Well, things sure are feeling hot and heavy right now. Hot, in the fact that there is a lot of steam passing around between my family members, and heavy in the way that my stomach feels every time I get another harassing message from my mother. You see, this year for the first time, my significant other and I are not travelling to see our respective family members in their far-off locations. My family resides 690 miles north in the brutal chilly and snow of the midwest. My bestie’s family lives in the opposite direction, 600 miles south in the heat and humidity of FL. My buddy and I reside anywhere in between, torn between the two battling teams. This year instead of trying to please everyone and killing ourselves, my pal and I decided to just stay put in our current house together. I knew that the decision wouldn’t be accepted warmly, but I didn’t know that everyone would get so hot under the collar. My family was immediately bribing, with my mother telling me that the chilly air temperature wouldn’t be so awful this year because she had recently replaced her furnace. The central heat entirely works this year, she exclaimed! Surely, my pal and I want to come up and inspect her brand current smart temperature control and forced air furnace! My bestie’s family, on the other hand, has been nothing but cold… Rather than bragging about their indoor temperature control measures, they’ve totally frozen us out. Ice cold. Neither situation is ideal, but I know that our relaxed plans, heightened indoor comfort, and outdoor air temperature is going to make up for all the family heat.
Grandma broke furnace from 1000 miles away, smart thermo
I swear to god, my Grandma is one of the most demanding and entitled humans alive! She is consistently insisting that people drop everything and attend to her every whim; not because she’s too seasoned to be capable, but simply because that’s who she’s consistently been; Her entire life has been managed by other people looking out for her, and separate from my Grandpa around, she counts entirely on my mother and her other daughters! If it isn’t one thing, it’s another… Even when she packs up and moves to FL to endure the chilly winters, no one is free from her reign of terror.
In fact, she entirely managed to make it worse from a distance this year! Apparently my Aunt made the mistake of having a smart temperature control installed in my Grandma’s house last year.
My Grandma was consistently complaining that she didn’t know if the house was okay or the heat was staying on, so my Aunt decided to deliver her the means to monitor the indoor air quality from 1000 miles away, but unluckyly, my Grandma doesn’t have much else to keep her tied up when she’s out lounging in the FL sun each winter, then this means, she wound up using the smart temperature control app on her iPhone roughly 10 times a morning. She consistently monitored the air temperature in her house up north and modified the furnace settings to compensate for perceived air quality swings, fast forward to two weeks into her seasonal trip, and her seasoned furnace was broken down, and not only did the smart temperature control create even more obsessive material for my Grandma, but my mom had to go handle the professional Heating, Ventilation & A/C appointment and replacement of a whole current central furnace separate from so much as a “thanks.”
Grandma broke boiler from 1000 miles away, smart thermo
I swear to god, my Grandma is one of the most demanding plus entitled humans alive, but he is regularly insisting that people drop everything plus attend to his every whim; not because she’s too old to be capable, however simply because that’s who she’s regularly been, then his entire life has been managed by other people looking out for her, plus separate from my Grandpa around, he counts particularly on my mother plus his other daughters, then if it isn’t one thing, it’s another.
Even when he packs up plus moves to FL to endure the cold winters, no one is free from his reign of terror. In fact, he actually managed to make it worse from a distance this year! Apparently my Aunt made the mistake of having a smart thermostat installed in my Grandma’s home last year, my Grandma was regularly complaining that he didn’t know if the home was okay or the heat was staying on, so my Aunt decided to supply his the means to monitor the indoor air quality from 1000 miles away, then unluckyly, my Grandma doesn’t have much else to keep his tied up when she’s out lounging in the FL sun each winter… This means, he wound up using the smart thermostat app on his iPhone roughly 10 times a afternoon. She regularly monitored the air temperature in his home up north plus modified the boiler settings to compensate for perceived air quality fluctuations; Fast forward to two weeks into his seasonal trip, plus his old boiler was broken down… Not only did the smart thermostat create even more obsessive material for my Grandma, however my mom had to go handle the professional Heating, Ventilation plus A/C appointment plus installation of a whole new central boiler separate from so much as a “thanks.”
