Not a winter wonderland
Imagine living in a home that had no heating. That’s pretty much what the OP was dealing with. However, she couldn’t just yell at the landlord to fix it since she and her husband were renting from her husband’s boss. The underground pipes didn’t have any insulation either, so burst pipes were common in the winter.
They found out that the property owner knew of the problem but didn’t want to spend a dime on fixing it. The boss merely suggested that the couple keep the pipes warm, so they purchased space heaters and kept them on all day and night. That didn’t work.