Friday, January 13, 2006

The Princess and the Thermostat

Especially with the cost of heating being so high, DH and I have been having more "discussions" than usual about how high to set the thermostat. Our winter has been relatively mild so far and I don't have a problem with the temp being set somewhere between 65°- 67°F--I have sweatshirts, I can dress in layers. I know I'm more temperature sensitive than most--either too hot or too cold 75% of the time--so I don't touch the thermostat unless the vent by my chair is blowing cold air.

Apparently DH didn't believe (or didn't think about the fact that) I really was so sensitive to the temperature in the house, so he turned down the thermostat last weekend without telling me. By Saturday afternoon, I was cold in the same type clothes (sweatshirt & sweatpants) that had been perfectly comfortable on Friday. Sunday I couldn't warm up at all, despite multiple layers of shirts and socks/slippers so I just went to bed for most of the afternoon. Sunday night I mentioned to DH that I didn't understand why I was so cold when the temperature outside was still in the +30°F range like it had been for weeks. (Usually I can tell when I get up in the morning if the outside temp is significantly colder that the day before.) Monday morning, when I was so cold I didn't want to get out of bed, he finally said, "I guess I should turn the thermostat back up, huh?"

"You turned it down?" I said. "When?"

"Right about the time you got cold."

He says he only turned it down a couple degrees, thinking it wouldn't make a difference to anything but the heating bill. Guess again! I've been telling him for twenty years that I'm a princess. Apparently he continues to underestimate how far my princessitude extends. And now you know why my sign-in name is The Princess Mom.

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