Today I had to laugh at myself as I said to me “You are so lazy!” I know I’m not really lazy because it’s not like I’m sitting here hungry hoping someone will bring me food and I’ve been out in the freezing cold with Rita three times. That takes a lot of effort on my part. It isn’t even that cold but knowing what’s coming makes me shiver! Tonight, tomorrow afternoon and Tuesday morning we have brief periods when we may get ice, which greatly increases our chances of losing power. The new forecast shows our lows around 6 degrees where yesterday it was saying zero. I know . . 6 degrees isn’t that much but the optic of seeing ZERO in the forecast has my Texas blood wanting to head south (but don’t tell Vince I said that!) I was asking him last night if there was anything I need to do here to get ready for a week of below freezing temps and he said “Just remember this was YOUR idea to move there!” Somehow, I think this desire of mine to move here will haunt me for the rest of my days – especially in the winter. It’s ok. It was worth it and I can live with it .. so long as the power doesn’t go off.
I have batteries for my magnfying lamp and propane for the fireplace so I’m good but I still don’t want to lose power.
So, the lazy part . . I had planned to take a meatloaf and scalloped potatoes out of the freezer last night and never did it so this morning I planned to do it and kept cross stitching . . thinking that I’d get up eventually and do it. When it got close to noon and I was getting hungry, I decided it was too late for defrosting a meatloaf so I opened a jar of goulash, added thickener and heated it up. I was boiling water to make pasta but decided I’d rather have mashed potatoes. I did cook a fresh pot of pinto beans and fried some goat cheese.
It was quite a nice meal. I watched another Jean Farish flosstube while eating and thought . . this eating alone isn’t so bad! I can watch a video, eat what I want when I want, have a second Dr. Pepper without anyone saying “How many of those things do you drink each day?”
The last load of laundry for today is in the dryer. I should be able to sit and stitch the rest of the day.
Liz says
Whenever you start thinking about Texas, remember grasshoppers, scorpions, spiders, snakes, 100+ degree heat for months, the possibility of frigid weather, lack of rain and green stuff, difficulty of gardening, the hassle of chicken raising, distance required for health care and stores, etc.
I know some people who retired down to the Lake Texoma area, but then move back to OKC because of the health care issues.
While your part of MO has snow, cold weather, and severe storms, it also has family close by.
Judy Laquidara says
That ship has sailed and there’s no turning back. I always told Vince I’d move anywhere in the south . . wherever his job took him . . but NOT Texas. I stand by that statement.
patti says
one of our concerns in COLD westher is frozen water pipes. at nite when we go to bed we open the cabinet doors under the sink where water pipes are so the warm air in the room can help, especially if we get a power outage.
Judy Laquidara says
Yes, here too. I have to say that our bedroom/bathroom is one of the warmest rooms in the house when the heat is going. I will leave the heat higher tonight but may have to open a window to keep from melting.
RuthW in MD says
The warmest room in our house is the hall bathroom, and we keep that vent closed year round. This year our house is a bit warmer, since a vent fell out of the ceiling in the study. We put it back up, but turned it around so that the inside slats pointed towards the doorway. There’s more heat at my computer now, not going towards the wall/window as previously.
You might go around checking the heat vent directions, also look at the summer/winter knobs on the side of your hvac air handler ducts. Much better to balance the heat so you are comfortable, before Vince arrives.
Judy Laquidara says
I think it’s more that there are so many vents in that area (two in the closet, two in the dressing area, one in the shower area and three in the bedroom) . . the former owners who built the house must have liked to sleep in a warm room. Plus, the breakfast room has three double windows the dining room has three tall windows, the family room has two probably 8 – 10′ tall windows. The master bedroom has two fairly small windows and the bathroom has glass block windows over the big tub but that’s kinda off in a corner. So, more vents, less windows result in a warmer room.
I could be wrong but I don’t think we get enough winter to have winter/summer switches. I went down and looked and didn’t see anything . . have never seen one on any unit we ever had and we replaced the one in Nevada, MO and they never mentioned it but I have a call in to the a/c guy to ask him. Thanks!