AC plus boiler broke, friends plus I
She was without heat during a cold snap of midwest winter, plus had to set up a dozen space heaters to keep her cats alive that weekend.
I have no idea what it is about my core group of friends plus I, although I swear we’re fastened by the same cosmic energy. If one woman feels harshly low plus unmotivated, it’s guaranteed that we’re all feeling that way. If one member has a very fantastic week, my buddy and I all feel like we’re walking on air. Unfortunately, if one of us is struck with poor luck, it’s almost a no-brainer that we’re all going to experience the same misfortune. That’s why I very shouldn’t have been surprised last month, when one by one my buddy and I all reported having a slight change on the same general problem; our Heating plus Air Conditioning systems. It started when my neighbor Alicia told me that her entire boiler wouldn’t turn on one morning because their heat had still not switched over. She was cold, however they made it through the mild winter season days. Next, my fantastic neighbor in Kentucky told me that her car’s boiler stopped working one morning, so she had to drive to work blind in the chilly outdoor air. It was maybe two days before our fantastic pal Beau begrudgingly told us that her own radiator had malfunctioned at her apartment. She was without heat during a cold snap of midwest winter, plus had to set up a dozen space heaters to keep her cats alive that weekend. Well, it should have come at very no surprise to me when I woke up the other morning plus my whole property was chilly cold. I could see my breath as I exclaimed loud dissatisfaction. Sure enough, when I walked down the hall to the temperature control, the central boiler had powered off at least 12 hours before.
Thank god Grandpa was handy – fixing my own AC
And she walked me through the process of cleaning plus inspecting my own air ducts for detriments
There are some things in early life that can either make or break you. For instance, having unstable parents as a small child will lead to a plethora of concerns down the road in most cases. Similarly, having a super well adapted Dad plus extensive supportive family members might just lead to giving you a immense leg up later on in life. That’s how it has been for me, anyways, thanks to my excellent Dad plus her father, especially. My Dad was fantastic at teaching me how to be financially responsible plus stretch my buck. My Grandpa was very handy plus knew how almost everything in the property worked. Thanks to him, I do too. He’s saved me thousands in my lifetime – heck, almost $1200 just Last month when my A/C system broke down. It was ungodly sizzling out that week – well over 90 degrees every morning with insane humidity, plus of course, my whole cooling system crapped the bed. I knew that I couldn’t afford to call out a professional Heating plus Air Conditioning contractor during this heat stroke; surely they were charging plus overpricedd fee for their emergency services, then with this in mind, I called up all the lessons that grandad taught me out in the yard, hunched over the aged central A/C unit. She told me how the compressor plus motor needed to be delicately cleaned plus cared for. She taught me the dangers of freon. And she walked me through the process of cleaning plus inspecting my own air ducts for detriments. With her wisdom on my side, I managed to maintenance my own cooling system. It only took a few days plus a few extra trips to the hardware store.
Feeling the heat from family – not going household for the holiday
Well, things sure are feeling sizzling plus heavy right now.
- Hot, in the fact that there is a lot of steam passing around between my family members, plus heavy in the way that my stomach feels every time I get another harassing message from my mother, you see, this year for the first time, my significant other plus I are not travelling to see our respective family members in their far-off locations.
My family resides 770 miles north in the brutal cold plus snow of the midwest. My girlfriend’s family lives in the opposite direction, 600 miles south in the heat plus humidity of FL. My pal and I reside anywhere in between, torn between the two battling teams. This year instead of trying to please all the people plus killing ourselves, my buddy and I decided to just stay put in our new property together. I knew that the decision wouldn’t be accepted warmly, although I didn’t know that all the people would get so sizzling under the collar. My family was immediately bribing, with my mother telling me that the chilly air temperature wouldn’t be so bad this year because she had recently upgraded her boiler. The central heat very works this year, she exclaimed! Surely, my buddy and I want to come up plus inspect her brand new smart temperature control plus forced air boiler! My girlfriend’s family, on the other hand, has been nothing however cold, but rather than bragging about their indoor temperature control measures, they’ve totally frozen us out. Ice cold. Neither situation is ideal, although I know that our relaxed plans, heightened indoor comfort, plus outdoor air temperature is going to make up for all the family heat.
