Our first night, our worst night

So our house was built in 1912. Seriously. I think this fact gives the Castle character and charm and I love it. Then reality hit. Maybe you heard about Edmonton being the coldest place in the world the night of Dec.12? Well that's the very night our furnace decided to stop working. It was cold Saturday evening/night when we had people over, but by cold we mean 17 degrees in our house so we used blankets and cranked the thermostat. We woke up Sunday morning however, to the bitter cold... in our house. Lauren thought she was camping (you know that feeling of being warm in your sleeping bag but your face is cold?). The thermostat said it was 12 degrees in our house, but I'm pretty sure it was colder on the main floor. It was SO COLD in our house.

Well I got the lucky job of getting out of bed and going downstairs to wait for the furnace guy to show up because the others had to get ready and go to church and I wasn't going until later. The good news is Mike showed up within the hour, the bad news is he couldn't figure out what was wrong with it for quite a while and then once he had explained what he thought was wrong and "fixed" it and left, the temperature dropped another 2 degrees before I had left the house. And by left the house I mean, went out and tried to start my car, which wouldn't; then ended up waiting for 20 minutes outside on the corner to be picked up because the guy that was coming to get me got lost, but had already called me and told me he was close; so there I stood in a skirt and tights, freezing to the point that I was afraid I was going to get frostbite everywhere...

That afternoon, we hung sheets in doorways and stuffed blankets and towels around doors to block drafts and box in heat. We pulled the nest chair into the kitchen, cranked the oven, and baked sugar cookies all afternoon while we cuddled together under blankets with warm magic bags. It was a great bonding experience, I give it that much. I wasn't even upset, just cold. We also had people over that evening which helped increase body heat. I think we made it up to 18 degrees before we went to bed.

We were excited with every half degree increase and went to bed hopeful. And woke up to a 14 degree house. New furnace guys came, hit on me, and increased our furnace fan speed so that it could keep up with the freezing cold outside and the ancientness of the Castle. So far so good. Our bill is going to be astronomical if we don't seal our windows asap.