The Heat is Out

I awoke this morning to very cold sheets. That was odd because, while I usually go to bed in cold sheets, when I wake up they're nice and toasty. I didn't think a lot of it until I heard the furnace try to start.

I say "try" because the blower started, I heard clicking, but the whoosh of heat never began. I'm not sure when during the night it stopped but this morning it was 52° in the house. No wonder my sheets were not warm and toasty. 

I thought maybe the pilot light was out. I looked for a bit but couldn't make sense of anything in the unit. And then I thought maybe it doesn't even have a pilot light. So I called the landlord and left a voice message for him.

And then I wondered what in the world to do with myself in a cold house. The day turned out alright, after all.

I started the self-cleaning oven cycle because that heats up a house like nobody's business -- and, let's face it, it really needed to be done anyway. I had some coffee and cereal. Then I went outside and shoveled snow. Yup, it snowed last night. It was such a beautiful day, I became inspired to go for a walk. The landlord showed up a short time after I came home.

He brought two very nice space heaters and his toolbox. He quickly determined that the furnace does not have a pilot light; it has an electric igniter and it was dead. He said it's easy to replace but the heating and plumbing store which sells them is closed on Sunday. So he's coming back tomorrow morning to replace the part. 

In the mean time, I'm snuggled up in my bed with an extra comforter, my heated rice snakes, and a book. Oh, and there's a lovely space heater in the corner of the room. 

All is well. 

Best Day Ever

I recently had the privilege of having The Best Day Ever. Okay, I probably shouldn't call it that because it's hard to determine something like that, but still. It was a wonderful day. I'll share some of it with you.

It started with this.  I call it Apple Pie Oatmeal.  It's exactly what you think -- if what you think is a cut-up apple microwaved with cinnamon, sugar and butter, then mixed with oatmeal.  And it's topped with real whipped cream.

Then I took a walk and listened to two episodes of "Radio Lab."  I love that show. It frequently makes me tear up in a good way.  It always makes me think about something I hadn't thought about before.  This killed my battery, hence the 16% in the upper right hand corner.

On my walk, I saw scenery like this.  I love living near the nature trail that runs around the metro area.

I came home and did some dishes.  I know, I know, The Best Day Ever probably shouldn't contain mundane things like dishes and laundry, but it makes me happy to get this kind of stuff done.  So there.

I played The Sims 3.  My latest Sims project is recreating the White family from "Breaking Bad."  The dad, of course, is Walter White.  He has the family-oriented trait and also the criminal trait.  This makes it so that he desperately wants children and always has desires to play with and chat with his children.  However, he also has the option to "steal candy" from his infant daughter.  So I had to make him do that.  Poor Holly White cried when her father stole her lollipop.

I had a delicious dinner.  It was a tilapia fillet baked in parchment paper with herbs and ghee.  There was some roasted asparagus, and, of course, wine.  You might see in the background of this photo that I also watched "Breaking Bad."  I've been binge-watching it because I came to the party late and I am terrified that someone is going to spoil the ending before I can get to it.  In this particular episode, Jesse Pinkman had had the crap beaten out of him and he was recuperating in the hospital.

This is the wine I had.  It's a rather sweet wine, since it's made from peaches, but it was really good with the buttery fish.

And, finally, I had hot chocolate with rum!  Yum!

Generosity

Solomon and Miriam's school had a canned food drive leading up to the holidays. I packed up a few things from our pantry for them to take to school. Solomon said he wanted to send more, to buy more. I told him that he was welcome to pick out more from the pantry because I could replace what he took before we needed to eat it but I couldn't spend money on it because the grocery money was spent. He said that he wanted to go the store and spend his saved allowance on some more food.

So he got his wallet and I took him to Target.  Considering that he had less than $15 saved up and he's been wanting to buy accessories for his PSP, I figured he'd spend a couple of dollars, five at the most.  But, no.  He picked out some cans of veggies and then moved on.  He kept adding up prices on the calculator and came to a total of $12.  I asked him if he was sure.  He said yes, with no hesitation.

As we headed to the cashier, we passed a display of DVDs.  He paused for a second and sucked in his breath when he saw that The Hunger Games was selling for $13.  He loved those books; he read them all twice.  He adored the movie.  He is dying to see the second movie.  I thought he might change his mind about spending most of his money on food for the food drive. I could see the internal conflict as his face changed expressions.  But then he let out his breath and kept walking.

That is my kid. He is amazing.