A Wacky Obsession

As I am sitting up tonight, waiting for cough medicine to start working, (I've got one of those annoying coughs that feels like you have the tiniest piece of popcorn in your throat) I decided to post.

I have accepted that I have a wacky obsession, one that has taken up lots and lots of my time lately. I am referring to the heat in our house. As you may recall, I had a plumber look at it and he showed me how to adjust it. Since his visit, things have been better but still not optimal. I have spent many evenings, taking out the owner's manual and looking up words in the dictionary in my attempt to figure out the radiant heating. While the main floor has been much better, the upstairs has been entirely too cool especially since we are below freezing at night.

Today, I had planned on dropping Thomas off at preschool and then going to the Four Seasons shop on the base to buy three space heaters, one for each bedroom. This morning, as I was putting away laundry and such, going up and down the stairs 100 times a day like usual, I glanced up and thought about what might be behind the metal door in the middle of the wall. I turned the knob, lifted the door out of the wall, and what did I find? Six valves, one for each room upstairs! And, each valve is labeled in English! It was like I had won the lottery! I immediately turned the main valve and started to get some heat going upstairs! The upstairs is the most comfortable temperature it has been. I was thinking today that it's too bad the main floor doesn't also have a valve control area like the upstairs. And, wouldn't you know it, I discovered it in our house tonight. I have turned that down a couple of notches. I'd like to get the downstairs down to 70 F and not by accident. Right now, it's 76 F--a little too hot in my book.

And so, sadly, I look forward to waking up in the morning and checking my digital thermometers and seeing if I made any progress with my radiant heating adjusting. Sadder (is that a word?) still, is the fact that I have that same anticipation that a child has on Christmas Eve--the "I can't wait" feeling. I told you it's a wacky obsession!

Until later,

Emily