Our first night without heat wasn't so great. Actually last night was fine: the fireplace kept the living room so warm that we didn't even plug in the space heaters. That was a mistake. I woke up around 3 am, freezing cold. The house isn't even that bad -- about 58 -- but I forgot how cold the air mattress is. You know how in winter, when you first get into bed it's really cold? But then it warms up as it absorbs your body heat? Well an air mattress never does that. It just draws heat away from you all night. I would have thought that air would be a good insulator, after all that's the whole point of storm windows. But I guess it isn't as good as a bed.
Okay, enough whining. I got up around 6, plugged in the space heaters and let the dogs out. Jane didn't want to come back in because she's spooked by everything being moved around. I couldn't put away the air mattress without waking Georg (he's on the couch) so I pushed it into the hall. That was enough for Jane to come back in. It's funny how dogs hate change. I remember Thirteen always used to be terrified of furniture being moved -- not just the moving, which of course was scary, but finding things in new places really upset her. But she's much more calm about it now; now Jane is the freaked out one.
Now I'm curled up on the comfy chair, wrapped in a blanket, and I feel almost warm. When Georg wakes up I'll light the fire again, and then at 8 I have to call the HVAC guy to find out when they're coming over. In the meantime I think I'm going to make oatmeal. This is not a morning for my usual cold yogurt breakfast.
in this situation (and hopefully, you won't need this advice, because hopefully they'll get it fixed today!) it might be better to sleep in bed. when my heat was out, i would run a space heater in my bedroom with the door closed for an hour or so before i went to bed, and probably shut it off after going to bed because space heaters scare me. with enough clothes, flannel sheets, and in your case two people in the bed, it will probably be quite cozy. and then in the morning if the space heater is close enough to the bed, you can sneak one arm out of the bed to turn it on, then wait for the room to warm up a little before getting up :)
there are a couple of problems with the bedroom: 1. we never put the baseboards back up so it's the coldest room in the house anyway; 2. we can't shut the door when we're in there because it would freak the dogs out. Still, we might try it tonight. You're right that it would be warmer with both in the same bed.
maybe you could hang a curtain in the doorway so the dogs could go in and out, and still keep some heat in.
do you get drafts in the bedroom because the baseboards aren't there? maybe you could roll up towels and pack them around the edges of the room to insulate it a little better.
let me know if you want to borrow flannel sheets - blankets - sleeping bags - towels.