Monday, November 10, 2008

I Heart Heat

Very early Sunday morning (or, rather, really late Saturday night), we woke up to the delightful smell of burning plastic wafting through the heat vents. As an added bonus, the house was freezing.

Yep. Our furnace is on the fritz.

I'm trying to put a good spin on the situation:
  • It's November, not January.
  • Getting it fixed might not cost an arm and a leg. It'll still probably cost a few toes or fingers, and that stinks, since the furnace is all of 4 1/2 years old, but hey, I'm all for paying less. Even if I'm getting used to paying for broken stuff (like our transmission that died in August. That was fun.)
  • Our gas fireplace pumps out heat pretty well.
  • Baking rolls when your furnace is out helps heat up the kitchen.
  • I have that nifty mini fireplace for my office that I'm blaring all day long.
  • Recently, hubby got a space heater for the master bedroom (which is always the coldest place in the house even when the furnace is functioning). It, too, runs all the time now.

I never thought I'd be so grateful for three little heater thingys.

But they aren't quite enough. The basement feels remarkably like the arctic tundra right now. You walk down the stairs, and the change in temperature hits you like a wall.

Problem: That's where all the kids sleep.

So last night we threw an impromptu slumber party for them in the great room by the fireplace. With the noise and necessary light on for the girls, my son couldn't sleep and headed to his frigid cave of a room anyway. Somehow he survived the night without frostbite.

It was lovely, truly, when he had to get up to practice piano extra early because he has his lesson on Monday mornings. Yeah. The girls loved waking up to that.

In other news, I'm toying with the idea of doing a word nerd-type post on some semi-regular basis, something along the lines of the whole luff-tenant thing I went over recently. I've even thought of calling it, "Word Nerd Wednesday" or something like that.

I've gotten other questions here and there (like, "Why is Dick a nickname for Richard?") that would make for some interesting (to me, anyway) posts. But I won't inflict them on my readers if those posts would bore the rest of blogdom to tears. Vote in the poll at the right! (Be honest.)

Also, don't forget to visit (and bid at!) the Whitney Auction. New items are up all the time. Click on the Whitney Auction button at the top of this page and you'll go to the store front (where you can put some items into your cart and just buy them) or use the handy-dandy link below that to view all of the auction items at eBay at the same time.

16 comments:

Lara Neves said...

Hope you get your furnace working very soon!

I would love word nerd Wednesdays. I minored in linguistics in college and that stuff fascinates me, too. Just read your luff-tenant post...very interesting stuff.

Melanie Jacobson said...

So, you just HAVE to know that I voted with an EMPHATIC absolutely, right?

Word nerds, unite.

Josi said...

I will accept a nerd word Wednesday as long as it is clearly understood that some of us are far ignorant. I don't think I can even spell lingquistics--nope, I can't. I'm not even sure I know what it means :-) Good luck with the heater--I hate it when things break.

Heather Moore said...

Too bad on the heater--is there any warranty? Our water heater went out about 2 years ago. Luckily the new one was not to pricey.

Heffalump said...

Our house is old, and even though our furnace works the upstairs never gets much heat (we really need to get insulationing someday).
We got sleeping bags for our boys so they don't freeze in the winter.

As a kid, my parents didn't heat the house with anything but the wood stove during the day. At night, there was NO heat. I could leave a glass of ice in my room at night and it would still be mostly frozen in the morning, and I could always see my breath in the winter at night. I lived...the sleeping bag I had helped.
I hope your furnace gets fixed soon.

Kristina P. said...

We have a home warranty, and it's the best thing ever. We've had our water heater replaced, and out furnace repaired a couple of times.

I hope it gets warm quick!

Kimberly Vanderhorst said...

Amen to the word nerds concept and huge sympathies on the furnace!

Stephanie Humphreys said...

I love Word Nerd Wednesday...can't wait for more linguistic trivia.

Karlene said...

Word nerd! Word nerd! Word nerd! Yes!!!

Tamra Norton said...

I've wondered about the whole Richard/Dick thing as well...

Anyhoo, sorry about the heater situation. We haven't had to turn ours on yet down here in Hel...I mean, Houston. :)

Jan said...

I was freezing reading this for some reason. It was chilling :)

That is so sad about the furnace. The party will never be forgotten though.

Nerdy things are so great. Bring it on.

Luisa Perkins said...

I vote yes on Word Nerd anything!

I wish I could send you some heat.

Shauna said...

Hope your heater gets working soon! ♥ Hugs!

Shauna said...

P.S. I ♥ your books! I just signed up to follow your blog :)

Julie Wright said...

no heat bites bad! We lived in my great grnadmother's house just after my middle child was born. That was two of the coldest months of my life. No matter how much coal we raked into that little stove, we always woke to a frozen house. One morning I went into the room the kids slept in and found them cocooned into layers and layers of blankets and their breath frosting the air as they slept. I broke down and wept like a fool that day. I broke down and wept like a fool when our own house was finally completed and we could move in. The first time I hear the whir click and hum of the heater, I sank to my knees and cried and thanked Heavenly father for all my blessings. My kids would sleep warm again. i feel your pain a bunch!
And I think word nerd wednesday sounds like fun!

Elisa said...

I just turned on my space heater to warm my toes... That stinks man! :oP

I read your comment on Sher's blog. I was sorry to see you have been feeling blue too. If you need a friend, you know where to find me!

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