911. What's Your Emergency?

Date: Thursday night, about 7:30pm
Scene: Me, sitting on the couch with a glass of wine, feeding my baby and watching the Nanny Diaries
Key Players: Melissa, Addison, the two dogs, and wonderful nextdoor neighbor, Lesley
Husband: ****working late

So I'm just unwinding for the day feeding Addison her bottle before bedtime and enjoying a little glass of wine when the worst smell overcomes me. Seriously....distinct smell of something burning...most likely plastic. I look around thinking...am I imagining this? But, no....Harper, our shih-poo is down the hall with his nose in the air showing me something is not right.

I grab Addison and go down the hall, and the smell is really bad...can't tell what it is, and I don't see anything. Think quickly....dryer is off, stove is off...since when do I plug in a curling iron.....what could it be????

Assuming the worst, I grab the bottle, baby bag, and Addison....dogs can fend for themselves, and got out of the house through the back door....didn't even bother closing it...I'm in a little bit of a panic.

I walk through the alley and knock on my wonderful next door neighbor's house, while I try to call Andy telling him to get home as soon as possible ****work can wait. Lesley goes next door...bless her...and confirms the smell. Not knowing what to do...and sitting on the fence somewhere between calling 911 and not wanting to over react, I call the non-emergency fire dept. line. Who knew such a thing existed? Thank you Lesley.

Well, they tell me to hang up, call 911, and not go back in the house. So I follow directions, and they tell me the fire dept. will be there shortly. I tell them sirens are not neccesary.

I hear sirens. Loud. Neighbors coming out. Fire engine pulls up, and 6 fire men get out in full gear....I'm talking axes and everything. I try to explain that there actually is no fire, but a really bad plastic smell.....I have a baby, and am just trying to be careful.

Firemen search the house, the attic, the garage......nothing, but assure me I did the right thing by calling. Thank you for helping salvage some of my pride. One of them pulls out an empty plug-in and tells me I might want to watch those. I sheepishly take out all 6 that haven't been replaced in God knows how long.

Fireman leave, but tell me to call them if it happens again, and husband pulls up after ***a long day at work. After a little bit of a laugh at relaying the story to my ***hard working husband, we put Addison to bed and settle in for the night.

*****My husband's true whereabouts have been changed to protect his reputation of a truly caring husband and father....which he is!!!! I wouldn't want him to feel guilty for catching a few beers with the guys while his wife and child were dealing with traumatic stress at home alone...with the fire department.