Brrr, Its Cold or Getting Up Before the Furnace

I wanted to be at work by 5:00 this morning so that I could leave by 1:00 (to get Michele - yippee, she's home for Christmas!!) and not need to use any vacation time. It wasn't really an issue getting up at 4:00 until I got out of bed and realized the furnace hadn't woken up yet. We have a programmable thermostat which gets the furnace started around 5:00 so that the house is toasty warm (OK, not toasty exactly, but it's all relative) by the time I get up at 5:30. Getting up an hour before the furnace is not a good thing to do in my house where hearts are warm, but floors, walls, air, hands, heads, and other extremities are COLD, even when the furnace is full steam ahead!! I think this morning was the first time I've ever been excited about leaving the house to get in the car where I BLASTED the heat! Oh, and I've just realized that when I get home today, the furnace will not be expecting to bring the temperature up to human comfort (again, it's all relative) for a few hours - that's why the beautiful HOME TODAY button comes in so handy! (Of course, when I have days off, it always takes me a few hours of cold and complaining of cold and hot tea and extra socks and my house scarf, hood, and craft room gloves before I think "Oh, that's right, the thermostat doesn't think anyone's home. Let me hit HOME TODAY . . .right after I finish carving this ice sculpture in the front parlor.") [I do have to admit that the coldness in my house is not my furnace's fault - we have a beautiful new furnace that would like to work harder than I allow it. I keep the heat low to build character (ok, ok, I admit it, it's really cuz I'm cheap, but it sounds better to say it's character building !)]