No, seriously – the actual heat is back on.
I am pleased to inform you that I will not be sleeping in my Santa hat tonight.
After 5 days of heating water on the stove to wash dishes, carrying “dressing in layers” to ridiculous extremes, and keeping my Santa hat on 24/7 (I did do the kneel-next-to-the-tub-and-use-a-cup-to-pour-water-over-my-head hair wash thing, once – the novelty wears off, fast), we now have heat, glorious heat, and hot water.
Drowning in layers of wool (and it wasn’t even that cold – just one day under 30 – we’re lucky it happened now instead of next week when temperatures are scheduled to plunge) I have been staggering around trying to comprehend, process, cope with and respond to the impact of the cost of the new boiler.
Heat guy who lives pretty close by came Saturday morning.
“Sorry, ma’am, you’re going to need a new boiler.”
“How much?”
OH MY GOD! THAT MUCH?
Here I was, spending money on frivolities like new paint (at least the labor was me) and new carpet (which I’m expecting accommodation about, for the little bulldozer tracks in it that don’t vacuum out) when something as essential as the boiler decides to surrender, lower it’s flag, go kaput.
Turns out that heart-stopping amount was lower than the next guy and the first guy could install by yesterday.
So, you, first guy – your company has been servicing this house since before we moved in, anyway.
Sigh. Sell the mutual fund in the morning.
Miraculously, market rockets up and the value of the fund to be sold is calculated at the end of the day.
So there’s that, anyway. Small buffer.
Begin job search in earnest.
And I love looking for a job.
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
I wouldn’t say we’re exactly desperate.
Yet.
But I’d better get a move on, here.
A woman’s gotta make a living, until she gets a job that is actually a living.
I’m trying to turn writing into a living (HA!) but that takes time, so since I’m still determined not to allow ads on this blog, because I think they detract from the….well, blogginess of it, I have succumbed to the PayPal “donate” link.
Hence, the new “Donate” page on the menu.
So that explains that.
I will now penalize myself 500 words for the excessive use of italics. So gushy. Damn, there, I did it again.
May you never have to kneel by the tub with a pot of water heated on the stove, may your showers ever be hot and your radiators…uh, radiate.
I did it! Resisted the urge to italicize “radiate!”
Now, if we could just get a grip on those dashes and exclamation points…
Until then, I remain,
Your humble, devoted, loyal, always-willing-to-edit-if-it-makes-it-better-and-especially-shorter,
Ridiculouswoman
Ridiculouswoman 
so glad you have heat again………because who knew it was such a blessing?! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hopefully 2019 will be less of a jerk. Pretty much everyone I know is absolutely DONE with 2018. Done!
I will never penalize you for using italics. They’re absolutely necessary for when I’m trying to be a smart aleck. I’ve considered just writing exclusively in them.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for the bye on the italics. I note with interest, however, your silence on the matters of exclamation points!!!! – and dashes —
😂
(At least I’m not dotting my ‘i’s with little hearts or flowers – I have standards, dammit! ….oops….)
LikeLiked by 1 person
In the old Hippie days, we lived without running water and with a wood stove. I was hired by a Montessori School in town. and for the owner, the main attraction for me would be the enthusiastic description of the bathroom shower and kitchen sink of the old house where it was located. I took the job but did not use the facilities offered. It was too weird to imagine children finding me there with wet hair, and washed dishes. The little ones already thought teachers lived in the school, slept on the shelves, and ate juice and crackers after they went home.
As you said, to have relatively clean hot and cold running water at our fingertips is a luxury many of us take for granted. May the heat be with you and the right job show up in the new year.. Judi B.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Judi – job hunting depresses me. I haven’t worked very hard trying to make anything of what I really want to do (write, public speaking) but the task of writing cover letters and sending out resumes might just push me in the opposite direction to really try to make a go of Ridiculouswoman as a…thing – of some sort. Guess I need some branding help! 😂
LikeLike