The wind has been incredible the last few days. The tar paper is coming up off the half-finished back entrance to the basement. It'll be good when that's finished.
The house is much colder. The wind is pressing all the warmth out. I donned my thrift store long underwear. It's a little itchy, but I'm warmer.
The wind is so loud The Child dissolved into fearful tears earlier today. She's afraid of a lot of things, but loud noises have never been one of them. She curled up in my arms this morning for ten minutes, something that rarely happens anymore. I feel terrible that she was so scared, but the cuddling sure was nice.
Yesterday was not a good day for tightwadding. We had a house showing, which meant blazing lights and open blinds. Feh. I spent the whole day picking up and cleaning. I try to keep the house company-ready at all times. Not because I'm a clean freak, but because once I get buried under the weight of too many messes, I give up entirely. If I stay on top of it, housekeeping is easy. So perhaps the showing was good timing. We were close to the tipping point.
I drove by during the showing. I'm a creep like that. The couple did not look impressed. That might have been the 60mph gusts of wind in their faces, though.
Today I am working on a curtain to hang between the kitchen and the rest of the first floor. When that's up, I'll close the radiators in there and hope it helps the rest of the downstairs stays warmer. Old houses have their charms, but heat efficiency isn't one of them.
I'm fresh out of new ideas. I feel a cold coming on, and my head is all fuzzy and yech-feeling. Most of the time, I never actually get sick. I spend a few days fighting it off, and then it's gone. I think this one might actually stick around.
So, nothing new to report. I'm just making myself write because once I stop too long, it's hard to get going again. Time to go back to curtains.
Showing posts with label house showing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label house showing. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
Surprise!
My house is a disaster for the first time in two weeks. I've been trying to keep it close to showing-ready so we don't have to scramble to clean when the time comes. Guess what The Guy called me about today. Just guess.
Yeah, showing tomorrow afternoon.
That, and to remind me a guy from a moving company was coming over today to take inventory on our stuff.
It was actually perfect timing. I got a bunch of stuff done that should have been done days ago. Picking up and organizing, *moistly. Took some donations to the local thrift store and picked up some long underwear for myself and some lengths of fabric to make curtains while I was at it.
(*"Mostly," that should read. My favorite typos in weeks.)
The peeling paint in our dining room is still not taken care of, and even though every single dish was clean yesterday afternoon, there's huge pile of dishes on the counter. I have no idea where they come from, since I use hardly any dishes during the day. Like rabbits, they are.
So, this evening and tomorrow morning, I'll be doing the more hefty chores.
I have only used a light twice today. The first time was while feeding the baby this morning. I should have fed her downstairs. I am a little bleary in the mornings.
The second time was to show the moving guy the baby's room. I'm content to stumble around in the dark, but I didn't think he'd appreciate it.
I'm wearing the same outfit I wore yesterday, and the toddler has gone with training pants for a good part of the day.
I figure I've saved us a dollar today. Didn't get around to lowering the thermostat, but I did close all the radiator covers upstairs (they're the kind that run along the wall, about 6" high, not the funky old-timey ones that look so neat; these look very... institutional, like a church basement). Now I just need to find some insulation that's safe for hot exposed pipes. We must bleed out a ton of heat in the yards (yes, yards; I don't know what these people were thinking) of exposed pipe.
What to do about the radiators that do have covers, and I still want to insulate? This is a conundrum. I think we could get away with covering all of the radiators upstairs. It'd be chillier up there, but it's bedrooms anyway, and that's what blankets and sleepers are for. We can use the space heater in the bathroom. The radiators don't get terribly hot, not even hot enough to cause mild pain. I wonder if it would be safe to simply cover them with towels or extra blankets? Don't worry; I won't try it without checking with someone first.
Time for me to get back to work. The baby is diligently tearing apart the living room again. Joy.
Yeah, showing tomorrow afternoon.
That, and to remind me a guy from a moving company was coming over today to take inventory on our stuff.
It was actually perfect timing. I got a bunch of stuff done that should have been done days ago. Picking up and organizing, *moistly. Took some donations to the local thrift store and picked up some long underwear for myself and some lengths of fabric to make curtains while I was at it.
(*"Mostly," that should read. My favorite typos in weeks.)
The peeling paint in our dining room is still not taken care of, and even though every single dish was clean yesterday afternoon, there's huge pile of dishes on the counter. I have no idea where they come from, since I use hardly any dishes during the day. Like rabbits, they are.
So, this evening and tomorrow morning, I'll be doing the more hefty chores.
I have only used a light twice today. The first time was while feeding the baby this morning. I should have fed her downstairs. I am a little bleary in the mornings.
The second time was to show the moving guy the baby's room. I'm content to stumble around in the dark, but I didn't think he'd appreciate it.
I'm wearing the same outfit I wore yesterday, and the toddler has gone with training pants for a good part of the day.
I figure I've saved us a dollar today. Didn't get around to lowering the thermostat, but I did close all the radiator covers upstairs (they're the kind that run along the wall, about 6" high, not the funky old-timey ones that look so neat; these look very... institutional, like a church basement). Now I just need to find some insulation that's safe for hot exposed pipes. We must bleed out a ton of heat in the yards (yes, yards; I don't know what these people were thinking) of exposed pipe.
What to do about the radiators that do have covers, and I still want to insulate? This is a conundrum. I think we could get away with covering all of the radiators upstairs. It'd be chillier up there, but it's bedrooms anyway, and that's what blankets and sleepers are for. We can use the space heater in the bathroom. The radiators don't get terribly hot, not even hot enough to cause mild pain. I wonder if it would be safe to simply cover them with towels or extra blankets? Don't worry; I won't try it without checking with someone first.
Time for me to get back to work. The baby is diligently tearing apart the living room again. Joy.
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