fun at 4am

4am. I'm awoken by a high pitched beep. It's the smoke alarm. But it's not blaring to warn me of a fire somewhere in my house. No. Just a simple chirp. Ok back to sleep. ::beep:: that's kind of annoying. But I can ignore it. I am not getting out of bed at 4am. ::beep:: I am now angry. When we moved in last month they told us that all of the smoke alarms had brand new batteries and said we wouldn't need to change them until daylight savings next spring ::beep:: ok I guess it's not going to stop. Let's figure out where it's coming from. ::beep:: ok not in my room or ally's. Sounds like it's coming from the other direction. I am now standing in the dark at the top of the stairs. My dog is staring at me like I'm nuts because she knows I don't get out of bed in the middle of the night for anything. Probably not even the apocalypse. But this beeping is keeping me awake. ::beep:: "low battery" HOLY FUCK! Who said that???? Down the stairs I go. Time to start searching for a nine volt. I have no clue where one would be. I know where I kept them in the old house but I don't even remember unpacking them or where I would put them if I did. And so I search as my smoke alarm keeps talking to me. Every 45 seconds or so she reminds me that her battery is low. Taunting me with her voice that is way too chipper for 4am. I head back upstairs and accidentally wake up my husband looking in strange places for a battery. Then I start to wonder why they haven't made smoke alarms take more common batteries. Everyone has AA batteries handy. But who keeps a stash of 9 volts? I have one somewhere I know it. I'm not going to the store to get one at this hour (I've had to do this before. It was a Sunday morning at 7am when I couldn't find a replacement battery about 4 years ago. We lived in the middle of nowhere and I drove 25 minutes to a store that didn't open for another hour. The only open store didn't carry 9 volts so I napped in my car until the store opened). I'd rather beat the thing with a broom than do that again. Anyway I had the idea to check this smoke alarm to make sure it, indeed, needed a nine volt. Nope. 2 AA batteries. Woohoo! I changed the batteries and started heading back to bed ::beep:: "low battery"...... REALLY??? I guess I need to reset the thing. So I dragged the chair back over and climbed up and pressed the button. That's how you reset it right? Nope. ::BEEEEEEEEEP BEEEEEEEP:: "fire" crap. Every smoke alarm in the house is blaring. I hear kids coming out of their rooms and my husband shoots out of bed until he remembers I was just looking for a replacement battery so it must have been me. I yell "fire drill" up the stairs and snicker. They groan as I press the button again and it beeps differently and tells me "carbon monoxide detected" my snarky 9 year old yells down "is that a drill too?" So again I reach up and push the button and all is quiet. Not sure I'm ready to fall for that just yet so I wait. A full minute this time. No beeping. Yes! After about 45 minutes this fiasco is over! And now I'm wide awake 😭 my six year old slept through the whole thing. At least we learned something. 😴😴😴

Counting my blessings

sometimes we al just need to stop and think about how blessed we truly are. No matter how crazy life seems, each and every difficult experience is actually a blessing. Our most recent pcs was difficult on our kids. It was hard for them to leave their house, their friends, their school. We knew it would get harder as they got older, but we didn't realize the emotional attachment we had to their friends too. Many of them had become part of our family. For me, I had built a thriving pink zebra  business in Texas. I had an amazing team who had become some of my best friends, awesome customers, and a steady monthly income. I was worried about starting over! On top of that a good portion of our household goods came up missing, there was lots of damage to our furniture, and it took forever to get here! it was so stressful. But it's all helped me realize how blessed we are. We have had more time together as a family. The girls are bonding with one another because they don't have a friend's house to escape to. We've been hiking, playing outside, board games and Barbie dolls. They may not have realized it, but their best friends go with them anywhere they go. Sisters are best friends for life. As for me, my team is still awesome, I just don't see them everyday. They're still working their butts off and I'm so proud of them! I also get to build a team here! How awesome is that? My customers still love me and my business is still thriving. Plus, our new incentive trip was released today and I am definitely earning this all expenses paid trip to Costa Rica! These are things I've never dreamed of doing. My husband's job blesses us with the ability to live all over the country. I never thought I'd find my way out of New Jersey! But I've lived in the mountains of West Virginia. Spent a few years in Houston Texas and how I get to live in vegas! Yes! Vegas! And my job allows me the opportunity to make new friends anywhere we end up, the opportunity to travel for free! Plus they've given me some fabulous bling! I am truly blessed. Sprinkles. Who knew?