Fear

How do you define fear?  What terrifies you?

I had a bit of a fearful experience yesterday.  Let me share what happened…

I was sitting at my laptop doing something, and I smelled an awful smell.  It really scared me and freaked me out.  It was a smell that didn’t settle well, and I had no idea what it was or where it was coming from.  The smell…it’s really hard to describe, but it reminded me a lot of plastic burning on the stove but only a LOT worse. 

Well, I immediately checked to make sure the stove/oven were off and nothing was burning.  I then made sure that the washer/dryer were both off (I was running both at the time).  I still couldn’t figure out what the smell was or where it was coming from.  I couldn’t see anything either…no smoke or anything. 

Since Brian was out working, I didn’t know what to do.  So, when all else fails…CALL MOM!  So, that’s what I did.  I called my mom and asked her what I should do.  We both decided that I should call my youngest brother, Daniel, who works in the city where we live.  He wasn’t due to get off of work for another 30 minutes, but luckily, he said he’d be on his way.  I called my parents back, and talked to my dad.  He told me he was on his way and gave my mom word for the boys and me to get out of the house.  So, I took the boys, the dog, and myself to the car. 

By this point, Caleb was freaked out.  Granted, it’s my fault because I was freaked out, too.  I mean, hello…my husband isn’t home, and I haven’t the foggiest why my house smells like it could burn down or explode any minute.  Wouldn’t you freak out, too?

My brother came over and looked things over.  He thought it had something to do with our a/c unit.  When my dad and other brother (along with my mom) got here, they all confirmed the same thing.  So, I called a family friend who is in the a/c business, and he told me to shut off all the breakers for the a/c.  He told me he’d be over last night or this morning (it was pouring last night, so he wasn’t sure if he’d make it or not).

Well, Mr. Charles came over this morning, and he let us know that our fan motor had blown up.  He also informed us that it should still be covered under the warranty since we bought our house in ‘05.  After he told us what to do, we got on the phone with the company who installed our unit.  They sent someone over later this morning.  The guy told us it wouldn’t be covered under the warranty since the unit was an ‘03.  Ummm…hello, we bought the house in ‘05, it sat on the market for OVER a year…it’s not my fault it’s now 6 years later and your warranty expires after 5. 

Have I mentioned that we are a very hot-natured family, and we keep our air on 72?????  You mean to tell me that I’m going to have to live without a/c over the w-end.  Ummm…I don’t think so JOE!

Brian went over to the power company and got a certified letter stating that we turned on power to the house in Feb. of ‘05, and the guy proceeded to replace the motor.  He informed us that had we followed proper a/c protocol (meaning you really should have the stuff cleaned/checked 2x a year), we wouldn’t have had this issue. 

After all was said and done, we are now out $215 for something that would normally cost $980.  We are sooooo thankful that Mr. Charles told us about the 5 year warranty on most units once they are put into a new home.  Otherwise, some JOE SCHMOE could have come up in here and made some money off of us.  We would have never known otherwise either.

Thank the Lord we have a/c now.  I truly don’t know how people ever lived without it.  My hot-natured self would DIE!  So, there you have it…sorry this turned into such a long post.  Geez, it’s not this long when I tell the story.  LOL!