A "Floridian" in Vermont

Some days I have to just laugh at myself and the 22 years I spent in warm climates. Although I have lived in Vermont for 3 years, enduring 3 long winters, there are still things I am a complete novice at when it comes to Winter. The other day I was sitting on my living room floor near a window and felt strong currents of cold air. Yep...old house, old windows, no insulation. I'd had this thought for the past few weeks but finally decided to do something about it. Last night I purchased some of this Seran wrap looking stuff (you Vermonters know what I'm talking about) to seal up my windows in hopes of a) increasing the warmth available in my house and b) decreasing my bills. It all started out just fine and dandy, minus some reworking to make things fit. Then the fun part came, or so I thought. I began the "hair drying" portion as directed on the box. I must say, watching that stuff shrink up into a shiny, almost invisible shield, was quite enthralling. That is until, POOF, lights out. Half of my living room went dead.

After a few curse words, I promptly march to the fuse box and flip a few breakers hoping to fix the problem. Nope. Nothing. I begin testing out various plugs only to realize that the 4 sockets on the south side of my living room are totally dead. As if that general problem isn't bad enough, the main heater for the house happened to be plugged into one of them, cable into another. "You must be kidding" I thought to myself. I try to make my house warmer and now it's just getting more cold. Perfect.

Here's hoping the electrician gets back to me tonight, and can fix the problem ASAP. I have guests coming this weekend and a large orange extension cord running across my living room so that I have heat is NOT ideal for house guests. I never imagined a little Seran wrap, a hair dryer, and a lot of cold air could cause so much annoyance!