A Little Space, Please

We have this little space heater.

Let me amend my statement.
Ahem.

We have a small space heater that serves as the sole heat provider in our home.

That's better.
Actually, it's not entirely true. The heat is turned on in the house (or so I'm told), but my dad's idea of thermostat temperatures is a little strange. For instance, he considers 66 degrees hot in the winter, but 80 degrees cold in the summer. Don't ask me. I don't understand.

The other night before bed, I shivered down the hallway. The thermostat on my side of the house read 66 degrees.  If the hallway says 66, I know my room is at least a few degrees colder, since it's on the end of the house and all.

This brings me back to the space heater. We use it like wood stoves were used in the olden days (except for the cooking part, of course). As a family, we huddle around the heater in family room. Yesterday morning my mom was reading Frankenstein to me. Yes, the heater was on. Curled up in a blanket, I was lying on the floor just to be closer to the heater.


At night, each inhabitant gets a few golden minutes with the heater in his room. It's so sad when my dad enters a second time to take it away to the next room! This method seemed to be working fairly well until I couldn't find the heater anywhere at 5:30 in the morning! Just you try to practice with frozen fingers. I finally concluded it was in my parents' room. Carefully and quietly, I opened the door. It wasn't cracked two inches before both my parents and both dogs were awake. Oops! They now place the heater in my music room before going to bed.

Last night my dad brought in the space heater before I was ready for bed. Thinking this was just a kind gesture (and certainly not part of the bedtime ritual), I enjoyed the warmth and then turned off the heater and my lights (yes, my daddy taught me well) before leaving the room. Ten minutes later, my dad found me in the kitchen.
"You turned the heater off?"
"Well, yes. I didn't want to leave in on in my room while I wasn't in there. It's a fire hazard and all."
"Well, there goes your 10 minutes."

What?

I don't think he was quite that cruel sounding, but the heater was definitely gone when I went back to my bedroom.

Let's just say I slept in a shirt, a sweater, a sweatshirt, jeans, and socks last night.

*I read this comic this morning after I posted and laughed so hard! I cut it out of the paper and taped it on my dad's mirror. :)