Oh hey, wake up call

Friday I was working from home. And thank GOD - around 7:30 I was sitting in the kitchen logging on to the computer when I heard a noise behind the china cabinet. I asked my mom if she heard anything, and she said no. Then it happened again. We looked at each other - a mouse? A bug? Best to just leave it alone. But the noise continued and I couldn't shake the feeling that something was amiss. So I moved the cabinet a little and saw sparks coming out of the outlet behind it! (The cabinet has a light so it was plugged in, but not turned on.) I (perhaps stupidly) reached out and unplugged it, but the sparks were still coming out and the sound of crackling kept coming from inside the wall. Totally freaked, I got the fire extinguisher (and dusted it off - lord knows how old it is) and we called 911 and an electrician. The firemen arrived within 30 minutes, but not before I had a small breakdown about losing my children in an electrical fire. They had us turn off the power and said we needed a new outlet. The wall was a little warm but nothing too scary (ha). The electrician came a few hours later and "pigtailed" the aluminum wire with copper. I thought this had already been done, as this came up when I bought the house, but I guess not all outlets were fixed. So that will be happening ASAP. ($$$$$$$ but totes worth the peace of mind)

I just shudder to think what might have happened if I had gone to the office...but the electrician said our breaker box was really good and would shut anything down before a fire happened. Thanks but I think I'll still get everything fixed. YIKES!!!