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My wife and I got home yesterday from my folks and her folks for the Christmas season. Luckily we were both smart enough to take today off-I have to go back to work for one day (tomorrow) and then I get Friday off, she goes back and gets Monday off.
Anyway we spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning at my folks. They both have good retirements and saved money their whole lives and recently cashed in on an investment but....
THEY WON'T TURN ON THE HEAT!!
There house is on a neighborhood on highground in the Shenandoah Valley so it was bitterly cold and the wind ALWAYS blows hard. It is like they have a shelter and are conserving the firewood. My stepfather has always been cheap but this is ridiculous-we think he is hording money to leave to his kids (older than me and my brother) from his first marriage. My brother just had major surgery and has a huge scar across and down his neck (lymph node and jugular vein removed) so the cold wasn't helping him any. My wife is pregnant so she can't afford to get sick-she had to sleep downstairs on a love seat Friday night-it was THAT cold upstairs in our bedroom. My mother seems to be brainwashing herself about the whole thing: -"Put on layers" I don't want to put on layers and you shouldn't have to wear to pairs of socks in your own home. -"Is it cold in here?" She of the neverending questions (retired schoolteacher, that is her way of communicating) and the answer was always ----YES!!! (from everyone but my stepfather) -"This fireplace really warms things up huh?" NO!! it is a fake gas fireplace and the only thing it warms is the mantel. She went on an on about the damned fireplace (always does) but fails to realize that there is no way it could possibly warm the four bedroom two floor house. Hell the garage was about as warm as the upstairs bedroom.
AND they are so cheap they turn off every light except the room they are sitting in. I got up to get some more coffee at 7PM and the light in the kitchen was out. Good grief. My stepfather actually asked my brother about the light being on in his bedroom at 5:30 in the morning- he gets up regularly to take pain meds and in a strange house he has a hard time moving around. That answer and the stare I gave my stepfather for asking such a stupid question (and making the obvious implication shut him right up).
We left Christmas morning to got to my in-laws. A really nice 4 day three night stay near Roanoke. Luckily my jerk brother-in-law left the next day and we didn't have to deal with that-he finally brought his girlfriend and her daughters to meet his parents(long story there) and mainly to steal attention from his PREGNANT SISTER. :eyes: We got to see his ex and her fiancee (the brother-in-law doesn't know yet and doesn't know she knows about his girlfriend (REALLY long story)). We also visits with several old friends of my wife.
Great time but there are NO clocks anywhere in the house. Our bedroom was so dark that I actually could not see my hand in front of my face when the light was off. When I wake up in the middle of the night I like to know what time it is-I have to wear a watch to bed.
Overall a great holiday-my wife got me a big Bertha 7-wood (I was only expecting something way less expensive) and my folks got me a rolling tool box (the kitties have a fort to play in now-the box it came in). We also got $100 gift cards from Pier One, Home Depot (I know I know), and I gave my wife a $100 Target card.
I also got the thrill of running on the Blue Ridge Parkway (as a flatfooter I wasn't used to the hills at all) and I actually fed a herd of 20 cows at a "farm".
Still it was freezing at my folks place. We aren't going back until the first thaw.
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