I have been working on the same chapter, the same scene for the past week. Until two days ago, I didn't know why. My head was foggy. My energy low. I felt week, and try as I might I couldn't have strung two words together with superglue and twine.

My non-writing, 8-5 job I do from my office at home. A cozy room in our finished, walkout, basement. I've been slower than usual in that job too. Coffee and short walks outside would get me going enough to get through the day, but concentrating took effort.

Saturday night my daughter felt ill. She sat downstairs in the family room playing video games with her older brother. Her face was flushed and her head hurt. I took her upstairs, away from our coal stove, because it sits in the family room and it was cranking out heat. I thought she may have been overheated.

After a few hours, after the kids were in bed I started to feel ill too. Was I coming down with the same thing my daughter had? Yes, actually, but I didn't know it then. I stepped out the door to stand in the frigid air and after a few moments I felt better.

When I walked back in the house, I smelled something. Coal gas. The same scent I smelled when I emptied the ash pan. I checked the doors on the stove, every connection, every crevice. I couldn't smell it again, but I knew something wasn't right with the stove. I opened the door to let the fresh air in. In a few minutes I closed the door and went to bed, but not before moving the carbon monoxide detector closer to the stove.

In four hours it went off. The house was filling with carbon monoxide. As it turns out there is something called fly ash (the consistency of baby powder) that builds up in stoves. We didn't realize we should shut the stove down and clean it in the middle of the season. That ignorance could have cost us our lives.

My husband and I shut down and cleaned the stove. Removing the pipe that connected it to the chimney, we found the vertical pipe clogged with this fly ash. We owe our lives to that little twenty dollar box. I'll admit when I bought it I thought I may be wasting money. I know better now.

We are all fine. Healthy, and happy. I didn't realize how foggy my mind was until it cleared. I look forward to getting back to work on my book.