Does bad stuff really come in 3's?

For a short week, this one has been brutal. Having Monday off was wonderful . . . until it started snowing about 3 p.m. The freakish weather dumped 2-3 inches of wet snow over ice in a couple of hours. Greg spent an hour and a half getting home from work. It's 8 miles. The next morning, the 6-8 inches we shovelled off the driveway was very aerobic. The whole thing was a nasty surprize after the near-60 degree weather last Friday.

Tuesday morning was still a bit of a challenge, but things warmed up and the weather settled down. In finishing up the laundry from the weekend, it seemed like the dryer was taking a long time to get things dry. Tuesday evening when we came home from a meeting at 9 p.m., the temperature in the house was 57 degrees. I checked the load of towels in the dryer and confirmed my suspicion. They were wet. The heating element on the dryer was gone. Greg checked the furnace, shut if off and turned it back on, and the heat came on! (Yes!!) He started pulling the dryer out of the alcove in the kitchen while I draped wet towels over everything that didn't move.

With the dryer in the middle of the family room and towels hanging everywhere, I got the vacuum and tried to clean up where the dryer was sitting. Of course the sweeper wasn't picking up anything. The bag was overflowing---and of course we don't have a replacement. (I give up!) Greg found that part he needed on the website at Sears in Butler and printed the information to call in the morning. Off we went to bed at 11 p.m.,with the temperature at 65 in the house and the furnace still running.

I woke up at about 2 a.m. feeling cold. I came downstairs to find the house at 62 again but the furnace running. Add more covers and go back to bed . . . listening to the furnace run for another hour.

I was up at 5 to go to the YMCA to swim, the house was cool and the furnace was off. I flipped the switch on the thermostat and the heat started up again. (Something is definitely going on here!) I had dental surgery scheduled for 3:30 Wednesday afternoon. I envisioned myself returning that evening with an ice pack and pain meds and sitting in a cold house while Greg tore the furnace apart in the basement.

Greg left for work. After getting ready to leave, I called the phone number on the side of the furnace on my way out the door and scheduled service for 1:30 (before my surgery). I called Greg on my way to work to tell him what I'd done. He's not thrilled because he could undoubtedly fix the furnace. But he couldn't leave work Wednesday, and under the circumstances, he said, "What's done is done. OK."

I meet the furnace repairman (who happened to have originally installed the unit back in 1993). He cleaned and checked everything and got us up back up and running. I worked from home until my dental appointment and got my tissue graft without incident.

Greg retrieved the dryer part from Butler after work and got home about 6:45. He installed the part and put the dryer back together. He put it back in the alcove while I heated up soup. I couldn't eat solids because of my surgery, so Greg had leftover pizza with his soup.

I was so exhausted last night that I went to bed at 9 and crashed. Things seemed pretty calm today, but someone at work said we are supposed to get freezing rain tonight. That would truly be the crowning touch for this week. How on earth am I supposed to get the sweeper bags? Will this week never end? Just SHOOT ME NOW!!!