‘Have you noticed…’

There are some words that you really don’t want to hear in the morning and especially if you live in Iowa and it’s in the winter. The words are ‘Have you noticed if the furnace ran last night?’ WHAT? I thought it did, but wasn’t sure. The weather outside this morning was going to be terrible (temperature was expected to be -55 degrees with the wind chill) and the house didn’t seem too bad. But I was tired when I went to bed last night so maybe I slept through the cold setting in. And with having house guests it’s really not a good first impression and all. So I beat it down the steps and checked out the thermostat. 70 degrees. Not bad right? Crap, I was looking at the wrong side. The other side of the box said that it was 55 degrees in the house. Now our options are pretty limited at this point and Daryl and I spend a few seconds just standing there with I’m sure pretty horrible looks on our faces. But then I realize that when I was laid off, I bought an extra furnace part when they came to fix it the last time it stopped heating. Maybe we’ll be OK yet. So after heading down to the basement, I found out that the part was still there. Score! But man the floor and basement was pretty cold. I showed Daryl the part and I was going over in my head what the repair man told me 2 years ago on how to fix it. He said that there was a trick to putting it in so if we ever had to replace it, just be careful. After another quick run upstairs for a flashlight, the first part was out of the furnace and before you knew it, the new part was in. Back upstairs I went and turned the furnace back on. Down the steps I went for the last time just to hear the furnace kick in and starting to heat again.  And needless to say, we were pretty smug about the whole deal by about now. We gave each other a quick smile and a high five and then off to get dressed for work. I went to town tonight after work to pick up another spare part in case it happens again and the shop said who put the last one in? I stood just a little taller and said, Oh yea Daryl and I fixed it this morning before we went to work. I was acting all confident and everything, but I think I might have been just as surprised as the repair shop was that it actually worked!