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Gramma usvally keeps a key inside her garden gnome right next to the front door. And, sure enough, that's EXACTLY where it was today.

I figured we could use Gramma’s house to warm up in before the last push home. Rowley was nervous about us going inside with no adults home, but I old him Gramma was FAMILY, and she'd WANT to me use her house while she was Away.

when we walked in, Twas. pretty surprised. It was like a FREEZER in there, so I guess Gramma turns down the thermostat for the winter.

Usually Gramma CRANKS up the heat. When she's home, it's so warm that you have to eat your ice-cream sandwich with the freezer drawer open or the ice cream will melt in your hands.

The first thing I did when we got inside Gramma's was turn up the thermostat. It was taking a while for the house to heat up, though, so I turned on the oven and we warmed up in a HURRY.

Gramma hada bunch of snacks in her refrigerator, and me and Rowley helped ourselves. But while we were eating we saw some MOVEMENT outside the front window

Tt was Mrs McNeil, Gramma's snoopy next-door neighbour. She must've noticed the light from the fridge, and now she was trying to see inside.

We stayed out of sight, and eventually Mrs McNeil went away. But now I knew we had to be CAREFUL, because I really didn't need her calling the COPS. So we got down low and went into the living room, where Gramma has her TV.

Gramma has ALL the cable channels, and luckily she didn't shut THOSE down for the winter. But we couldn't risk attracting Mrs McNeil again, so we put a blanket over ourselves AND the television and watched it THAT way.

I guess we kind of lost track of time, because when we shut off the TV it was DARK out. By now it was nice and toasty in Gramma's house, and I really didn't wanna go back out there in the cold. So I had an idea for how to make the walk home a little more COMFORTABLE.

I figured if we warmed up our clothes in Gramma's dryer before we headed back out it would take the edge off for the rest of the trip. So we went down to the basement where Gramma keeps her laundcy machines and put in our clothes.

We set the timer to thirty minutes and waited. But it was a little awkward hanging out in our underwear while the dryer did its thing.

Plus, it was COLD in the basement, so we looked around for something to WEAR. Rowley found a sweatshirt I gave Gramma for her birthday and he put THAT on. But I didn't feel RIGHT wearing Gramma's clothes.

I found a sweater that Gramma knitted for Sweetie, and it fitted better than I expected. But it was a little ITCHY, and I couldn't remember if Sweetie ever had FLEAS.

But, while I was looking a round for_something to swap it with, we heard NOISES upstairs.

My FIRST thought was that Gramma had given Mrs McNeil a key to the house, and now she was inside. But Rowley said it might be a BURGLAR who knew ho one was home, and I thought maybe he was RIGHT.