Air conditioning! We have air conditioning! Well, it's only in our bedroom, and it makes the room kind of cool instead of the icy cold I long for but...it is something.
Last night after we got home from the pool we put Rachel to bed right away. Or tried to; she screamed -- absolutely screamed -- for about an hour. That and the heat got on my nerves so much that I started snapping at Drew. When he asked why I was in a bad mood I said, "I am TIRED of living this way!" I grabbed the phone book, even though it was 9 p.m., and began calling air conditioning installers. Sure enough, I found a nice guy with First Call who came over this morning and gave us an estimate: $4,000 for a/c, $8,000 for a/c plus a new furnace. Way beyond our budget.
Seeing the murderous look in my eyes last night, Drew was determined to jerry-rig a system for our window a/c units that we lugged all the way from Minnesota and never installed because we have un-removable screens on our windows, part of the extensive window overhaul we did a couple of years after buying our 1930s-era house. I went down to the basement to sleep, with a small fan spinning near me and not much respite from the heat.
Drew, meanwhile, spent the evening installing the window unit, which he secured by using an end table I had wanted to get rid of, some old newspapers and towels stuffed on either side to catch the evaporation. When I staggered upstairs this morning he was calmly eating his breakfast and feeding Rachel her Cheerios.
I could tell he had done something special, so I walked into the bedroom and -- voila! Cool air! I was so happy. Now tonight I will get a decent night's sleep.
My only worry is Rachel, that her poor little body will get overheated. It is 106 degrees today, and will probably only cool down to the high 70s. We put her in a onesie last night and nothing else, and after her fussing episode she managed to make it through the night! We can't move her crib in our room and we don't want her to share a bed with us, so...looks like she'll be on her own, at least this summer. I hope by next summer we have the money to get central heat and air and we will never have to go through this again.
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I'm so glad you found something that will work during this hot spell and then can buy when the weather is a little cooler and the A/C retailers and installers aren't charging a premium. We had A/C installed at our place when we moved in and have been grateful every summer. It's definitely a worthwhile investment and one that has a pretty high return at time of resale. You're welcome to come over here anytime it's hot and stay cool. I should have offered that on Monday but I didn't think about it. Glad you've found some reprieve in one of your rooms!
ReplyDeleteWe moved the Pak-n-Play into our room and had Marigold sleep there for a couple of nights. Now it's back to normal, though, so she's back in her crib, with the a-c off and the fans on.
ReplyDeleteI miss my 1960s split-entry home, which was somewhat boring but had a central air system installed that was actually too large for the house. I never complained! Maybe you should consider moving to the suburbs and finding a boring house but one that is very practical! I ended up loving my house, my garage, my yard.