channeling laura ingalls

We live in an old house with old windows, drafty doors and almost no insulation. The first month we lived here our heating bill was over $700. We aren’t in a position to be dropping that much money on a heating bill so we spent our first winter walking around in layers and sleeping with a space heater in our room.
When Jem came along, we knew that we would need a different solution. So we invested in a pellet stove for our living room and bought a second space heater for the nursery. This worked out just fine until Tru graced us with his presence, and we discovered that our entire upstairs was wired through the same circuit breaker. Suddenly, we needed three space heaters, and we only had enough electricity to run two. This created a problem, but the solution was wonderful. That year we received a heated mattress pad for Christmas. This is not an electric blanket. Oh no. This is a mattress pad that goes under your fitted sheets and warms up your entire bed. Pure bliss!

So for the past three years Sam and I have slept in a super cold room with a nice toasty bed. Until last night, that is. Because yesterday someone who is a deep sleeper didn’t wake up in time to use the potty. And that same someone was, unfortunately, sleeping in our bed at the time. Sadly, the only downfall to my blessed mattress pad is that it isn’t machine washable.

I’ll admit that when Sam first came downstairs dragging our mattress pad with him, I was frustrated. Not with the child who had peed in our bed but just with the idea of trying to hand wash a king size mattress pad and also knowing that it wouldn’t be done before bedtime.

But it turned out to be a good thing. We piled on the layers; flannel pajama bottoms, fleece sweatshirts, fuzzy socks. We climbed into our super cold bed, curled into tiny balls and huddled together in the middle of the bed. With only the top part of our faces sticking out into the cold air, we joked about feeling like pioneers. Except that the pioneers slept with hot baked potatoes at their feet. Lucky ducks.  And while I love my nice warm bed and sleeping on my own side, it was actually really nice to fall asleep snuggled up next to my hubby. However, the little culprit responsible will be sleeping on an extra-large towel from now on.

photo by TheSeafarer  http://www.flickr.com/photos/sheilascarborough/5492003342/