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I need more hours in the day to catch up on work things, and to write out my holiday cards, and to finish holiday shopping and wrap gifts, and get a tree if we're getting one, and oh, yeah, little things like getting everything out of Dad's house that isn't going to auction. Somewhere in there I'm trying to get to a couple of holiday parties, babysit once a week, and find some sort of restaurant or something for a New Year's Eve post-games dinner thing. It's exhausting just thinking about it. I love the holidays, but this is definitely a "Bah Humbug" year - too many obligations, too many stressors. 11 days from now would have been Dad's 58th birthday. Next month will be Grandpa's 88th. How many more will I get to spend with him?
It is currently ridiculously cold here in Boston and our apartment is hardly the easiest to heat. Some architectural yahoo decided it would be a great idea to put the forced-air heating vents up by the ceilings, even in the areas with the vaulted ceilings (probably 20' high). It's pretty well insulated (no drafts) but almost all of the apartment is exposed to the outside, with only a handful of interior walls and a whooooole lotta open space. Our living room area is a total heat suck since ALL of it's boundaries touch the outside - the ceiling (obviously), all three walls (it sticks out of the front of the house) /and/ the floor (it's over the second-floor porch). Clearly we should have thought of this when we began renting, but we never could have anticipated the fuel hikes from the last hurricane season. Our downstairs neighbor just filled up his oil tank to the tune of $450. Ouch. I wonder how long it takes him to go through a tank of oil?
We're looking into getting some space heaters to boost the heat in whatever room we happen to be in. I guess that means we could keep the main heat at a lower setting. The problem I always run into, though, is that when it's 20 degrees outside (or lower, brr!), the heat is going to have to run and run whether the thermostat is set on 70, or 65, or 60, or 55. I mean, that's still a lot warmer than outside. And if it's going to run and run and run, why not have it be balmier? (Still, the 67 we set it on when we're home is hardly balmy.) Right now we've been shutting the heat off completely when we're out of the house for work and when we're sleeping. Usually it doesn't get any colder than 58 in the house (I told you, good insulation) but tonight when I got home at 7:00 it was 55. So I suppose I need to do something about that with the programmable thermostat, but it hasn't exactly been working right. (It's supposed to bump up to "return" temperature at 7:30pm but it actually starts coming on around 4:00pm which is kind of annoying and wasteful.) This heat stuff gives me major anxiety. Actually, any bill that gets well into triple-digits gives me major anxiety.
I meant to write this funny and insightful post about Trading Spouses and the internal processes of anyone who wants to subject their lives to that kind of experience, but I guess my brain is just full of overwhelmed bitterness about obligations and the upcoming holidays. That reminds me, I need to scan and copy pictures of a kid for a parent tonight before I go to bed, since the last time I see him will be tomorrow and I haven't had a chance and yadda yadda yadda. But really, I just want to go hide under the covers and wake up in April with the flowers.
It is currently ridiculously cold here in Boston and our apartment is hardly the easiest to heat. Some architectural yahoo decided it would be a great idea to put the forced-air heating vents up by the ceilings, even in the areas with the vaulted ceilings (probably 20' high). It's pretty well insulated (no drafts) but almost all of the apartment is exposed to the outside, with only a handful of interior walls and a whooooole lotta open space. Our living room area is a total heat suck since ALL of it's boundaries touch the outside - the ceiling (obviously), all three walls (it sticks out of the front of the house) /and/ the floor (it's over the second-floor porch). Clearly we should have thought of this when we began renting, but we never could have anticipated the fuel hikes from the last hurricane season. Our downstairs neighbor just filled up his oil tank to the tune of $450. Ouch. I wonder how long it takes him to go through a tank of oil?
We're looking into getting some space heaters to boost the heat in whatever room we happen to be in. I guess that means we could keep the main heat at a lower setting. The problem I always run into, though, is that when it's 20 degrees outside (or lower, brr!), the heat is going to have to run and run whether the thermostat is set on 70, or 65, or 60, or 55. I mean, that's still a lot warmer than outside. And if it's going to run and run and run, why not have it be balmier? (Still, the 67 we set it on when we're home is hardly balmy.) Right now we've been shutting the heat off completely when we're out of the house for work and when we're sleeping. Usually it doesn't get any colder than 58 in the house (I told you, good insulation) but tonight when I got home at 7:00 it was 55. So I suppose I need to do something about that with the programmable thermostat, but it hasn't exactly been working right. (It's supposed to bump up to "return" temperature at 7:30pm but it actually starts coming on around 4:00pm which is kind of annoying and wasteful.) This heat stuff gives me major anxiety. Actually, any bill that gets well into triple-digits gives me major anxiety.
I meant to write this funny and insightful post about Trading Spouses and the internal processes of anyone who wants to subject their lives to that kind of experience, but I guess my brain is just full of overwhelmed bitterness about obligations and the upcoming holidays. That reminds me, I need to scan and copy pictures of a kid for a parent tonight before I go to bed, since the last time I see him will be tomorrow and I haven't had a chance and yadda yadda yadda. But really, I just want to go hide under the covers and wake up in April with the flowers.
