Worst 40 minutes EVER

They say in the case of emergency, a person can lift a car with all the adrenaline flowing through his/her body. Well, I'm here to say.....not this girl!!!

I just went through the scariest 40 minutes of my life. I was in the shower while Bug was spinning around in her jumper. We were going to head out for some Christmas shopping, when I heard the chime of my alarm system go off. Since I don't have the alarm automatically on during the day when I'm home, whenever someone opens or closes a door or window, it makes a chime sound. The dogs heard it too because they went downstairs expecting Darling Dearest to be home. After about a minute after the chime went off, I realized that my husband wouldn't be home---not at that time of day and not without calling me. He hadn't been on Instant Messenger all day, though....so I didn't know if something strange was up. So I hopped out of the shower with my pumpkin hair treatment dripping down my back and called my husband--TWICE. He didn't answer either time. So I called his work extension--no answer. Finally, I called his work for the support line to talk to ANYONE. When one of his co-workers answered and said that he was at his desk on a call, my heart stopped-----He WASN'T HOME. So who was??

His co-worker quickly got him on the phone to talk to me. Now let it be known that I sometimes do scare myself over nothing. I think I hear something I don't, but THIS TIME I had proof. The alarm system said "01 not ready" meaning that my front door or garage door was open,  and I really DID hear the chime. I closed my bedroom door quietly and locked it. Poor pups got locked out of the room. They were downstairs and I was not about to call their names to come upstairs and let someone else know Bug and I were home. I pushed the police emergency button and let the alarm go off. I thought it would scare Bug, but she kept hopping and spinning along in her jumper seat. It must've scared the dogs though because they came straight up to the room door. The problem was, I didn't know it was them. I heard something against the door, but it sounded higher--closer to my head than my feet. At this point, I'm still on the phone with Darling Dearest and I'm now freaking out that someone is by the door. He tells me it's probably the dogs....but I don't think so. I'm scared to death. He tells me to go in the closet, but I'm convinced I need to use my man-power to hold the door shut in case anyone tries to come in through my locked door.

This is when I decide to try to move my dresser in front of the door. It moves all of an inch and won't go further. My towel is falling off and I'm trying to keep it on in case someone does come in...I'm not about to be giving a peep show to my intruder. I give up on the dresser and continue having my heart attack. Hubby says that I may want to try to put on some clothes before the cops get there. That was the last thing I was thinking about, but I decided he was right. Finally, Darling Dearest tells me to call 911 (at this point, the security people already called a dispatcher). After calling the police, I stayed on the phone with them until the deputy arrived, checked the area, and was at the front door. When I finally went downstairs, I saw that the garage door coming inside was open. I told the deputy that, and she assumed that it had been blown open by the wind---a definite possibility because it had done so prior to us having an alarm system.

Before I could have her check the garage, a phone started ringing.....and it wasn't mine. It was coming from inside the house. It was one of those ugly automatic ringtones that are on your phone when you first buy it before you change it. Here comes heart attack number 360,754 of the past 35 minutes. I repeat to her over and over that it isn't my ringtone. Was someone in my house? Did they leave their phone behind?? When I moved toward the sound, I found....MY PHONE. What in the world?? Hubby was calling me back to check on me.

Now I look like a complete idiot. That's when I realize my phone said "emergency mode" which probably happens after you call 911 and must have its own ringtone in that mode (just FYI for anyone else who ever gets in that unfortunate situation).  The deputy checks my garage and sure enough---nothing suspicious is going on. At this point, I'm embarrassed and still shaking. I start crying, trembling, and apologizing. It was weird how the flood gates opened AFTER the police got there and I was safe. She was totally sweet and told me it happens all the time---better safe than sorry. TRUE, but I wish the "safe" feeling hadn't taken 40 minutes to occur. Now Darling Dearest thinks this is his way of getting a gun for the house. YIKES!

Needless to say, I'm still all shaken up. In fact, I have yet to hop in the shower again to wash out this pumpkin hair mask. Hopefully, I'll at least have gloriously moisturized hair to make up for all the extra gray hair I surely have sprouted in the last couple hours. Well, before my hair gets so greasy it starts sliding off my head, I should probably try AGAIN to finish up my shower.