Ahhh!
So...someone showed up at my house looking for directions a little while ago (we live in the middle of nowhere with poorly marked roads) and since I have a very protective dog and because I'm paranoid about letting strangers in the house for any reason, I went outside to talk to them, shutting the door behind me. Can you see where this is headed yet?
I get done helping them find their way to where they needed to go (all the while my dog is in the house barking nonstop) and they leave as I'm walking back to the house. I get to the door, I turn the knob...and nothing. THE DOOR WOULDN'T OPEN.
Now, I have been stupid enough in the past to lock myself out, but my stupidity only extended to the doorknob lock, but since as we don't know our neighbors (see the whole middle of nowhere thing, our nearest neighbors are a quarter of a mile down the road, besides a rental place across the street that no one ever seems to live in more than a few months) and we don't have any relatives living in the area, no one else has a key, even if I had been able to get to somewhere in slippers in the SNOW. Oh, and did I mention my twin 2 1/2 yr olds were inside the house as well? No? Silly me. They were. They were in their cribs, but still. I couldn't have just walked somewhere for help, even if there was anywhere to walk to or anyone to ask.
Anyway, back to my lovely adventure (note extreme sarcasm). I have locked myself out before, but since it was only the doorknob lock, I was able to kick in the door without much problem. Alas, this time I a) wasn't stupid enough to lock myself out, and b) my dog was so worked up she kept jumping up on the door, and, you guessed it, accidentally LOCKED THE DEADBOLT.
So...what do you want to bet the chances are I could kick in the door with the deadbolt locked? Pretty slim. I tried several times, with the twins inside crying because of the noise and everything, but the door wouldn't give. I ended up going out to the garage to find something heavy enough to break the door window and found a huge plumber's wrench. When I got back to the door, though, I couldn't bring myself to break the window without trying to cave the door in one last time (we just don't have the money to replace a pane of glass right now, with four kids to buy Christmas presents for).
Apparently, one last time did the trick and the door flew open...I figure it's because the doorjamb was already weakened from my previous door-kicking-in experience. So now I have a door that won't close because the jamb is shredded. Yay. My husband should be able to fix that, though, when he gets home from work. Me, on the other hand...my back was hurting before all this drama, and now? I'm just waiting for the delayed reaction to kick in. I probably won't be able to move by tomorrow. *facepalms* My dog is hiding in a corner, traumatized by the whole thing I guess...either that or she senses my barely under control anger at her right now. I know it wasn't her fault, that she didn't realize what she'd done, but I'm just pissed as hell and it's going to take a bit to get over it. *deep breath*
Know what this has taught me? I'm not as safe in my house when the deadbolt's locked as I thought. I mean, I'm 5' 2 1/2" tall and a wimp, and if *I* could cave the door in despite the deadbolt, anyone could. So now I'm stuck between Thank God I was able to get inside without having to break a pane of glass that we wouldn't be able to replace for at least a couple of months, and Holy shit, with a few good slams, anyone can get into my house who wants to badly enough. Not that anyone would want to badly enough, but I'm paranoid enough that I can imagine several scenarios where it might happen, including an insane, homicidal escapee from the local sanitarium. Never mind that I'm fairly sure the nearest sanitarium is at least an hour or more away. Yay! for having a writer's imagination, huh?
And now, a tidbit for those of you who were bored enough kind enough to read this whole post. Kicking the door in? Doesn't actually work that well, as I found out the last time I was locked out. A shoulder to the door works much better (at least for a short, wimpy person like me). The trick is to get over the inherent hesitation over actually breaking a door down so you can get enough force behind the slam to actually do anything.
/rant and impromptu service announcement for the day
I get done helping them find their way to where they needed to go (all the while my dog is in the house barking nonstop) and they leave as I'm walking back to the house. I get to the door, I turn the knob...and nothing. THE DOOR WOULDN'T OPEN.
Now, I have been stupid enough in the past to lock myself out, but my stupidity only extended to the doorknob lock, but since as we don't know our neighbors (see the whole middle of nowhere thing, our nearest neighbors are a quarter of a mile down the road, besides a rental place across the street that no one ever seems to live in more than a few months) and we don't have any relatives living in the area, no one else has a key, even if I had been able to get to somewhere in slippers in the SNOW. Oh, and did I mention my twin 2 1/2 yr olds were inside the house as well? No? Silly me. They were. They were in their cribs, but still. I couldn't have just walked somewhere for help, even if there was anywhere to walk to or anyone to ask.
Anyway, back to my lovely adventure (note extreme sarcasm). I have locked myself out before, but since it was only the doorknob lock, I was able to kick in the door without much problem. Alas, this time I a) wasn't stupid enough to lock myself out, and b) my dog was so worked up she kept jumping up on the door, and, you guessed it, accidentally LOCKED THE DEADBOLT.
So...what do you want to bet the chances are I could kick in the door with the deadbolt locked? Pretty slim. I tried several times, with the twins inside crying because of the noise and everything, but the door wouldn't give. I ended up going out to the garage to find something heavy enough to break the door window and found a huge plumber's wrench. When I got back to the door, though, I couldn't bring myself to break the window without trying to cave the door in one last time (we just don't have the money to replace a pane of glass right now, with four kids to buy Christmas presents for).
Apparently, one last time did the trick and the door flew open...I figure it's because the doorjamb was already weakened from my previous door-kicking-in experience. So now I have a door that won't close because the jamb is shredded. Yay. My husband should be able to fix that, though, when he gets home from work. Me, on the other hand...my back was hurting before all this drama, and now? I'm just waiting for the delayed reaction to kick in. I probably won't be able to move by tomorrow. *facepalms* My dog is hiding in a corner, traumatized by the whole thing I guess...either that or she senses my barely under control anger at her right now. I know it wasn't her fault, that she didn't realize what she'd done, but I'm just pissed as hell and it's going to take a bit to get over it. *deep breath*
Know what this has taught me? I'm not as safe in my house when the deadbolt's locked as I thought. I mean, I'm 5' 2 1/2" tall and a wimp, and if *I* could cave the door in despite the deadbolt, anyone could. So now I'm stuck between Thank God I was able to get inside without having to break a pane of glass that we wouldn't be able to replace for at least a couple of months, and Holy shit, with a few good slams, anyone can get into my house who wants to badly enough. Not that anyone would want to badly enough, but I'm paranoid enough that I can imagine several scenarios where it might happen, including an insane, homicidal escapee from the local sanitarium. Never mind that I'm fairly sure the nearest sanitarium is at least an hour or more away. Yay! for having a writer's imagination, huh?
And now, a tidbit for those of you who were bored enough kind enough to read this whole post. Kicking the door in? Doesn't actually work that well, as I found out the last time I was locked out. A shoulder to the door works much better (at least for a short, wimpy person like me). The trick is to get over the inherent hesitation over actually breaking a door down so you can get enough force behind the slam to actually do anything.
/rant and impromptu service announcement for the day