The Heat is Gone

December welcomed us this year with a broken furnace. Thank goodness it wasn't during a cold weather streak! We woke up Sunday morning and the house was 54 degrees. We couldn't get anyone out to fix it since we had an "alternative heating source", but let me tell you how efficient that fireplace is NOT. Luckily when we bought this house the sellers agreed to purchase an insurance plan that covered much of the cost for replacing the furnace. What a blessing it went out before that expired! Unfortunately, it did take 5 days before the new furnace was finally installed and working. Meanwhile we bought two area heaters and I tacked sheets up in the window and doorway to the family room so the heat from the fireplace could actually be felt. The kids and I ended up with irritated pink eyes from the smoke (especially A - looked awful!), colds, and I'm not sure that campfire smell will ever fade, but we really were blessed through the whole ordeal. One set of friends even had us over for dinner and laundry so we could keep warm, be fed and do laundry. (Oh, didn't I mention that our brand new $$$ washer was broken? Yeah. That took five mechanics and 6 weeks to finally get replaced with a new one... not to mention about $200 in laundromat fees). It would have been funny that the car also broke during this week (so I couldn't have gone to the laundromat anyway), if I had been feeling so sick from my secret pregnancy to boot! Good times, good times. At least Lessa dog didn't get rabies or mad hog disease like Old Yeller....