All Hail the Conquering Hero(ine)!

A couple of days ago the kids and I went out for an outing and ended up being gone all day. When we returned home around 4:00, there was something wrong. I opened my door and was greeted by the noxious smell of natural gas. I turned the stroller right around and shut the door, hoping that the kids didn't get as big a whiff as I did. I called our maintenance manager, Ivan...well, actually, I called Robyn, just to get the moral support to call, first.

Ivan came to check it out and said, "I do not smell gas, I only smell the cinnamony." (He is from Slovenia and has a beautiful accent, and he was smelling my air fresheners, glad they work). Anyway, he was convinced that I was smelling "cinnamony", too, but I was still worried. He instructed me to wait an hour, come back, and then call him if I still smelled it. "I do not smell it, but gas is not joke. If you think it's wrong, call me." I did, and he came up and turned off the gas to the stove.
Then yesterday the stove repair-man came to check it out with his little gas-detecting magic wand. There was a teeny-tiny leak that he had to order parts to fix. Ivan and the repairman (who is also Slovenian and I suspect his name is also Ivan) just came by today to fix it, and they told me "You deserve award for smelling such little leak!" (I hope you are reading these quotes in a thick Slavic accent). So that's just what I'm going to do, award myself: