BABY, IT'S COLD INSIDE!
Our heater died a very dramatic death yesterday, complete with smoke filling the house and setting off the smoke detectors! It took us a while to figure out it was the heater; I was running around in a panic, unplugging toasters and computers and anything else that could be causing the smoke, wondering if I should be calling 911 instead.
The wonderful (NOT!) rental management company has an emergency repair phone number to leave a message at. They called us back 3 hours later, at 9:30 pm. Way to go emergency line! We'd already tucked the boys in with extra blankets, so we told them to come in the morning.
It didn't get too cold last night, and even in the morning it wasn't too bad. But as the day wore on, a chill set in. The repair man finally came at 3 pm (he got the thermostat to turn back on--it was 59 degrees in here!) and spent over two hours tinkering in the garage before declaring that he'd repaired the heater, but the control board that turns on the heater and the fan was shot. There's a nice little black mark where it burned up, even.
He lent us a space heater and said he'd try to work us in tomorrow, if the property management company approves the control board repair.
No worries. It's 32 degrees now, but it won't get much colder tonight (that was sarcastic.)
I have been saving a specific brownie mix for winter. I just couldn't bear to bake them in summer. But today was the perfect time to make them. Most of our mixes cook for 20 minutes. This one cooks for a whole hour. So we baked brownies to warm up the kitchen, and we've all had several servings of hot chocolate.
Jared dragged his twin-sized bed tent into our room and is sleeping on a camping mattress near the borrowed space heater. Zach's in his bed, but we'll haul him into ours when he falls asleep. At least one room will be warm in the house!