Smart thinking. Not!

Our house is pretty basic, your typical layout with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. I like that it has a so called "great room" plan, with just one big living room, instead as is pretty common, a formal living room (who is never used) and a smaller family (TV) room. We have slowly been upgrading things here and there, after all, the house was built in 1992 and things are starting to get outdated.

So far it has a new roof, hurricane protection shutters, new AC, new heater, new light fixtures, new ceiling fans, new kitchen appliances and new laundry appliances. We are also in the process of replacing the flooring, and then we will do the master bath and kitchen counter. Except for a fence around the back yard there is not really anything else that needs to be done after that, I think. But then we need to start thinking about replacing our furniture, starting with the master bedroom.

But one thing that really bugs me about this house is it's security system. I think it was installed in 2002, so it is fairly new. But the moron who installed the heat sensors and smoke alarms must not have been a cook at all! He placed the heat sensors, which are meant to help pick up excess heat, in case there is a fire with little or no smoke, next to the kitchen. Which means that every time I open a hot oven door, or make toast, the darn thing goes off! And it is LOUD! With that comes howling dogs and a kid screaming to make me shut the dogs up because her ears hurt... The only way to get around this is to put the ceiling fan in the kitchen on full blast. So imagine how pissed you are if you forget to do this before making toast on a Sunday morning when you had planned on reading the newspaper in peace and quite before the rest of the house wakes up...

Hmmm... I know a lot of fires start in the kitchen, but we already have TWO fire alarms, one on the south end of the kitchen, one on the north end. Plus one outside the master and one in the guest bedroom hallway. So I think we are good. But I can't take the battery out; it will keep on beeping every 5 minutes to let me know it needs a new battery (since it is also hardwired into the electrical system) . Grrr!!!

This little evil thing sure looks all innocent...