Beep!

Okay, here's the situation.  We live in a house and it has smoke detectors.  Sound familiar?

Well, those smoke detectors are there for an important purpose.  They are life savers, really.

And when the smoke detectors in my house get to running low on battery, they beep.

It's very handy, really.

Unless your a dog, and your name is Tink, and that beep just freaks you out so bad that you can't even function.

It's true.  She can't handle the smoke detector beep.

So, most of this is probably pretty common at your house too, right?  (Except for the dog thing, of course.  If you have a dog as weird as mine, we should get together and start a support group.).

Most of the time, our smoke detectors beep when they are low on battery during the daytime.

"Beep! Chirp!Beep!"

No big deal.  We change the battery, and everything is right as rain.

But, there is something that happens every once in awhile that really freaks me out. 

It's 2:30 AM and the kids and I are sleeping.  (Notice that I left Music Man out of the sleep scenario, because he is on a business trip in this story.).

"Beep! Chirp! Beep!"

I hear it, but I just want to incorporate it into my dream and go back to sleep.

"Beep!"

It's coming from the smoke detector in our room and it's loud.

"Beep!"

The dog is starting to wig out.

"Beep!"

I am tripping over her as I go downstairs to find a replacement battery.

"Beep!"

I find a battery (It's a 9 volt, which is a rare commodity in our house.) and struggle to make it back upstairs without falling over Tink, who by this time is a blithering idiot.

"Beep!"

I replace the battery and get back in bed.

Everything is quiet.

All kids are still asleep.

The dog has settled.

I'm asleep again.

It's 3 AM.

"Beep!"

Apparently, the battery that I installed was either a dud, or one of my monkeys put it back in the battery drawer after they used it.  (Note to self, buy one of those thingys that tests to see if your batteries are charged.) (Additional note to self, ship all of the monkeys and Tink off to Siberia.)

"Beep!"

I repeat all of the above steps and finally get back into bed.  Only this time, I am wide awake and I find myself contemplating the idea that this whole smoke detector thing must be some sort of conspiracy.

Why is it that this only happens when Music Man is out of town?  Why does it happen in the middle of the night?  Why has it happened many times before?

My mind was whirling and twirling through all the reasons why my smoke detectors do this to me. I cried myself to sleep.

And this morning as I sit here typing this, I hear a "beep" coming from downstairs somewhere.

"Beep!"

What is going on here?

Am I on Candid Camera?

Does this sort of thing ever happen to you?  If it does, let's get together and start a support group.

I need some coffee,

Melissa