Baby it's (beyond) cold outside...

 

Don't tell me it's too late for Christmas songs. For one thing, "Baby, It's Cold Outside" doesn't mention any holiday at all; therefore, it's not actually a Christmas song.  It's technically a winter song.  And right now, it's winter.  

Right now it is -18ºF, with a windchill of -35ºF.  I used to say that anything colder than -10ºF didn't matter because at that point it just all feels cold, but I'm going to take that back now.  It's fricking cold, and I'm tired of it.  We're going on a week of this craziness and, according to the weather reports, in for another week of it.  The first time our low is supposed to be above zero is next Saturday.  I hate to complain about the weather, because most of us native Midwesterners can appreciate the extremes and may often be found bragging about our ability to survive them (my recent favorite is the one about how it's warmer in our freezers than it is outside right now, and you know, that's not inaccurate) but days and days of the same extreme can wear a person down.  Especially when that person doesn't have the luxury of in-floor heating.  

We live in an old farmhouse.  When a lot of people hear "farmhouse" they imagine all the "farmhouse chic", rustic-type things you can pay through the nose for to make your dwelling look somewhat like the inside of a really nice barn or chicken coop.  In our case, I'm going draw your attention to the modifier, "old".  We live in an OLD farmhouse.  Our house was built in the 1880's.  Most of our foundation is actually made of field stones.  Insulation?  What's that?!?

For real.  

I'm not a high-maintenance girl. Never have been.  I've lived in old houses all my life.  My parents' house, the one they still live in, is an old house.  Our house in St. Paul was an old house.  Our house in Illinois was a newer house by our standards, but we didn't live there very long.  And this house is an old house.  I'm used to drafty windows and popcorn ceilings and uneven floors and all that. So much so, that I can't even think of other things to add to that list, because I've never lived in a new enough dwelling to know what I'm missing ;).  

Laptop battery's dying. Will be back later.

OK, I'm back. So I wrote that a few days ago.  Since then, we had an even colder morning.  I have proof! (I love the WTForecast app!)  

And since then, our kitchen sink has stopped draining.  

In an effort to keep the faucet from freezing, I decided to leave the water ever-so-slightly on at night, and to leave the cabinet doors under the sink open.  Well...it worked! The faucet didn't freeze that night!  But then I noticed there was about an inch of water in each sink. (We have a double kitchen sink.)  

Long story short, yeah.  Haven't figured out why yet.  My plumber hubby is out of town until Saturday. He's tried to help us troubleshoot over the phone, to no avail.  Luckily the other drains and faucets are working just fine, so it's not the whole septic system.  Probably just ice built up from . . . ahem . . . someone leaving the faucet on all night.  Which we've done before in the past without any issues.  

It's always something.  

Right now it's warmed up to a balmy 10ºF.  ABOVE ZERO!  

And since the hubby is out of town, I'm kind of responsible for keeping us all alive.  So I'm gonna go make some supper and then relax with some crocheting and dog-cuddling.  So, catch ya later!