PMS air conditioning and other burning issues

Now that summer is officially here our AC is PMS (Pretty Much Sucks). If only the temps could hover in the upper 80s, our house would be oh-so-comfortable. Once the outside numbers hit the top 90s and tip into three-digit territory, I feel like it's a sauna in our house (shouldn’t I be dropping a pound or two at the Mood Swing Spa?). I actually love having an older house nearly all the time but right now I would kill for a home built with AC in mind.

We've got fans in each bedroom so sleeping hasn't actually been bad. The other night Donnie and I were watching TV. We were settled in the warm living room but we’ve found having M&Ms can make any situation a little more tolerable. (Hey, they won't melt in your hands...)

All of a sudden I smelled something burning…a smell like overcooked microwave popcorn or a pot left on the stove…but the smell seemed to come from our living room wall near the stairs. I first fly upstairs to Bug's room to make sure he’s okay and that the smell isn’t on the second floor or coming from the fan in his room (the most recent "new" electrical thing in the house). He's fine, room is fine, upstairs is fine. Donnie checks the first floor while I run to the basement. We go back to the living room and realize the smell is isolated to that room and one area of the room. I unplugged the lamp and the outlet and wall were cool. The smell lingered but at times was stronger.

We figured it must be the lamp but wanted to rule out electrical stuff because, ummmm, who can sleep if you think there's something burning in your walls? Long story short, we called 911. The firefighters were great and after several minutes of checking various things, decided there was no electrical problem so the consensus was that the lamp was about to blow.

Last night we took pies and fruit to the fire station to thank them for their help . They were appreciative and then showed Bug the firetrucks (he was also appreciative but more awestruck--especially when they asked him to sit in the driver's seat!). They also gave us a free smoke detector, which was very nice but prompted jokes between Donnie and me (in the car) that they don’t want us calling again. (We do have smoke detectors but because there was only a burning smell and no actual smoke, the detector did nothing the night before. See, I learned something from the firefighters' visit.)

We got home and as I was making dinner the power went out in the neighborhood. With our PMS AC, hot flashes have taken on a new meaning.