It's been cold here. No. It's been bitterly cold here. No, no, no. It's been utterly, bitterly cold here.
So on Wednesday evening, when The Girls and I came home, it took us a while to warm up from traveling in the cold. I began working on making macaroni & cheese to take to a dinner and found myself huddling around the stove flame. Eventually, I worked up the nerve to take off my coat, even though I still wasn't warm. Surely I'd warm up soon enough, right?
If our furnace had been working, I am certain I'd have warmed right up. But, I soon discovered, on this - an extremely, utterly, bitterly cold evening, our furnace was not working.
I called The Dad who was on his way home and then I called the heating guys. They wouldn't be able to get out until the morning. Of course.
We went to our dinner and The Dad and I formulated a plan. There was no way we'd be able to stay in the ice house; we'd have to get a hotel room. And I'll be the first to admit that this idea held a certain bit of relief for me. What a fun-filled family night we'd have! We'd wake up and not have to fight about what to wear, because we'd only take one outfit for each person! We'd have a hot breakfast that I would have to neither cook nor clean up! We'd leave the room in a mess and not have to go home to an unmade bed... well, that's not true. We'd go to OUR home where not ONE of beds was made! I could feel myself already beginning to relax and let the stress flow right out of my body!
Since The Dad leaves at a quarter until the butt-crack of dawn each morning, we'd have to take both vehicles. So, while I packed and Daughter 2 helped me by playing Mario Kart, The Dad and Daughter 1 went ahead to secure a room.
After leaving our home, The Dad called and asked me to grab his flash drive. Then called back to ask me to grab some medicine. Then called back to ask me to pick up a snack or two. Then called back to tell me we'd changed rooms. It took Daughter 2 and I about an hour to get from our house to a hotel that was one mile away.
When we arrived at the hotel, I somehow channeled my own dad and spent the rest of the night yelling at The Daughters that we did have close neighbors, and they didn't want to hear them! And to just go bed already! And to just go to sleep for heaven's sake! And to just quit splashing the water out of the tub. And to just go to get back and bed and to not open the door to the hallway one more time!
It was an exhausting night to say the least. There was no rest or relaxation for me.
The next morning, we have to sample everything on the breakfast buffet - all in about 10 minutes because I then have to rush The Daughters to my friend FloJo's house so she can take them to school for me. Then I have to race back to the house to meet the heating guys who promise to be there before spring.
I was more than slightly drained by the time I got back to the house, which was now sporting a temperature in the 40s. I took my shoes off and doubled my socks before slipping into house shoes. I left my coat, hat and gloves on and covered myself with a blankie and settled in to watch repeats of Friends.
After Ross & Rachel decided to take a break, I got up to get a drink. I opened the refrigerator and poured myself a glass of sangria. I needed it and I had more than deserved it! Then, it hit me: It was only 8:15 in the morning! And then I remembered that I planned on going back to school as soon as I had heat again! Oh, jeez...
So, I poured it down the drain and put the glass in the dishwasher.
Good grief! Was I so tired and stressed out that I was (almost) resorting to chasing my bacon biscuit with sweet red wine? Mercy, what was happening to me? I'm pretty sure I needed a major break. No, what I needed was a drink!
And with that thought, I opened the refrigerator (again) and poured myself a glass of sangria (again) and then realized it was still 8:15 in the morning and I would hopefully be returning to school as soon as I had heat. Then, I poured the glass of sangria down the drain (again).
That's right, my friends, I did that whole ordeal not once, but twice. I'm not sure what upsets me more: That I was so out of it I didn't realize what I was doing OR that I wasted two really good glasses of sangria!
Either way, I'm blaming the cold!
