For fear of jinxing anything

Oh, man.  Do you recall I once said never utter (even mentally...to yourself) that "things could always be worse"?  Nor should you think, or utter, the ubiquitous "things couldn't get any worse".  Does anyone recall me offering this sage advice?

OK, put your hands down.  I just wanted to prove my point AND to make it clear that I neither thought or desired to expound on that theory - mostly because I believe it tempts whatever angst-y 'spirits' may be out there.  It tempts them to validate the theory.  Clearly, though, someone is conspiring against me.

Thanks for that.

[clamoring voices swell with wonder]

The furnace gave up the ghost yesterday afternoon, and we have been without heat since Saturday midday.  I returned home to the boys' announcement of "the furnace is not working....we think."  They deduced this after realizing it had become a little chilly, and when they looked at the thermostat, they realized the temperature had dropped to 66*F, and that it was a little uncomfortable to bare arms and feet.  Go figure.  So I gathered up one of our trusty, long-necked, gun-style fireplace lighters and trucked down to the furnace to simply re-light the pilot.  Well, it seems it wasn't meant to be that simple.

Fortunately, the weather has been more friendly and obliging in the temperature department, so I have very few complaints overall.  The temperate 30-40*-range temperatures kept the indoor temp from plummeting while we did some very fast 'recon' and research online for portable heaters.  Not something you want to have to accomplish last minute on a weekend.  In the process of it all we did find out the hard way that the two (nationwide) large box home improvement stores have some seriously stupid operating standards to fix.

"Like what?" you ask.

Well, let's just say winter isn't over, yet.  In fact, I think we can all freely say it has only just begun, right?  Because, in fact, it really has only just begun.  Still, when these two giants of the home improvement industry (one rhymes with "blows", and the other doesn't) stocked their shelves with space heaters for the winter season (after experiencing the last few years of steadily worsening storms, etc), they did not believe that after selling out to the walls of every last heater in December, they might wish to restock their supplies for January OR February storms and outages.

The last couple of storms, which tore across our area only recently, left many without electricity and heat.  Those with generators then purchased space heaters, leaving shelves low in stock....or empty.  Well, the areas hit hardest weren't inclusive of all households across the surrounding three counties, but why bother to order more space heaters for the remainder of the winter season - all 2.5 months of it?  Why stock space heaters for the remaining thousands of possible homeowners who may require one between now and, oh, I don't know....April?  Why indeed.

Calling many stores in a 25-minute marathon yielded the same answer over and over: "Sorry, we sold out in December."  Well, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  Online, stock was somewhat plentiful, but when calling to double check inventory before heading out to make the purchase, I was flabbergasted and dismayed.

Finally! I found one store with three heaters to choose from....one of each of three different models.  What we found when arriving to make our purchase was that one of these had possibly been opened before, but I was assured that it was all good.  Not to worry.  Buy in confidence.  We loaded up and took our three new friends home, setting them up around the house in strategic locations, and warily operated them throughout that night, keeping at least one eye open all night.

In all honesty, I only un-crated two heaters, leaving the final little bitty thing in its box for "just in case".  The fireplace in the lower level was doing an adequate job of heating the majority of the area below, thus raising the temp upstairs by radiating through the floor and walls.  The ambient heating of the radiator-style space heater we purchased was sufficiently maintaining the whole of the kitchen/living room/hallway-bath area, and the oscillating tower placed between the boys' bedroom doors was keeping them warm enough for rock-n-roll.  However, my mind is reeling over the electricity we are using keeping these babies running; and is spinning over the thought of the gas bill for use of the fireplace for days on end.  But, I guess it can't be helped.

[sigh]

Anyhow, our wait for a repairman is now almost cut in half.  The best date I could get was before one o'clock in the afternoon on Wednesday, so we have nearly gotten to the halfway point in our waiting period.  There are now only two-and-one-half days standing between us and a working furnace, and if the weather holds to the predicted forecast, we only really have to suffer from Tuesday evening until the knock at our door Wednesday morning! [insert phrase which must not be uttered here]

So, given the first post of the year....

....how do I deal with my anger? Where does that all fit in?

Five simple rules to be happy

1) Free your heart from hatred

2) Free your mind from worries

3) Live simply

4) Give more

5) Expect less