Where do I even start?

This morning started off just as any other morning.  …except one thing, we now have a wood burning furnace.  Brody comes downstairs a little too early (just like every other morning!) so I brought him back to bed and added some wood to the furnace and hopped in the shower. 

While in the shower I started to smell the furnace, we seasoned it (having small fires and building up to bigger fires) yesterday and it lets off this odd odor which is completely normal, that is what I was smelling again.  So of course being in the shower and not being able to do anything I was a little concerned and knew I would be checking on it as soon as I got out!  But it beat me to the punch, the smoke detector started going off, ALL of them (they are all linked together, they’re supposed to all go off)!

I jump out of the shower (covered in soap and conditioner), grab a towel and run to the basement.  I still smell no smoke, just the stinky smell but I have no idea if my basement is on fire or what.  Everything looks fine down there, and I open the furnace and all looks good in there too, so I run back up stairs to check everything else out.  As I pass the stairs I see the girls running down them (as best you can when you have just been jarred from sleep and you are freaking out thinking your house is on fire!), one of them is shouting ‘What about Brody, WHAT about Brody?!?  Where is he??’  (That was probably Kylie!) They were also mumbling something about Ms Maja (our neighbor), we are supposed to meet on her front porch if we ever have a fire.  (So at least they remembered what to do and where to go!)  So I tried to calm them down a bit and told them that our house isn’t on fire, but I can’t make the smoke detectors go off so I need to figure out what’s wrong.   Brody is stumbling down the stairs at this point and he wants that noise to stop!  Trust me, I do too!  

I still smell nothing, and I have NO CLUE why they are going off.  I have all the ceiling fans on, and I am standing on a barstool fanning the detector closest to the basement door… remember I am still covered in conditioner and soap and am only wearing a towel while perched on the barstools fanning the smoke detector, oh yeah it is right by our back door that has a huge window in it too!  I am also a little concerned that the whole neighborhood  can hear it and is going to come make sure everything is alright and is going to catch me dripping wet in a towel covered in conditioner and soap!  

I went to the basement and flipped the breaker on the detectors, but they still didn’t stop!  Dang battery back ups!!!  I find myself back on the stool trying to get the cover off so I can take the batteries out, but I can’t get it off and I am still worried about my towel!  So I throw my pj’s back on (still soapy and conditionery) and try again now that I have 2 hands!  I am pretty sure my ears are bleeding at this point and I am really annoyed that it won’t SHUT UP!!  I still couldn’t get the cover off so I flung the front door and garage doors open and switched the (real) furnace to ‘fan on’ and after a little bit the blasted thing FINALLY stopped!!  It’s about 6:30 at this point, and the kids are still a little freaked out, and I am running on pure adrenaline!  I settled the kids on the couch and put on a show and I finally finish my shower! 

I think my ears are still ringing, and I am completely EXHAUSTED!  That took a lot out of me!  I still have no idea what went wrong, and now I am nervous about tomorrow!  I can NOT go through this again!   Ugh, I need a nap!

So how was your morning?