There is no dark at my house.

At night, with all the lamps in the house turned off, I have no trouble navigating the stairs in my house.  A street light shines in through the upstairs bedroom window and the neighbor's porch light shines in through the upper dining room window.

But even without either of those, I realized last night that my house is never truly dark.  A surfeit of caffeine kept me awake and I walked through the house cataloging all the lights that stay on.

Master bedroom - green light from the smoke alarm
                            red light from the phone extension charger

Master bathroom - very bright green light from the sonic toothbrush charger (which is why it is turned to the wall)

Front bedroom - green light from the smoke alarm.

Hallway -green light from the smoke alarm

Glass studio- green light from the smoke alarm
                    green light from the battery charger for my buffer

Loft/Office - green light from the smoke alarm
                  red light from the phone extension battery charger
                  3 green and 1 blue (pulsing) light on the wireless router
                  4 green on the modem
                  large green square on the thermostat control

Family room - green light from the smoke alarm
                     red light from the phone extension battery charger
                     white clock numbers on the stereo receiver (why does a stereo need to know the time?)
                     1 yellow, 1 green light on the satellite receiver

Kitchen - the worst room of all for lights and there isn't even a smoke alarm.
               3 red lights on the phone answering machine
               white LED on cell phone charging on the counter (it's always there, so it should count)
               green digital clock numbers on the stove
               green digital clock numbers on the microwave (which is just above the stove)
               2 very bright blue temperatures and 3 bright blue symbols on the refrigerator, which are reflected in the kitchen window to double the brightness.

I'm not sure what committee decided everything we buy needs to light up.  I've looked at manuals trying to find instructions for turning at least some of these off.  And not just because I would like to eliminate vampire energy.

Sometimes I long for a little dark.