BF didn’t know about pipes
Every so often I forget that my boyfriend and I are from two very different places and upbringings, and I’m shocked when we don’t have the same past life experiences.
Because he grew up in the middle of Florida, while I originate from the northern midwest, we certainly don’t have many overlapping details in our childhoods.
What’s more, he grew up in a pretty well to do family, while I come from a place of poverty and substance abuse, so the discrepancies cover a wide range of topics. One of the funniest things to me is his complete lack of knowledge about surviving winter. He’s lived most of his life in tropical temperatures, with continual heat and high humidity year round. Meanwhile, I’m accustomed to at least 6 months of brutal winter, with temperatures below zero degrees and nasty snowfall on a weekly basis. Seeing him trying to deal with the low temperatures and weather events back home is such a hoot! He hardly knows anything about running a furnace, heating up a car before driving it, or proper snow gear. Another thing he apparently didn’t know about was the threat of pipes bursting if the indoor air temperature dips too low! We found that one out the hard way, when we left for a long weekend and came home to moderate flooding in the basement. Apparently he had turned the heating system off entirely, rather than maintaining a low temperature of 55 degrees. It was my fault, really; should have realized that he didn’t know the golden rule of critical temperature maintenance in winter.
AC quit and cake was ruined
I rarely go outside of my comfort zone to try new things unless I’m pretty sure I’m going to be naturally talented at them.
- I blame being labeled a “high achiever” in middle school for creating this monster.
I simply don’t like to pick up activities if I can’t excel at them, because I’m not accustomed to struggling or failing. That’s why I was pretty tentative to try my hand at baking and decorating an intricate birthday cake for a friend last summer. Her birthday party was coming up and no one had volunteered to provide the desert yet. Wanting to be a big help and figuring I could come up with a funny design, I offered to take on the cake. I slaved over every detail of the confectionary delight until my masterpiece was flawless. It took me a day and a half, but the end result was breathtaking. That is, until I ran out of the house to pick up birthday candles and my HVAC system failed. I returned home and upon opening the front door I felt a gust of hot air rush past me. The inside of the house was swelteringly hot and humid, and the temperature only increased with each step I took down the hallway. I ran over to the thermostat to find that the entire system had crashed, and our air conditioner had simply quit in the middle of the afternoon heat. I immediately called up our regular HVAC dealership for an emergency visit with the AC unit. They had the cooling system up and running again in no time; unfortunately, the HVAC technician couldn’t fix my totally melted cake.
Forgot to adjust thermostat last night
Man, I am not feeling my very best today.
I have this tight knot in my right shoulder that’s causing me to tilt my head uncomfortably, and as if that’s not making my reading and writing work difficult, I can barely see straight as it is! For some reason I did not sleep well last night, at all. I was tossing and turning at several points in the early morning, and then found myself lying wide awake as 6 and 7 AM rolled around this morning. Today I am feeling the effects of my poor slumber in a number of ways, and I’m really hoping to avoid such a bad night again! I’m not positive what went wrong, but from what I can tell, I think we may have forgotten to turn down the thermostat before we laid down to sleep last night. You see, I absolutely love to sleep in nice and cool, dry air. I am not a fan of feeling warm air outside of the blankets, because I like to cuddle up underneath them as much as possible. I’ve preferred this low temperature setting during the night for as long as I can remember, and now that I live with my boyfriend it is especially imperative to have frigid air in my sleeping space. Laying in bed with him is like lying next to a furnace! His body gives off so much heat that it’s unbelievable. I wake up in the night drenched in sweat, feeling the heat radiate off of him in the blankets next to me. I’ll be extra sure to decrease our temperature control settings well before bedtime tonight.