An Electrifying Valentine's Day

Yesterday morning I was cleaning the kitchen from Sunday's aftermath. Sundays seem to destroy my house. So when I went to push the button for the garbage disposal the doorbell rang. I went to the door, no one there. I thought someone must be playing a Valentine's prank on me, except they forgot the part where you leave a cute Valentine on the doorstep. All the kids were gone and Rob was at the chiropractor. So I came back, continued my dishes, pushed the garbage disposal button again and the doorbell rang again. Could it be? I pushed the button again and the doorbell rang again. Oh boy. The disposal is not working and it's making the doorbell ring. Strange. Rob gets home, I demonstrate our new doorbell button for him and he can't believe it. He proceeds to check under the sink, unplug a few things, we check the breaker, and in the middle of all this, as I try to run the dryer, IT makes the doorbell ring too and IT won't work. Now the funny joke isn't so funny any more. Soon we notice our lights going dim. Some lights won't work. We check the thermostats and they're blank. No power to them at all. WHAT THE ??? Rob makes a few calls and our dear friend and neighbor Glenn who knows a lot about electrical tells us we must have a short somewhere in the house. It could be ANYWHERE, he says. He'll come by after work. Rob and I went out and had a Valentine's lunch, but all the while wondering if our house could burn down from some loose wiring somewhere. In the afternoon the kids get home and they notice that things aren't working. Lights are dim. Random things make the doorbell ring. Glenn comes by, tests our breaker boxes and determines that the problem is not inside the house. (WHEW!) I had visions of every wall in my house being torn apart looking for the loose connection. He suggested we call the power company so they could check the power to the house. Meanwhile he and Rob test every outlet to every fridge and freezer because some have power and some don't. They get them all plugged in to working outlets, and we made the call. They'd send someone. I couldn't use the stove or oven, so my plans for making a nice Valentine's dinner went out the window. Off to Pollo Loco. When we got back, the power guy was here. He did some checking, and said the problem could be under the ground in our yard. Now I have visions of them tearing up our new landscaping and driveway to find the problem. He did more checking and found out the problem is in the street where our power comes from the transformer. WHEW! No torn up yard! He connected us into our neighbor's power for now (wonder if they'll notice a higher bill this month?) until the crew can come and fix the problem. We're back to regular lights, working appliances and only ONE doorbell. Thank goodness.