The rooms are not totally without heat, just that our (hot water, baseboard radiators) simply cannot keep up when the temps outside go below, well, -10 (which is exactly the temp right now, midnight, which means it will get colder). To keep it up I run laundry (my washer is at the back end of the house)(this is to keep water running from one end of the house to the other, it is shotgun style and that is the furthest from the source of heat and water). I have two of my largest stew pots on the stove and keep them boiling during the coldest hours, which also helps the humidity factor (I get a shock every time I touch something otherwise). I also run hot water in the shower in that bathroom. This does not happen every year. We've had this old house (built 1854) for 12 years and this is only the third year it has been a problem. And one of those years the heating system in that quadrant (I've got 4 separate heating quadrants) actually did fail. If the temps stay above say +10 it isn't an issue. I do have an electric heater, and unlike several years ago, I haven't had to use it, and I wouldn't trust it in that part of the house anyway, I'd be afraid I'd turn it on and fall asleep and burn the house down. You'd think I'd feel the same about boiling water, but somehow if I'm boiling water on the stove, or running hot water in the shower, I'm alert to it. If I plug in the heater, I'm more likely to just forget it. Luckily (for my husband anyway), I'm an insomniac anyway, so I've been staying up all night, then snoozing off & on during the day. What is driving me nutso is that I normally take an exercise class of some sort for an hour starting at 9 a.m. Between this weather and before that the holidays, it's been over a month since I've Zumba'd or taken my resistance training classes. To top it off, hubby took all of my free weights and used them to hold the Christmas tree upright. So my body clock is really off.
BTW, husband says he owes me big time, what do I want for dinner this weekend? I have to laugh ... we go out to dinner every Friday night so this is moot. If our town had a lobster tank, I'd make him pay big time, but in fact this is an empty promise. Oh, he means well, but we'd be going out anyway.
