How to tell when your shower is done

When I got married I got a special gift from Father Candy: a cookbook and a smoke alarm so I, in his words, would know when dinner was done.

Fast forward to today. The current project in the bathroom remodel is now the painting of the door. Or, the striping of the 50 years of paint off the door to repaint it before we put the tile floor in. Bob has started the striping of paint and the door looks like a modern art project. He had wanted to take it completely off and outside to work, but with the rains this week, he just took off the door knob. Now a missing doorknob on the bathroom door does not bother me. We are not having company over and most of the times I leave the door open while "enthroned" because I have 3 cats who just freak out if there is a closed door in between me and my entourage. They will yowl, scratch and stick various body parts under the door in an attempt to let me know that they must be there to protect me. The only time I shut the door is when I take a shower because the smoke alarm is right outside the bathroom door and steam will set off smoke alarms. You can see where I am going with this.

Today, I forgot to bring in the entourage and pushed the door shut and stepped into a nice steamy hot shower. I was washing my hair and missed the entrance of Mo Mo, my self appointed Head Body Guard, who being talented enough to open the door is not talented enough to shut it afterwards. My relaxing reverie was broken with the klaxon whining of the smoke alarm going off and the frantic skitterings of 3 cats trying to make a break for it and cast blame on the other 2. Nothing like trying to rinse shampoo out of your eyes with a smoke alarm going off and having to run naked into the hallway to wave a towel to dissipate the steam and realizing that the curtains are open and you have just given the entire neighborhood a show that no one in their right mind would pay to see. By the time I got the smoke alarm stopped, dried off, dressed, and cleaned up the puddles of water off the floor, I walk in to the living room to find my entourage sound asleep as if nothing had ever happened.

Thanks Father Candy. I am thinking of you today!