Things to Be Grateful For

I was looking back through some of my archives and ran across this entry from December 13, 1999, during the first winter we spent in our house:

We have been undergoing the installation of a new heating system these last two weeks. Holy cow, is it ever gonna be done? Originally it was supposed to be finished last Tuesday . . . today it's Monday again and they're still not done. Tonight when I got home there were three (count 'em, three!) vans in my driveway, and about seven men inside the house, working away. They stayed til 7:00 and it's still not done. But we're getting closer. Surely in the next couple of days . . .

In the meantime it's still maxing out at about 50º F in this house. The coldest we ever recorded was 35º F in the living room. It feels like camping. Last night when I got in bed, it took me 45 minutes to warm up enough to fall asleep. And that was with the electric blanket blazing away.

Um, 35º F in the living room? And why weren't we staying in a hotel???