Winter Snow

OK, now we all know I grew up in New England and Frank in Canada...both cold places in the winter. We know Seattle, not known for its cold weather, had record breaking snow falls last year and generally has a cold snap some time in Dec. and January....you would think that a little bit of snow and cold weather wouldn't bother us.....but, let me tell you...THESE OLD HOUSES ARE NOT INSULATED!!!!

Ok the first problem is that we are heated by hot water. This seems fine enough, but once the temp. dips below the 40's, no amount of hot water gets the house warm, in particular...the floors. I now wear socks AND slippers just to get across the kitchen floor. Lest, you think it is just me...the boys now steal my slippers and FRANK puts on MULTIPLE LAYERS in order to go downstairs in the morning! For those who don't know, in Seattle, Frank, wear shorts and t-shirts year round inside and out! The second problem is all the other things for which you use hot water. Say , for example, you wanted to get up and take a nice hot shower, well, you can do that as long as the heat is turned off...so your choice is a cold shower and warm house, or freezing house and hot shower. Now if say more than 1 person wanted to take a shower in the morning, how many others need to freeze while this happens?...the answer...all of us!

Laundry is the next event, those of you with multiple children know that if a day ends in 'y" then laundry must be done. Now with this un- insulated house, I have found that if I do a cold water laundry, the water is so cold, that the detergent doesn't dissolve and the liquid detergent just congeals, so I have to do warm...but only if I turn the heat off and god forbid if someone is even thinking about taking a shower as they will only get a tiny trickle of cold water.

We are now in week 2 of weather that hasn't gone much above freezing, snow still covers our yard and we alternate between mildly warm and freezing as we attempt to bathe and wash in merry old London.

Think of us next time you take a hot shower or walk barefoot in your heated houses!