Thursday, December 6, 2012

Hi Grandma

I don't know if anyone will even read this, since it's been over a year since my last post. BUT, I have a funny story, or at least I think it is a funny story.
Last weekend, it was warm, so I went to turn down the thermostat (I always turn it down when Rob leaves for work. I don't need the whole house warm. It's easier to just wear a sweater or a blanket.) Well, when I got to the thermostat, I shocked it with static electricity. Normally a static shock is just that, a shock, nothing more. I guess I had built up more than is normal, and more than the manufacturer of the thermostat thought likely, cause the screen blanked out, and the buttons wouldn't work. After fiddling for a minute or so, I had to take out the batteries and replace them to get the thing to turn back on. After that, I turned down the heat and went on my merry way. That evening Rob got home, and it got a little cold. So I asked Rob to turn up the heat, which he did. About an hour later, I noticed that the house was getting colder, not warmer. Rob and I went up to the thermostat and tried to turn up the heat more, but the furnace wouldn't start up. So, Rob started fiddling. He checked the furnace to make sure the pilot light was still on, he took apart the thermostat to check the connectors. (He did a lot of stuff, those were the only two that I was able to follow). After an hour or so (this was a Friday night, so Rob was tired from a long week of work) I told Rob to worry about it tomorrow. It was a warm night (for late November) and tomorrow was supposed to be a warm day (mid 60's) so we wouldn't freeze. We cuddled up in a blanket, finished our show, and went to bed. The next day, Rob came to the conclusion that I had shorted out the thermostat with my static electric powers (I was able to short the wires through the plastic). He went to the nearest Home Depot and bought a new thermostat (it's a nice new touch screen one, and we can control our heat with our smart phones). It took all day, but Rob was able to do the wiring and fix us our thermostat. YAY. A couple of days later I changed the heat, and shocked the new thermostat, though luckily not as bad before. I turned to Rob and promised to never touch the thermostat again (I'll use my phone).

And this is our Christmas Tree!!!!! We bought it two days ago and decorated it yesterday. The decorations are a little sparse, right now, but that will change. There is a tradition in Rob's family that we have carried over into ours. Every year Rob's parents would buy each child an ornament that symbolically (or otherwise) represented that year. Well, Rob and I are continuing that tradition in our family. We have bought an ornament every year since we were married (still looking for this year's) But as our family grows, so will the amount of ornaments on the tree. (and I will admit, we bought a big tree) Our living room has a vaulted ceiling, so we bought a tree that fits (9ft) I know, big. But it's sooooo pretty. Rob did it to make me happy and see me smile. Plus we got it on sale AND it was the last one, so it was the floor model, giving us another 10% off.
Anyway, that is life for us. I hope you enjoyed this post, Grandma (she's been bugging me to write one again)

4 comments:

Amber said...

Thanks to my rss feed reader, I get to see your updates too, no matter how few or far between!
Lovely tree, fun ornament tradition, and WOW--who knew static could actually short out something. Good thing Houston is too humid most of the time for static to really build!

Heather said...

Thats so funny!

Susan said...

So with a 9 foot tree do you have to get a ladder out to put the topper on? :D

Unknown said...

Static Electricity? Huh. Who knew?

And that's a beautiful tree! Did you ever find the perfect ornament for this year???