Not the good kind of ironic

On my lunch break yesterday, one of our smoke alarms was doing that once a minute beep that it does when it's time to change the batteries. I decided to take advantage of that as a reason to change the batteries in all the smoke detectors, as well as the carbon monoxide detector. While doing that, I realized that one of the smoke detectors had some corrosion in the battery compartment. We will be replacing that smoke detector.

It reminded me of a not funny story from years ago about a smoke detector. I was making some toast one morning, and the smoke detector on our lower level (not where the kitchen is - we live in a quad level house) started going off. Thinking it was being hyper sensitive, I turned off the toaster. The smoke alarm kept going. I went downstairs, and smelled smoke - But I quickly realized where the smoke was coming from - The smoke detector! Something had malfunctioned in the unit and it was smoking! I took it (carefully) off the wall, and ripped the batteries out. That smoke detector had actually come with our house, so I don't know how old it was. Newer smoke detectors have a sticker with a date on them, and they are meant to be replaced every 10 years. The one with the corrosion is only 6 years old, so it's getting replaced a little early. It's a good reminder to keep track of your smoke detectors, test them and change their batteries.

In news that is more fun (although smoke detectors that function properly certainly contribute to good times), Wordnerd had a tweet yesterday about Jalapeno Cheetos. Cheese? Hot pepper? Crunchy? What could be possibly go wrong there? Then I remembered the Flaming Hot Cheetos. Not tasty. They were hot, but really didn't have any flavor to go with that heat. Although, apparently one of my son's teachers at daycare had some once, and my son tried them and said he liked them. He's the only person I know who has ever claimed to like them. Anyway, after lunch yesterday, I accidentally slammed my forehead into the door frame of the car because I was paying more attention to a car driving by than to getting in my car without injury. For that reason, I decided I should get a snack from the gas station to make me feel better. I picked up a bag of the Jalapeno Cheetos...Wow. Those things are awesome. Just the right amount of heat, just the right amount of cheese...This may be my new snack of choice. I sound like an advertisement for Jalapeno Cheetos, but I can assure you I am not being paid, in cash or Cheetos, to write this post. Not to say that I would turn away a case of Jalapeno Cheetos if they showed up on my doorstep...But Cheetos don't just appear out of nowhere. They do, however, appear at the gas station near my house.