Too Much Information?

Yesterday morning, the thermometer outside our house read zero degress Fahrenheit. The temperature inside the house was not much warmer as our furnace had broken during the night. Man, was it cold! Eventually, the kids all piled into bed with me and my husband, supposedly to keep warm, but mostly they just annoyed each other. We had a few good minutes of conversation before it all broke down into shouts of, "Get off my arm!" and ""Quit poking me with your elbow!" In those few good minutes, I shared with the kids a dilemma I had faced in the early hours of the morning. I had lain in bed with an achingly full bladder, but unwilling to face the frigid air, tile floor, and toilet seat of the bathroom. Two children quoted me a fact from Susan E. Goodman's The Truth About Poop. Wealthy people in the ancient Roman city of Ephesus used to send their slaves to the public bathrooms to warm up the cold marble toilet seats for them. I favorably reviewed that book here, but I am still surprised at how often it pops up in our conversations!
There is a happy ending to this story, and it's not just that my kids have good factual recall. My sister-in-law Trish, who, like her Roman ancestors, appreciates a hot shower, toasty bathroom , and warm house, invited us over to use hers until our furnace was repaired in the afternoon. Grazie!