Preparing the House

After Friday's home visit with our agency, we have a short list of things that need to be done as it relates to the home study. We have a bayou that backs up to our backyard so we had to either install a fence or take a water safety course. Fence - check! We found out this time all exterior doors that lead out towards water need to have an alarm or chime on them. I am a do it now...we had to get this taken care of...and since hubby doesn't have much spare time with work and all - I took the liberty of stopping at Home Depot by myself to check out door chimes on my way to church with E.

I arrive and a gentleman is very helpful in helping me not locate such chime. After a lot of looking around, reading shelf labels, boxes, etc... he informs me they used to have them, but no longer carry them. I thank him for helping me look. I look a little further down the isle and see a whole row of safety things - light timers, truck lock boxes, and then I see the Door and Window Defender with Chime. I think, well here we go!

The nice young man who was helping me before sees me reading the packaging for this thing. He says, "Oh yeah - we have that...the alarm is REALLY LOUD." He said "I didn't know it had a chime on it." I said, hmmmm... this could work! He said he wasn't sure how loud the chime was on it...but again stressed the alarm was really loud. I was like, ok, well, how loud can it be - it has a "chime" on it too. So I take it with me, check out and head to church.

Fast forward to after church...we are back home, I just laid E down for his nap. Clever me, Hey! it looks easy enough to install - why don't I help hubby out and have this all ready done when he gets home. I slit the package to read the directions on installation...before completely installing it, I do a dry run to make sure it works when the door is opened. The dog is now supervising...staring at me - I'm not sure if she just needs to go out, or if she's there to make sure I do this right. I click the device to "chime" and give a turn of the handle and a pull of the door and HOLY MOLY!!!! I flew back about 5 feet - the dog ran away and hid, and I was fumbling with the device to switch it off! Loud in an understatement!!! This thing is a watchdog! Holy crap! I didn't dare try the alarm with E sleeping! It's a two chime to alert you the door is open - heck - the one chime is plenty to scare the pants off you. The kids won't be slithering or houdini-ing their way out the door anytime soon - they will be crying in their sippy cup!

I am smiling right now...I am going to be remembering this watchdog when they get to be teenagers - yeah baby. Maybe I will allow the element of surprise let hubby know I took care of the door chime for him. Bet that's the last time he waits to do something around the house.

The afternoon is quiet, I am catching up on the blogs I have been meaning to post while the little man slumbers. It's nice to have the peace and quiet...secretly, I can't wait to try out the alarm setting on the "chime."