Polar Vortex

We have been wrapped in a frigid cold snap. It's not just cold, it's disgusting and making me quite the rager. I'm not happy about this. My December energy bill was over $400. Most years it's around $200. I have had the heat on non-stop. The last two days it's been in the 60's in our home. Yesterday we could not get up above 67 degrees inside with most of the day being 64. That is the temperature with TWO 1500 watt space heaters on. Today we woke to a 60 degree home, with the heat on the entire night. The sunshine helps I guess.

I was not made for this kind of weather.

It's up to 67 again, but that's because I cheated and turned on the oven. I know we can't use that to heat our home, altho it's more energy-efficient than my 80% efficient furnace.

I did call an HVAC guy in yesterday [the coldest day of the year(s)]... luckily he charged me only $20 in gas money to tell me, "Hey, it's cold outside. You have an old home. Going to take a while to heat this puppy up. Your furnace is fine." Grrrr. Tell me something I didn't already know. While I'm happy I didn't have to fix my modern furnace, I'm pissed about being frickin' cold.

Last week when I walked Oliver to school I thought my eyeballs were going to crack. Those were the good ol' days. I had no idea how easy I had it back then. This is worse. My brain has shriveled up into a raisin. So has my good nature.

I'm crabby. I'm cold. I've a headache. I'm mostly crabby. I dislike watching my dollars go fly mercilessly, zealous in their newfound freedom and apathetic to my woes, out the window. I'm trying not to cry. I'm trying not to freak out each time I hear my furnace moan. (Something new this winter.) Don't get me started on how this would be different had this whole house upset not happened. I was all set to get FREE insulation in my home. I lost that when I lost the house. I now have the house, yes. But I lost the free insulation and all the other free work that was about to be done on my home to protect it from this cold brutal life-sucking, good-mood ruining weather.

For lunch I pulled a plate of food from our fridge. It didn't even feel COLD when I opened the refrigerator! There was no noticeable difference between the air temperature INSIDE the fridge vs OUTSIDE of the fridge! The left-over tacos I pulled out of the fridge were sitting on a dinner plate. I set a second plate down earlier for my son's lunch. The plate on the table was as cold as the plate that came out of my fridge! People! It's cold in my home! Waaaaaaaa! I'm now crying! and whining).

:((

Crabby. Me. Yup.

So, I moved my desk into my son's room. His room is the warmest in the home as it has only one exterior wall. His closet is actually colder than my fridge. That's closed. My son is gone now. He left around noon to be with his daddy. I've got deadlines, and as you know, I work from home.

I'm not sure how many days we will be hauled up in this little room, but certainly, it's getting quite cosy in here and I've only been in it for 1 hour. Oliver will most likely love that I am in here. My desk doesn't quite fit (as you can see) but he has two doors into his room, so we are good. His dresser has been moved over and blocks his closet door, but again, who wants to put on freezing clothes anyway?

OK, time to get work done. I'm child-free for 24 hours or so, and I have about 40 hours of work to get done. Wish me luck. Send me heat, please? No threesomes tho. I've already been invited to one, and I politely declined. Sheesh. (Obviously I've got a friend with weird sense of humor.)

Maybe it's time to buddy up with my old boyfriend. :) He was quite warm and had heat. My standards are low today. Have heat? Will date.

Stay warm. And don't buy an old house unless it's insulated. Or better yet, move to Florida, but not where a hurricane would hit. Maybe there's just no safe place to live.