Thursday, January 23, 2014

Thursday brain lint 012314

Hey! It's Thursday already, in the longest ever short work week. The less said about work, the better.


The less said about the weather as well. It's cold, with wind chills in the dangerous zone. But it will warm up for Friday and Saturday morning, before the temperature returns to a daytime high that requires a mathematical operation sign in front of it. It's supposed to stay that cold at least through next Wednesday.


The utility bill arrived yesterday. The electric portion of the bill (bear in mind, I have gas heat) is as high as it was the middle of last summer, when I was running the air conditioning full blast. The only thing I can think of is that I was home sixteen days of the billing period. Cooking more, using the lights more (I think we had one day of sunshine that entire two plus weeks). I added a small space heater to the mix, though I think I've used it less than half a dozen times, and only for a couple hours at a stretch, at most.


It's time to ask WE Energies to do an electric audit.


Work on the applique sweatshirt is proceeding. After work on Tuesday I actually sewed for a bit. That would be the goal: sew for half an hour a night after work. You'd be amazed at what you can accomplish in a week. This weekend, I'd like to get the valance for the studio cut out, so I can poke away at that during the week as well.


Birthday dinner at a friend's house Friday night, but that is all that is on the calendar for the weekend. The plan is to get the house cleaned up a bit tonight, so I can spend Saturday sewing, guilt-free. There are a couple of new recipes on the to-do list as well, including an easy Salisbury steak that I'll do for Sunday lunch, with leftovers planned for weekday lunches. Heaven knows, I'll want something hot for lunch while we are in the deep freeze.


Reading quite a bit lately as well. At the end of the month I put up a list of what I've finished during January (part of my new year's goals is to track how much I actually read - just the knowledge that I will be tracking it has already increased my reading time).


Speaking of tracking, I've picked up a Fitbit (on sale, I should add). Another 2014 goal is to move more. This deserves a post of its own, but I can at least tell you that when you reach your steps goal for the day, the tracker on your wrist does a happy dance. Literally, as it vibrates.


(You wear the tracker on your wrist, so it picks up "steps" based primarily on arm movements. Judging from my totals over the first few days of use, I highly suspect that rocking in the recliner is enough to count as "steps", which, frankly, is fine with me!)

No comments: