heat it up

I just joined the conversation on this post: http://tinyurl.com/3rt4t7v and it occurred to me that it isn't something I've mentioned: we're without heat right now @ the house.
At first I was embarrassed--I haven't told any of my co-workers and didn't tell my mom until she offered to come help paint, and then I had to tell her to wear her long underwear because you need it in here...but its really not so bad, and the closer we get to spring the better it gets.
When we bought the house it was going through close to ten gallons of oil a day . And the internal temp was set at 60. We thought it was mostly heating hot water, so we disconnected the hot water tank and JLB brought an electric one home from work ...and it was still burning it up, so we shut it down completely with about 30 gallons left in the tank for emergencies. That was in early March.
It stayed cold for awhile, and we turned it on for several nights and then back off once we got up, to keep the pipes from freezing (we also left the tap in the kitchen just-so-slightly-on, just in case). We wore long underwear pretty much continuously and luckily both have those super-puffy down slippers (that we usually only use winter camping)...I suppose it helps that we both like winter camping and hiking too--cold is no fun, but its really not bad once you get moving. Once you get moving you get warm, no problem. If I want to sit still (to read a book, say, or type a bit on the computer) I grab a blanket, otherwise there are a bunch of putter-ing type projects that will keep me moving and busy and warm and need to be done anyway. Although I have been staying away from peeling wallpaper until it gets warmer out: I did that a couple of weekends ago and got soaked--and even though I used warm water to start, I did get really cold and since I was wet I had a very hard time warming up again. But sweeping and sanding and unpacking boxes are all excellent warm-up tasks. And moving bricks is the best--no way to be warmer, short of lugging firewood, for sure!
But really, I can't wait for spring!!