Julie Blows a Fuse
Subtitled…why deadlines are bad for the electric system of your house.
Despite the title of this post, I did not lose my temper this week. Okay, I might have…once…but that’s not what I’m writing about. What I did was literally blow a fuse.
While I was partying with my TARA sisters (Tampa Area Romance Authors) at the St. Petersburg Yacht Club where they make awesome margaritas, amazing salad and to-die-for creme brulee, my husband and daughter spent the day on Saturday taking out our Christmas decorations. With the exception of the 12 foot inflatable train that I *had* to buy (and which my husband still doesn’t know where he’s goign to put it because it will kill the grass…remember, I’m in Florida, we still have grass this time of year)…all the lights and our animated reindeers went up. Luckily for me, my husband was too tired to go buy a tree (which means I get another week that I don’t have to decorate it…a chore I hate.)
But the lights were up, bright in white, green, red, blue and gold. And then…I was hit by deadline dementia.
You see, whoever wired our house (likely the contractor we hired/fired six years ago to redo our bathrooms) but the bathroom heater onto the same circuit as the outlet on our front porch. I know, I know…you’re asking WHY I need a bathroom heater in Florida. Well, I hate to be cold…let’s leave it at that. (I mean, I live in Florida for a reason!) Anyway, I knew…have known for years that if I turn on the bathroom heater in my daughter’s bathroom when the Christmas lights are on, we’re going to flip the breaker. Then I have to go unplug stuff and climb onto something to make me taller to flip the breaker back.
Or so I thought.
This year, I blew the whole fuse. It’s been four days and we have no electricity in the hallway or my daughter’s bathroom. We used an extension cord to get the TV and the Tivo working again, because, hey, Monday night was Heroes. The electrician comes tomorrow and I can only imagine what he’s going to charge. All because I did something I knew I wasn’t supposed to do.
I blame deadline dementia. This is a very real condition and causes random bouts of extreme forgetfullness. In the throes of DD, I’ve been known to back into people’s cars who I know are parked behind me, leave my daughter’s lunchbox on the table so I have to go home after dropping her off from school only to realize I’ve also forgotten my purse, left the dog outside (actually forgetting I have a dog) and other various and sundry examples that my brain is in the book and not in my life.
The book will be done by next week…I have about 50 pages to go. But in the meantime, I have advised everyone not to leave me in charge of their children or pets…or the electrical systems of their houses. It’s just a safety precaution.
ROTF. Oh, Julie. This is so you. Reminded me of the movie DECK THE HALLS which I did not love but definitely would make you laugh given this!
Comment by Carly — December 6, 2006 @ 7:08 am
Is it me or does it seem like the life of a writer is just never boring? LOL. Stuff like that is great fodder for your stories, so I guess you just it with a grain of salt and try to make it romantic *g*
Comment by Stacy ~ — December 6, 2006 @ 7:28 am
Thanks for the laugh, Julie. Sorry about your lack of electricity, but this makes me feel a little bit better. (I have this dementia you speak of, but without the deadline.)
Comment by Heather Harper — December 6, 2006 @ 7:55 am
Sorry about the electric but it gets chilly from every now in then in the that part of FL so no need to explain the bathroom heater. From the sounds of it, your computer is safe which is key due to your deadline. Good Luck with the contractors and the writing!
Comment by Yolanda — December 6, 2006 @ 9:18 am
Julie,
To us frost is Southern snow since we rarely see snow this far south.
I live in south Georgia just 35 miles north of Tallahassee. WE had frost on the ground today
Hopefully it won’t be too expensive to fix your problem. My hubby bought a replacement fuse about a year ago it ran nearly $80. He was able to fix things we didn’t have to call in the electrician. Thank goodness.:doggie:
Comment by Gigi — December 6, 2006 @ 9:22 am
Julie, I also meant to tell you like you I have to have a bathroom heater too.
To answer Yolanda’s question. Our winters aren’t that cold but the humidity makes them a wetter cold which is more uncomfortable than a dry cold.
Hope that makes some since.:doggie:
Comment by Gigi — December 6, 2006 @ 9:24 am
I wouldn’t think of living without my bathroom heater. I’m in NC, and it isn’t THAT cold, but, as hubby says, if it’s under 70 I think it’s cold so I definitely need the little extra heat during my bath.
As for the fuse, I’m impressed that you made it 6 years without blowing. I have no DD but I’m certain I’d have blown it in the first year! Hopefully it won’t be too financially painful.
Comment by Jodie — December 6, 2006 @ 9:41 am
Gigi, that totally makes sense. I remember going to visit my aunt in Georgia when I was little for Thanksgiving and it was freezing cold, she had marble floors throughout the house and NO bathroom heaters. I think the best hotels in the world are the ones with bathroom heaters! I insisted on them when we remodeled, but unfortunately, our contractor was a moron that we should have sued and instead of giving the heaters, which are power hungry, their own fuse, he piggy-backed them. MORON. I wish I could remember his name so I could warn people away, but I’ve blocked it out. So has my husband. It’s hilarious, we can’t even find the paperwork anymore…I think we might have burned it all with the blowtorch they left burning unattended two feet away from my daughter’s room…yes, that’s the event that got their asses fired.
