Yesterday, it got to 100 degrees, though it was "officially" 96 degrees at Sea-Tac. Well, we're not as close to the Sound as Sea-Tac, so naturally it's going to be a few degrees cooler there. My car said 100, and that's good enough for me.
Miserable, sweaty, grumpy, lethargic. We were all unhappy with the heat. Our house sucks it up and holds it in like nobody's business. It's great in the winter. Our heating bills are low and our house is always cozy. But aye aye aye, it's too much to take in the summer. I couldn't stand it. I decided our very ineffective little 7,000 btu window a/c unit needed to be upgraded.
Bright and early this morning, after a restless night with very little sleep, I went forth to the mega home improvement store, where, only one week ago, they had many shelves and racks full of window a/c's. Any style, size, and model one could want -- they had it. Only this morning, there was exactly ONE left, and it was about the size of my refrigerator and would require re-wiring my bathroom. No thanks. There were many other potential customers milling around, as well, and I heard whispers that the OTHER mega home improvement store was sold out too. Well, I scurried out of there as fast as I could, and headed for, where else? Sears. If Sears didn't have any a/c's left, we were out of luck period.
They had about 4 left. Two each of two different models. There were several people standing around, apparently pondering the situation. Hey, in a situation like this, you snooze you lose, so I wasted no time in picking one of the few remaining units and attaching myself to the poor fellow working in the department. He was already helping someone else, and would be "right with me." Well, that someone else wanted the exact same unit I wanted, and there were other salespeople working the floor too. So I had to act fast, and desperately. So when he notified the other salespeople that there was only one left of Model Z, I interrupted and said, "Make that NONE, because I want one too!" He said to the salespeople, "Model Z is now sold out - zero left in stock."
Whew.
I'm sure the other customer wasn't thrilled with my honing in on her sale that way, but if I hadn't, I wouldn't have gotten this BAD BOY 12,000 btu a/c unit! I hauled it home, me and P installed in, and we left it running all day while we went to a picnic. By the time we got home a little while ago, we were scorched from the heat. Our house was smoking hot, and the air was barely breathable. We deliberately waited a half an hour to go up to our room, just to get the full effect. When we walked in there, oh my GOD! It was like walking into an oasis. Cool, cool, air. My skin actually tingled. We both flopped on the bed, spread our arms and legs out, and just went, "Ahhhhhhh." And in that instant we agreed that it was the best $300 bucks we would spend this year.
So P has transferred the VCR and DVD player up to our bedroom. That is where I plan to spend the rest of the evening, and I may spend all day there tomorrow too. In fact, I may never come out.
We may decide to spring for central air some day. Or we may not. But if and until we do, at least we have some place we can retreat to when the temperatures climb. And that's all we really need.
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