Glad to hear your folks are back up and running, sara.
 
I guess I owe an update here because my day went from bad to worse. Climbed up in the attic, an ordeal which involves emptying my office closet. The furnace had ice all up in its condensate tray. Which I melted as best I could with a hairdryer. This got us to the point where the furnace would fire then quit.
 
So I went back up, unwrapped the insulation tape from what I thought was the drain, but it wasn`t the drain, just a cleanout maybe. Drain is actually routed to the plumbing, which is good. But anyway, it`s clear that this has frozen and backed up into the vent pipe, which I can hear gurgling when the burners fire. So I think the pressure valve is kicking to say it can`t vent, so the burners turn back off. That`s my best guess, so I hope when temperatures rise it will resume draining. I wasn`t able to do more because...
 
while I was up there, the power started to flicker so I hustled down the ladder, convinced I`d blown a circuit. Wrangled with the electical panel, no dice. Totally melted down, talked to the SO, then realized the power wasn`t out, just low. Called APS, yup, outage.
 
So when rehearsal is over, the So & band leader are coming to get me and we`ll be in a hotel tonight. There`s only so much I can take. This is all going to cost a fortune.

And now power`s totally out. Which I hope is a precursor to it coming back, but I am so over this.

Hotel sounds like the smart move, Liese. I hope tomorrow is much much better.

{{{Liese}}}. Stay warm and safe - the money thing sucks, no doubt, but the important thing is that you're taking care of yourselves and each other in these conditions.

oh Liese, get warm and try to get sleep.

Tomorrow, temps will be normalish. Curl up by the fire or hotel cable with the Biscuit and SO and wait it out. Do you think it is too cold to stay in the house? Fire up lights by the plumbing and open plumbing cabinets. t / you probably already know this

God, I feel for the SW right now. It's not designed for this on a household level, and on a state level? No way. This is a century storm.

Try the dollar store?

Ah, I actually think I know where I can find these now. Thanks for the tip!

Hotel is a good move, Liese. Stay safe and try to breathe. You will be warm and it'll be okay.

Erin, both curtains are white. The short ones or long ones?

Long ones, sorry!

Ugh, Liese! That sucks, but I am glad you will be warm and safe.

Just got the call we will have no school tomorrow. I am REALLY surprised -- only a very few urban KC schools have called it so far. Like, 2. Including us. I wonder if more will call it before tomorrow morning.

I was not expecting it, so much that I worked on school stuff from 3:30 to 11. They called about 10 minutes ago.

Well. At least I am done with a HUGE chunk of stuff I needed to do, and don't have to stress about getting the rest done on my plan tomorrow. I can do it in small, easy chunks over the weekend.

Also -- dear ex-students: I certainly do not CARE that you are bitching about your weed guy not having a cell phone, so you can't score a blunt (TIP: Find a better drug dealer; I bet his weed is stank) but I wince when I see your post on a pretty public place. Keep it in the DL, dearests; shit lives forever on the intertubes. @@

Yup. It was definitely going to be too cold. We left, and the band leader`s car`s 4wd gave out. I was all, this is my fault. But then, the power came on right as we were going, so we set the heater in the far bathroom.
 
And we made it to town and the band leader bought me dinner because I was a douf and forgot I could have cooked on the propane. Or the woodstove for that matter. And we closed out the Arby`s so they gave us a bag of free turnovers.
 
So we`re at the hotel now, fed and warm. The Biscuit thinks it`s awesome. Hopefully tomorrow will ease up.

GA: Avery!

Liese, take care.

GA: There's going to be a musical episode. I don't even.