I discovered when I went to take my shower this morning that I had no hot water. I did have cold, however. My condo is an end unit, and I thought that maybe a pipe had frozen since it's been dangerously cold.
In any case, I needed to at least wash my hair before work (short hair means bed head) and do a sketchy wash. I got creative. I heated a saucepan of water on the stove and one kettle full from my electric kettle. I poured the very hot water into a plastic dishpan in the bathtub, and washed my hair using a plastic cup to rinse. I ended up being a bit late to work, but not very much.
It turns out the hot water shutoff valve on the water heater needs to be fully replaced. No frozen pipe, the valve just decided NOW to quit. Landlord will have a plumber out tomorrow morning to fix it.
That means an evening and a second morning without hot water. It's not too big of a deal, actually. I can't use the dishwasher, but I had used the dishwasher two nights ago and had a small amount of dirty dishes. Laundry was caught up, and I always wash in cold. I heated a bunch of hot water on the stove tonight: 6 qt pot, 3 qt pot, and electric kettle. I filled/heated up each twice. Had a huge stainless steel bowl as well as dishpan. I had a very nice old-fashioned wash standing in the tub tonight. I used a plastic pitcher to pour water all over me. The hot water was delightful as it's so cold out. I had enough unused hot water leftover to do my few dishes. In the morning, I'll just heat up a bit of water to wash my hair, and hopefully the hot water will be back on when I get home from work tomorrow.
A side note: I'm the furthest thing from being "green," but it really is amazing how little water you need to get clean. I love soaking in the tub with a book, but it's good to know another way. This is how people did it 100+ years ago (and poor rural families probably did until the 1950s or so).