The Fire is So Delightful

I am not cold! My adorable husband agreed to have not one, but two gas fireplaces installed in our “new” home. They are BEAUTIFUL and WARM!!

In our yellow house in the Harbor we had two gas fireplaces but only the one in the living room (where we never spent much time) put out heat. Our builder who shall remain nameless went cheap-o on the family room unit and it was really just for ambiance. I still turned it on a lot. Looking at the flames sort of convinced me I was warm.

Mike was excited to have wood-burning fireplaces when we first moved in because he is a former Boy Scout. He even camped in Europe with a General who later became Secretary of State. I however, am not a camper and am not a fan of wood-burning fires indoors due to the mess, the stale odor the next day, and my mild asthma.

Twice my sweet man tried to light a fire in the basement and twice the entire downstairs filled with smoke. He asked advice of his Dad (an expert on all things related to fires) and even that didn’t help. The second “smoke incident” was SO bad we called the Glen Ellyn fire department. Their helpful advice was not to burn any more fires until we called a chimney sweep. This seemed annoying since it supposedly was cleaned as part of our closing agreement.

So, that is how I came to be the happy, cozy owner of two new fireplaces. But wait… that’s not all! The installation revealed an interesting answer to our smoke issues. The nice worker guy (who reminded me of Bert from Mary Poppins) informed me that someone had deliberately glued a thick piece of cardboard under the chimney cap. There was no way that the damper would work since it was blocked. He took pictures of the evidence and documented it so wish us luck in getting someone to fess up.

Right now I’m sitting on my comfy couch looking at my pretty (and pricey) new fireplace and my four children's beautiful Christmas stockings hanging there. My mommy hand-knit each child a personalized stocking when they were born-check out how pretty they are in the photo!

The thing I appreciate is how the pilot light stays on so with a flip of the switch, or remote, it bursts into flame. Isn’t that how we should all be? If our little Jesus “light” is always burning properly then it just takes a prayer or nudge from the Holy Spirit to help us shine brightly and to be “on fire” for the Lord.

I can't believe the former owner added the cardboard to prevent the cold air from whipping into the downstairs. What's up with the inept house inspector for not catching it? Then again,I suppose I am grateful to them both since I might not have convinced Mike we needed to convert to gas if the smoke hadn’t happened!

So it all turns out just fine…