Baby, It's Cold Inside!

So last weekend I got the brazilliant idea that we should have a programmable thermostat in our house since we are now both gone during the day. I'm thinking it will probably pay for itself in a season, maybe two. I bring it home for Jake to install and he goes to work. At some point he says "Uh, I think I did something seriously wrong", but I pay no mind because Jake can fix/install anything. He's a genious really and often he thinks he won't figure something out and then he does so I really and truly ignored him this time. This is on tuesday evening.

Wednesday when I get home from work at 5 it is 52 degrees in the house. Jake had to stay late at school and I knew he was under pressure so I chose not to call him. I turned on the fireplace, bundled up the baby and we played in that 4 foot radius where heat actually comes out of the fireplace. He got home at 10 and figures out that he has indeed broken the furnace. We called several places that claimed to be 24 hour service places but nobody answered. We finally got a hold of someone and they said they could come and fix it right then but that it would be $50 more than if they came the next morning. We decided to wait until the morning, because the baby has a heater in his room that keeps it at a constant 75 degrees. For us it would be like camping with a super comfortable bed. I wore three layers of clothing and had 3 big blankets. Jake tucked me in and went to do his homework. At some point in the night Jake has the idea to put the big box fan in front of the fireplace and blow heat throughout the house. I probably would have appreciated this idea more had I been warned. Somewhere around 3 in the morning I was pretty sure that someone had lit the bed on fire because I was as hot as I have ever been in my life. I frantically threw blankets and clothes off. Jake, with his normal 2 blankets, says "Honey, what's wrong?" Um, what's wrong? Oh nothing babe, I'll just be sleeping in the guest bedroom since it appears I have wet the bed with the 3 gallons of sweat my body has secreted.

We ended up getting the furnace fixed the next morning and I am now figuring that the thermostat will pay for itself by the winter of 2010.