The smoke alarms work...

...and no the addition did not burn down!  Today was the day that the fireplace installer came and finished up the installation of the fireplace.  We passed our chimney inspection this morning and then the installer put the log-set in place and installed the face trim and gave us the tour of how to operate it and how to clean it.  The first time you use it, they recommend burning at full flame for about 6 hours to "break it in".  So after supper tonight we fired it up and opened the windows to let the smoke out.  The installer said the first hour would be the smokiest as the paints cure and the oils and dust burn off.  About 20 minutes after starting it, it was getting a little hazy in the living room and I commented that I wondered if the smoke detectors were working.  About 5 minutes later the one in the living room went off followed immediately by the one upstairs (since they are interconnected).  Good to know they are working and fun to finally have the fireplace installed.

Reuben, our little pyro, got home just as the installer was finishing up and he went over to my sawhorse and grabbed some shims and was ready to start feeding the fire.  I think he was a little disappointed that it is a gas fireplace and not a wood fireplace.  However, this evening after supper he was out there again until he went to bed and he was pretty content to say "bon-fire" in his language [something along the lines of la-la-laie-yo-yo] and hold his stack of shims even if he could not put them into the fire.

(Note from Andrea - we're spending some time tonight moving things around in the living room so we can use more of the space by the fireplace on a daily basis now. Sawhorses are pushed to the side, or moved to the office level, which is functioning as a staging ground for things that will move into the basement after Matt paints down there. He thinks he's done with the mudding and sanding, so next larger chunk of time he gets will be spent priming! Also please note that we have not finished the fireplace wall yet - it's still just bare mudded sheet rock. Cosmetic things are a lower priority until we get the spaces livable!)