon Monoxide

Last night I was sitting at the top of the stairs working on the computer and Brian was downstairs reading and cooking. All of a sudden the carbon monoxide alarm started going off - it was alarming "move to fresh air" - it wasn't the battery light, it was the alarm. We, naturally, started to panic a little and immediately opened all the windows and turned on the fans. We called the emergency maintenance number and the guy told me that it was probably the battery and instructed me as to how to take out the battery. He then said he would come by in the morning to install new detectors. I wasn't completely satisfied with this response, so I called my brother-in-law, Luis, since he has worked in maintenance at apartments. He basically said the same thing, which made us feel better. While I was on the phone with Luis, I noticed that we had another detector downstairs, in the living room - which wasn't going off. Interesting...made me think it was probably the battery too. Then, I was reading the back of the detector, which said to call 911 or Fire Dept if alarm goes off. So, I called the Boston Fire Dept and asked them if taking the battery out was the best idea. The man wasn't very nice on the phone. He told me to put the battery back in and that he was going to send some people over to check things out. Of course the alarm stopped beeping once the battery was back in, making it look like it might have just been the battery. Brian and I were waiting and within a few minutes we hear the sirens approaching - I didn't think the sirens were necessary. Three fire fighters came in with all their gear on, one carrying the CO detector. Brian showed two of them the alarm that was going off and the other was with me downstairs checking the stove. They said the detector probably wouldn't pick anything up now that all the windows were opened (I was hoping for a little more praise that we did ventilate the rooms!). They only stayed a few minutes, made sure we were feeling okay and said to call them back if the alarm began going off again. One thing we learned from them was that CO is heavy and that the detectors need to be placed low to the ground. Ours, like everywhere you usually see them, are high on the wall. One of the guys said to Brian "you would die in your sleep by the time it reached a detector that high". We told the Fire Dept that we would let the maintenance person know that when installing them. So, when maintenance came early this morning we let him know, but he said he has never seen it low to the ground and that they are always installed on the wall, a little lower than the smoke detectors. We tried. I was telling Brian that it needs to be a better known fact to have CO detectors near the ground because I am sure these are improperly installed everywhere! Perhaps they are placed high for aesthetic reasons, but it seems like an important enough device to install properly. Anyway, we learned a lot from this experience and are thankful that it wasn't anything & we are okay.

My 29th Birthday

 

After working 6 days in a row (which I had never done), we headed back to California for my niece's baptism and a little shower with some friends. We left Boston early on my birthday and arrived in Cali late afternoon - I got a couple birthday wishes at the airport and we got to board with the families on Southwest, which allowed us to sit together thankfully! So, I like to think that was my treat for flying on my birthday. :) Once we got settled in, we went to dinner with my mom's side of the family at the amazing Woodranch. Unfortunately my mom wasn't feeling too good, but it was just nice to be able to spend my birthday with family! We saw all the parents that first night in California!!! :)

Enjoying Summer

As usual, on nice days (when I'm off of work) we like to get out and try to go somewhere new. One afternoon we went to Castle Island/Pleasure Bay in South Boston for an afternoon walk. It was quite windy with a little rain, but otherwise a beautiful day.

Hurricane Irene ruined my Cape Cod birthday plans last year, so we decided to use our hotel credit this summer. We drove down to the Cape and wandered around Chatham for the afternoon. One of our favorite things to do is walk around little unique town shops. After exploring Chatham, we drove to our hotel in West Dennis, MA. It was so nice to just relax and enjoy being near the beach. We saw our first East Coast sunset! Then we watched some of the Olympics (which we were pretty into this summer) and then went to dinner at The Ocean House. The food was amazing - Brian, naturally, got lobster and I got a steak. We slept in and then read a little out on our little cottage porch, then checked out and headed to the other side of the Cape to explore and shop. We headed home in the late afternoon and had a nice phone chat with Angie to catch up while driving home.

Our Cape Cod Cottage at the Lighthouse Inn

 Dinner at the Ocean House

The young crowd at work requested a night off work so that we could all go out for dinner. We sat on a rooftop in downtown Boston on a lovely summer evening. My co-workers in this picture are (from Left to Right) Merideth, Jill, Kristen, (me), Lauren and Rosalind. We had a great time, even though we still talked a lot about work  haha.
 
Dinner at a friends house for his birthday. The Kelly's on the left and the Jones' in the middle. These two ladies will be throwing me a little baby shower here in Boston in a couple weeks. :)

Brian and I went to a farm one afternoon to pick our own vegetables. We picked green beans, corn, tomatoes, and apples. We used all the veggies for our next two dinners - they were all yummy!! It's super fun to go farming and we plan to do lots more of it!

After coming home from the farm, we stopped by the little summer festival that our apartment complex was having. They had a BBQ, games and activities for the kids, tons of bounce-houses, and a little petting zoo. We didn't stay long - just enough to check it out...and get some free water haha.

That's a little of what we have been up to on my days off! :)