Merry (Freezing) Christmas

The next unanticipated expense will exactly equal the extra money in the checking account after you finish paying the bills."

So I get up early this Christmas morning and stumble downstairs to fix my coffee, feed the cat, and take out the dog. Something smells funny. And it's really cold. I go check the thermostat -- it's 57 degrees down here. The heater is on but nothing is coming out of the vents. Well, that's just great. It's only 18 degrees outside, so I take the flashlight and the dog and go out and look at the heat pump unit. It's spinning around and making the noise it usually does, so it must be working, right? No, it's not working -- there isn't any heat. Who is going to come out here on Chistmas Day to fix this thing? Probably no one -- I don't think there are any Jewish repair people. But wait, the Indian guy we sometimes call to fix these things might be Hindu, but then again, he might not be.

Fortunately, we have a dual system -- one heat pump for upstairs and one for downstairs. I'm sort of afraid to go back upstairs because what if that one isn't working? But it is. I'm pretty sure that the funny smell is something that is burning up in the downstairs heat pump, so I'm turning it off. My husband isn't up yet, but when he does get up he won't be happy. He hates the cold.