Equipment Check

Competitions, races, contests, games… We all play them or watch them, whether it’s Candyland with your four year old or hockey with a bunch of pals, there’s something that each one of us does. Smart players check their equipment before engaging and there’s usually someone checking that all is in order on the playing field.

Some games in life, however, are not organized per se. They are things that just happen when a couple has been together for a while. Every fall we play the same game in our house: the person that turns on the heat first is the bigger wimp. Since we’ve had Sugar and Spice, we’ve gotten more lax about the game. We don’t want our cherubs to freeze.

We’ve had a fairly mellow fall here this year, so we’ve actually made it into October before the taunting started about who was going to lose the contest. The propane tanks are full and we waited to see who would be a bigger wuss and actually move the thermostat button over to “Heat.”

It rained all day Friday and the winds were blowing terribly. It got cold, bone chilling cold. The girls were watching tv, coloring and fighting and I was working on homework when I decided to look at the thermostat, the house seemed to be getting colder. 60 degrees, that’s ridiculous. I decided to lose the contest, for the sake of my children, of course. I clicked the thermostat on and nothing. I turned it off and back on again, felt the vents, waiting for the warm air to take the damp chill out of the house. Still nothing. I started texting EN at work to find out if there was something else I needed to do to get the heat going. He walked me through a few things, nothing. He came home after work and tried fixing the furnace and discovered some whatchacallit had gotten wet. Are there any parts stores open on the weekends? Hell no.

The gas fireplace is going and we have portable radiators in the girls rooms, so there’s some warmth to be had until the new part can be bought and installed.

While I may have attempted to turn the heat on first, the heat did not come on. Once the furnace is fixed and EN tests the system to make sure it works, he turned it on first and is therefore the loser. I challenge you to argue my logic. 

It’s great to be a winner.

xoxo

Ice Princess