Heating & Winter Comfort

For those who know, my husband and I work along side of each other. Him in the field and me in the office. We have found we can work very well together and there is a time when work must be off topic at home. Living and working together has provided some challenges, but the benefits far outweigh. Working together in my family business, truly makes us both proud of what we are contributing to!

This afternoon, I called him to ask a question and he answered saying “I know, I know, I got the email…” I was confused, what email!? The email from our heating system 😉 When we removed our old (original to the house) geothermal system and installed a new gas furnace and air conditioner, we opted for the wifi option that will not only connect with us via email, but also with us at work through our supplier dashboard!

Initially I thought it had to be the vents, which I did take the time to clear this morning before work, however I will be honest and I didn’t clear what I thought was enough away. We got dumped on with a LOT of snow last night, deep heavy snow too. So early in the morning (when the kids didn’t have school), meant this mama was clearing snow before work since the husband isn’t ready to be trekking through deep snow yet with his ankle.

I went through the same questions in my head and with my son that I would when someone calls our office…

1. Are the vents completely cleared of snow? Yes,
2. Is the filter clean? Yes, I knew my husband changed that before Christmas and its a nice wide pleated filter,
3. Did you reset the furnace?, Yes
4. Is it showing an error code?, Yes – my son told me this and the email did too
5. Do you have alternate heat?, Yes I clearly knew that we did 😉 We have a gas fireplace in our basement that provides awesome additional heat down there and will soon have one in our living room upstairs.

Did my son and I fix it, no. There are times when a licensed professional is who needs to fix it. Im grateful I am married to that man! BUT if he wasn’t able to fix it tonight, if we needed a part we don’t have at the shop, we would have had to wait until we got the part, which can happen all the time. It can feel frustrating, chilly for sure, but also reminded us why its so important when you cannot have that immediate gratification, that you have a “back up” plan like a secondary source of heat. One of the main reasons for installing a fireplace in our basement and why we are also going to install one in our living room.

Although we work in the business, we also know what it’s like to experience emergencies. The one Easter morning we woke up to no water. Emergencies happen. Being in the business, and having grown up in the business with the shop line ringing into the house, also after hours. Fast forward to now, the technology has completely changed, emergency calls don’t just ring into the house, they ring after hours to a cell phone. I have begun to better honor my time with calls. Utilize the voicemail, especially when I could be in the middle of something, I wont answer my phone if I am in the bathroom (why isn’t that a given for anyone?! Lol), or if I am dealing with wet dishes or food. The other evening I had a phone call, multiple calls but only one message. I was legit in the shower. The message was left at 7:38pm, I returned the call at 8:15pm. When the customer answered, I explained who I was and that I had received her message. The customer responded by saying “I called someone else, I don’t need you” and she hung up. No thank you for calling back, nope, straight up I don’t need you, click!

The current world we are living in, many people literally expect immediate gratification no matter what it is. Which isn’t cool. Yes it can be frustrating when things aren’t going your way or the way you planned.

So to that woman who was so rude to me, I send you love and peace.