My husband is not handy, unfortunately…hence the electrician. I’ll let y’all know what the damage is!
Comment by Julie Leto — December 6, 2006 @ 9:42 am
LOL Julie on the handy husbands. My husband does a lot around the house, and he’s actually very good with electric stuff and has done a lot of wiring as well as other projects, but OMG, the plumbing. It only took one time trying to put in some plumbing over the first few months of living here, and being without water/sink/dishwasher for almost a week, that he admitted plumbing is more like some kind of zen master exercise meant only for the masters.
I think I would rather be without plumbing than without electric, though — but at least your weather is warm, right? Good luck on the lasst fifty pages and the dementia… 
I’ve had a bit of that myself lately….
Sam
Comment by Sam Hunter — December 6, 2006 @ 10:02 am
Holy crap, you must never come up North during the winter months then. I live North of Boston and we DON’T have a heater in our bathroom. But now I know why when I visit Disney and we are wearing shorts in January the locals look at us funny. LOL!!
Sorry to hear about your electrical problems. Thank God my husband is handy around the house. Not with any thing electronic though that is my job. I just added a phone line and jack not too long ago so we could move my office to the top floor of the house. Good luck! Can’t wait to hear more about the book you are almost done with. :o
Comment by Kelly — December 6, 2006 @ 10:32 am
I know your pain Julie. I have the opposite seasonal problem though. We have an old house, so central air is out of the question. I have a/c’s I use throughout the house and I ALWAYS remember after the fact that i can’t run certain ones and the dishwasher and the dryer at the same time. There is a reason I live in NY- I can’t handle all the heat all summer.
Here’s an idea for the train problem- get some of those coated wire racks they use in closets to seperate areas (with legs for spacing) and put them on the grass and the train on top. You can anchor them to the ground, anchor the train to the wire shelves and the grass is good to go.
Comment by ev — December 6, 2006 @ 10:39 am
Good luck on your wiring and writing!
Comment by katie — December 6, 2006 @ 10:43 am
Sorry for your electrical woes, but hope that it is fixed and without extreme costs. Good luck on your 50 pages left and your deadline……(((Hugs)))
Comment by Cryna — December 6, 2006 @ 11:04 am
Of course you know what kind of fuse I thought you blew when I read that blog header, Julie — the temper one
Comment by Janelle — December 6, 2006 @ 11:16 am
lolol Janelle–I had that exact same thought. I was beginning to wonder if I should turn on the news and see if any Florida garbagemen had been mowed down by a feisty little Italian.
Comment by Leslie — December 6, 2006 @ 11:33 am
Comment by Cherylann — December 6, 2006 @ 12:01 pm
Comment by jeannie — December 6, 2006 @ 12:29 pm
Personally, I surprised the electrician that left the blowtorch burning actually lived…I think I would still be serving time for him putting my child’s life in danger. Good luck with your electricity problem and with the last 50 pages!!!
Comment by Liza — December 6, 2006 @ 12:35 pm
Jeannie, we’re soul sisters. When I can’t find my car keys, the first thing my husband asks is, “did you check the frig?”
Liza, the ONLY reason he lived is because he left! He was doing plumbing work and cut himself badly (or burned, I wasn’t sure) and dropped the blow torch and ran out. I ran after him, not knowing about the blowtorch and left my daugther inside watching Blues Clues. I came back in minutes later and saw the blowtorch. I screamed. The guy came in, shut it off, then took off and went the hospital. The whole event took all of two minutes…trust me, he never came back!
Comment by Julie Leto — December 6, 2006 @ 12:38 pm
Too funny…reminds me of my own week.
Hang in there.
Comment by Debbie — December 6, 2006 @ 1:00 pm
Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la!!! :love2:
Comment by Donna M — December 6, 2006 @ 1:23 pm
You crack me up! I have been known to have “BRAINLOCK MOMENTS” too. Like back out of your garage with your car door open. I could go on and on with some things that I have done when my mind is somewhere else.
Comment by Tina — December 6, 2006 @ 1:53 pm
Julie, my mom got a divorce a few years ago and decided to build a house. We had problems with our electrician from the very beginning. It didn’t matter what momma said, he would say the opposite. When we moved in, we had light switches that we still do not know what they go to. But the biggest problem is that I am constantly blowing fuses. My bedroom is in the basement and we have a dehumidifier that runs the majority of the time. Well, if I turn on my blow dryer when the dehumidifier is on, it knocks out all the power in the basement. Also, we live in Alabama and the majority of people in the south have deep freezers. Our house in not wired for one and we found this out by the freezer going out and sitting for a couple of days before we realized it. Our ceiling fans that he put up doesn’t even want to work correctly. We found out later that the electrician had just gone through a bad divorce and he was just down on women. Everybody we talked to says he should have known to set up the fuses differently. We have decided that he cursed our house and that is why nothing wants to work. He no longer works for the contractor who built our house.
Comment by Claudia — December 6, 2006 @ 4:54 pm
Sorry about your electricity, but it is funny to someone it didn’t happen to.
Comment by Estella — December 6, 2006 @ 11:39 pm
I have found a cure for DD. It’s called comfort food. Lots of it.
Comment by jill — December 8, 2006 @ 11:32 am