Why, you might ask? Well.... Check this out:
This is what I am reduced to wearing while blogging! My husband and I have battled over the thermostat endlessly over the years, to the point that if one of us even looks at it the other's hackles instantly go up. Our beef is this: He would grudgingly prefer it to stay at 63˙ during the day. (Yeah, I said SIXTY-EFFING-THREE DEGREES.) I would prefer it to be at 68˙. A civilized temperature that one might consider still going barefoot around the house in. I have wrestled him into agreeing to 65˙ (with the thermostat programmed to drop to 60˙ from 8pm to 5:30am). Still way too cold for my tastes.... He's a real prince, my darling is. If it weren't for my affair with the electric blanket ("Oh, darling, you are the only one who can make me this hot! Shhhhh, I think he can hear us."), things would be pretty bad around here.
My office where I do my computer stuff, though lovely in the summer, is an arctic wasteland in the winter. The old windows all leak horrendously and drafts spill in from five different directions (one for each window!). This getup is pretty normal for my day, except I usually have on a big polar fleece or my ratty old housecoat/sweater that I can hardly stand to look at anymore but am too cheap to replace because it doesn't have any actual holes in it. Which brings me back to the arm warmers..... that have effectively replaced the ratty old sweater! Hooray!
I know in Georgia this argument would seem pretty silly, but it is a frequent marital battleground up here in the bitter north. Anybody else have any tales from the Cold Front? Though I feel compelled to admit that this is the first year that I have felt like playing along with his Down-East-Just-Put-On-Another-Sweater attitude. Even though gas is hopefully going to remain less expensive this year, it just seems like we ought to be using less of it. It's like the whole Recession thing is making me want to endure some hardships. You know, to show my solidarity with the people who are really hurting right now. And with that comment, I will file this one under "sober self-delusion" -my favorite tag!
First, isn't a sweater just as good?
ReplyDeleteAnd second, get a space heater. I had too. I walked into the house yesterday, and he had set the thermostat to 69 degrees!! I need to see if he's upped my life insurance policy lately. Hmmmm.
We keep our thermostat at 68 degrees too. I'm always upset at the hausfrau look I have for the season... socks, slippers, sweats, t-shirt, sweatshirt and sometimes another sweatjacket.. luckily, we have a pellet stove that we use in the winter to supplement heat. I don't feel bad about using it since it puts off almost NO emissions and the pellets are made of sawdust, a byproduct that would have gone unused otherwise. Then there is the big dog who likes to sit on my feet and the fuzzy kitty who likes to sit on my hands. Makes typing a bit difficult, but we are all one big fuzzy clump of warmth.
ReplyDeleteI love those arm warmers (you'd make one hottie down on Skid Row) and need to purchase some for my husband. He's always freezing if the thermostat falls below 70!!
ReplyDeleteI'm in good ole' Alabama, but it has actually been cold here for weeks...like 33-ish and below at night...and it's only November (which may not seem really cold to you, but below the Mason-Dixon line temperatures below 32 have been known to shut down entire state governments for days....) So, we've had the electric blanket out and put to work for over a month now...thank God for whoever decided to pass volts of electricity through woolen fabric!
ReplyDeleteI'll write about my cold rant tonight. Come check it out in the morning. If you're warm enough!
ReplyDeleteYAY!! I finally got your page to work. I don't know what happened. But I DID. NOT. LIKE. IT.
ReplyDeleteNow, re your post:
I say drink more whisky, save on gas, happy husband: win win win.
Oh, and Amy...any post where I can SEE you is a bonus :)
ReplyDeleteOh, and regarding the cold? (I know, 3 comments??? But I've been STARVED of you!) Try our winter here, it's 60 degrees (in your language) over here at night/in the mornings,and I've got no heating AND marble floors. Top that, girly...
ReplyDeleteThat looks very comfortable! Is it paired with fingerless gloves?
ReplyDeleteIt's a long time later and I just came back to celebrate the fact that your page is working for me again :))) Oh, and I found a great new site you'll love:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.smartassmom.com/
Oh my goodness, I waited too long to do my comment-backs! Here goes an extra long edition, typed from my cozy patch of sunlight that is mine to relish during this hour in the A.M.:
ReplyDeleteKristina P.: A space heater would be lovely, but if you had MY two year old, you would know better than to suggest it! ;)
Wascally Wabbit: My husband has a wood-stove in his garage office and it KILLS me that I have to go out there to be truly warm. I love the pellet thing.... I wonder if we could use those? I'll look into it.
Ann: 70 is sweltering!!! Do you really get to keep it at that? (And these arm warmers make me the undisputed Fashion Queen of Skid Row.)
Temple: Electric Blanket=Technological Marvel or Gift From God, you decide, either way I am pissed I waited this long in life to get one. :)
Janie: Fluckity Fluck! We hit 14 degrees this morning and I couldn't get the van doors open b/c they were all frozen!!! We had to crawl in through the hatch. Fluckin' freezing!
Braja: No matter how cold it gets, I try to remind myself of my first summer in Austin, TX and crying myself to sleep in my sweaty, miserable apartment with no air conditioning. My Norther European genetics can't take that heat! (And see post to Kristina on why whiskey won't work. TOddlers and hangovers do NOT mix.)
Marinka: Oh, no, they have nifty thumb holes in them so they are fingerless mittens. And thanks for stopping by!
I'm in the 68 degree club. I try not to be a whiner, but if I'm cold everyone is gonna know about it.
ReplyDeleteActually, at this moment, THIS VERY MOMENT, my front yard is being dug up by the City for a new gas line to be connected to our house! Our oil furnace hasn't been working well for over a year and we've taken a second mortgage out to get a gas furnace.
YES!!! (Not to the second mortgage, YES to the heat :-> )
Ann Again! I haven't seen you around in forever! (OK, just a couple weeks, but in blog-land that can be an eternity!) Hope your holiday trip was fantastic.
ReplyDeleteI am jealous, if you get 68˙ in your house. That sounds dreamy! The heavy machinery digging up lines sound horrendous, though. Will you at least have snow cover to hide the pit that your yard will become after they fill it back up?
When we are home ours is at 67, except after 10pm till 6am. it goes down during the week to 61 and I always forget to turn it back up to 67 till it gets to be 64 and I realize that I am so freaking cold. The baby's hands were so cold when he woke up from a nap yesterday.
ReplyDeleteThe upside of the old drafty house Amy, is that you won't ever get carbon monoxide poisoning! That's what Chris and I keep telling ourselves, that and we need new windows. oh, and a new back door. But I digress.
maybe you could sneak a space heater in to your office area... ps... my parents kept our house freezing when we were kids... FREEZING! we are at 68 here and when the come to town they complain about how cold it is... i tell them to put on another layer :)
ReplyDeleteSarah: Yes, that IS a silver lining, I suppose.... and we need those new windows and a Front door. We can actually see outside through the space between the door and the frame. Brrrr! Keep that baby bundled! :)
ReplyDeleteMarla: Oh, revenge certainly IS sweet when served cold, no? LOL!