I am just going to say it, our house can get cold. I woke up the other day to just 59 degrees. I could not see my breath, but it was definitely a morning to don a pair of slippers to avoid the chilly floors.
I turned on the fireplace, poured a cup of coffee and cuddled under a blanket in the living room until it was nice and toasty. That’s the nice thing about a chilly house; it feels so good when it warms up.
The downside is all the dishes in the cupboard are cold too, and the coffee cools down really, really fast.
It’s not that we are stingy; Mike and I like just to sleep with a little chill in the air. Our house is very well insulated, so it heats up during the day and holds the warmth most of the night.
I also like piles and piles of blankets on the bed. When we have company, our guests have small space heaters to keep their rooms warmer if they like. My favorite thing is to turn on the oven and throw in some cinnamon bread or muffins to start the day off right.
By mid-morning, you’d never know there had been a chill in the air. Just stepping outside for a minute or two and the house feels really warm when you come back in…. I guess it could be colder!
When I was young, we had a small house that was not that well insulated. You could tell because icicles hung from every side of the house where the hot air escaped. We didn’t have running water either, so of course, there was an outhouse in the back. Now that is a cold seat!
There were some mornings we would wake up to see our breath hang in the air. Just sticking out your toes to the frosty air was challenging. My mom would heat up the oven, open the door and we’d wave our clothes in front of the stove before getting dressed. After stoking the wood stove, the house would be almost too hot.
There really wasn’t a happy medium in that house until we built on and added better insulation. I do remember bringing the pants in off the clothesline that would stand up by themselves! Now that’s “Just Chillin’.”
“There’s no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing.” ~ Alfred Wainwright
Taste of Home columnist Sandy (Anderson) Holthaus lives on a farm in South Haven, MN with her husband, Michael, and their children Zoe, Jack and Ben. Her heart remains on the North Shore where she grew up with her parents, Art and LaVonne Anderson of Schroeder. She enjoys writing about her childhood and mixes memories with delicious helpings of homestyle recipes.
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