The bearded eye-roller is on a business trip this week. Normally, I'm all good with that and find things to do that I don't normally do when he's here. You know- things like hot chili garlic sauce and reality TV.

The usual stuff.

Oh, I forgot- and SOMETIMES I don't even make the bed. Yeah- I get all crazy like that.

I was a single mom from the time my kids were 5 and 6 until they were fully cooked, and so was VERY used to being the protector of the house. I've never been one to worry about being alone at night, so the fact that the bearded eye-roller goes on business trips never really wigged me out much.

When we met the seller of this house, he told us that he had a security system installed because someone broke into the house and robbed them. The idea of getting a new contract for the already installed system was a no brainer for me after hearing that bit of information. I knew that if I had in the back of my head that this house had been robbed before, I'd worry when the bearded eye-roller went on business trips.

So.Glad.We.Did.That.

My son (number 2!) called me today while I was at work and said that the security company called him and said that the alarm was tripped at the house. Ummmm, my bad- I didn't update the alarm company with my new cellphone or work number.

I called the alarm company and they said that they already called the police, but I needed to follow up with the police to find out what the outcome was.

According to dispatch, they came to the house and found the door to one of the garages open but it didn't look like anything was out of place. They walked the perimeter, checked all of the doors and then left.

I checked all the doors when I got home tonight and found that the garage door was unlocked and the lights were on in the garage. That made me nervous because I *know* the lights were not on last night, but I decided to put my big girl panties on and go through the garage with a fine toothed comb. I looked in the cars to make sure nobody was hiding in them and then unlocked the gun cabinet to make sure that the guns were still there. OK, really I do not know what is in the gun inventory, but assumed that if they were going to take one gun, they'd take them all. There were rifles in there, so I'm assuming his guns were all accounted for.

Me thinks I'll be having a talk with the bearded eye-roller about keeping the keys to the gun cabinet in plain sight! Sheesh.

After making sure the garage door was LOCKED, I went through the entire house. I looked in every closet and under every bed. I knew that if I didn't take these steps, I'd be wigging out over any noise that I hear tonight.

Once the house was secured, I went to my little slice of heaven and fed the birds and squirrels. It made things feel *normal* and I'm glad that I did that.

I'm now in the house, with every door locked and the security system on. I have the ability to turn on the system with the motion sensor off- so I can walk around the house without setting off alarms.

When the bearded eye-roller called tonight, I told him what had happened. He said that I could call him, no matter what time it was, if I felt at all afraid tonight. But honestly? I am just fine. I'm sure he's relieved that I had all those years of practice of being the 'man' of the house and so he doesn't need to rush home from an important trip because I can't handle these sorts of things.

Security systems? They ROCK MY WORLD today.