Ch-ch-ch-chilly

Allie's doing a project for school this entire week when she's supposed to record the phases of the moon and the weather outside. Unfortunately for her and her class, it's been cloudy and cold, sometimes windy, for three entire days (and nights) now. We first saw snow flurries on Monday, though thank god nothing stayed on the ground, and it's perfectly clear that Indian summer ain't coming around this year.

The good news is that we can now burn some wood in our fireplace. We thought that the fireplace was one of the nicest things about our house when we first saw it, but quite shortly after we moved in, we started having kids. Kids and fireplaces don't mix all that well, so we've had several winters when we used our fireplace only once or twice.

Two years ago, we bought a firewood rack (but didn't buy any wood for it) and this year, we finally purchased a face cord of firewood. We actually ended up with more than a face cord, because the guy brought a trailer full and we got the trailer full. Nonetheless, we've had two fires now, including tonight.

Outside, it's cold (30s) and windy, but inside by the fire, we're toasty. We're enjoying staring into the fire (especially the cats, who are utterly fascinated). I'm proving my fire prowess by poking the thing every five minutes or so to keep it flaming instead of smoldering. Everything is well. At least, in the living room, it's well.

Upstairs, we're paying the price for the downstairs thermostat being completely screwed up by how warm the fire has made the room. It's pretty chilly up here. I'm going to wrap up this typing, find my long underwear, and try to warm up the sheets for sleep. Lucky Greg will find things pre-toasted under our comforter when he comes to bed, and eventually the temperature will equalize and the furnace will once again work appropriately.

We're warm and toasty and cold and shivery. Sounds like a Wisconsin winter to me.