Saturday, December 22, 2012

Baby It's Cold...Inside!

It's been an interesting few days at our house...interesting and cold!  What started out with trying fix our humidifier and figure out what a "little" noise was ended up being an adventure - and a lesson.

Last week, we had someone come to see if they could figure out why our furnace sounded like a freight train in my living room when it came on.  Was more annoying than anything, but was getting tired of jumping every time it came on.  The guy came, and told us it was an exhaust fan (this is where I tuned out in the recap from my husband so that's all I got).  He told us it would cost a bit to fix, but it wasn't over the moon so we were ok with it.

We decided to get another opinion...and to say I'm happy we did it a major understatement.  The next guy delivered some news that really scared me.  Apparently it wasn't just a fan, but things had become disconnected and carbon monoxide was leaking from my gas furnace into my house.  I freaked out...the thought that we had been breathing in low levels of this stuff for Lord knows how long made me cringe.  And when I looked up the symptoms of low level exposure...oof.  Headaches that got better when you left the house, low level nausea - all things we have been experiencing with no explanation for the last little while.

Needless to say they turned the furnace off - just as Ottawa was set to have a major snowstorm.  We had our fireplace (thank God) and bundled up in housecoats and wool socks to keep warm.  As an aside, big thanks to all the friends and family who offered us a place to stay - warmed my heart for sure!  We were fortunate that we could get a replacement very fast (in fact they are installing it this morning), and that we had the means to cover the cost.

Did get me thinking - I can't imagine all those families out there who do not have the means to pay for heat, or who truly cannot afford to replace a furnace if it fails.  It saddened me to have the kids wake up for 2 mornings saying how cold they were...I cannot imagine how much my heart would break if I had to hear that every day.  It's amazing how things happen that we think suck, but it makes us realize how lucky we truly are.

I'm thrilled that we will be warm again after this afternoon, and as my children are snuggled all warm in their beds, I will be a little more thankful this year as we celebrate Christmas.  I will hope that in the new year, things turn around for families who are less fortunate than we are - even just a little bit.

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