Monday, July 30, 2012

I really hate insomnia

I couldn't sleep this weekend.  Friday night I got a few hours of sleep, but Saturday...nothing.  I couldn't get my eyes to shut at all.  It was around 2 p.m. before I finally got a bit of sleep and then only an hour.  I had to go to the store to pick up a prescription so I needed that hour of sleep before I felt safe to drive.

Unfortunately, I didn't dare take any tramadol for the pain because I knew I would be driving and while I can normally take it and drive, not when I haven't slept.  I didn't get back to sleep until around 4 a.m. this morning but I slept until 2 p.m.  Albeit with frequent sleep interruptions, such as the dog needing out and Tom coming in to pet the dog.

So I feel a bit better today but still very sluggish and dragging. 

I got a lot of knitting done over the weekend but I had to frog the pink child's sweater because I just didn't have enough yarn to finish it.  I can make a baby sweater out of it though.  Although my pattern is missing the pages for the pullover front.  I suppose I could just make baby cardigans, which are better anyway because pulling a sweater over the head of a wriggling baby is difficult.  I found some Red Heart SS yarn on sale for $2 a skein so I picked up enough to make a child's sweater out of it.  It's a Claret Fleck which is turning out nicely.  Or would if it didn't feel so dry.  I know from experience that after a washing the Red Heart sweaters feel just as nice as the other acrylics but knitting them isn't the most pleasant experience.

I also started a baby sweater in Bernat Baby Sport because I wanted to work with something soft while dealing with the RH yarn.  It's a pink, white and green varigation and is turning out nicely.  I'm not as fond of cardigans because of the buttonholes but I'll figure it out.

I finished up the front and back of the baby swing sweater but I had to make adjustments to the sleeves.  Since I'm using a thicker yarn, I'm knitting on the number of stitches for a newborn and sizing it for a one year old.  But the sleeves have to end up sized for a one year old as well and the pattern doesn't allow for gradual increases.  So I'm going to have to knit it using the one year old size.  I just hope it's not too big and baggy.  Otherwise I'll just make it a vest or something.

Well, I need to find a cool place to relax before starting supper.  Hard to think of it since we just had lunch:  a salad with grilled chicken breast.  I'll wait until it cools off a bit before I fix supper.

To be honest, I could go back to sleep.  If I thought I could get back to sleep tonight, I would do it but I've got to get some normal sleep pretty soon.

TTFN

Friday, July 27, 2012

Packages in the mail always cheer me up

I finally got some sleep last night although not as much as I probably should have gotten.  I'm not taking the herbal sleeping pills anymore.  They seem to be waking me up instead of making me drowsy.  I settled in after Tom got home from work and felt like I was ready to go to sleep and I did for about 15 minutes.  Then I woke up because the cat was rummaging around my nightstand looking for the mouse he let go twice this week and couldn't get back to sleep after that.  Not because of the mouse, but because I was wide awake after this.

I finally got to sleep around 5:30 a.m. and slept until 1:25 when I heard Tom leave for work.  At least I don't feel like I'm dragging right now.  Not bursting with energy but not foggy or lethargic either.

I got my knitting needles in the mail today.  I'm really tempted to start a new project now but I will wait until I finish another one first.  I was ready to start the armholes on the baby swing coat when I noticed that I had forgotten the eyelet designs in both sides of the front.  So I ripped out the left side and started over again.  The right side I'll just have to redo since I already have the band knitted on.  I'll save it and maybe make another one without the eyelet design.

The pink child's sweater is coming along nicely since it's just stockinette at this stage.  I used this pattern to knit Zach's sweaters when he was little but I only had Red Heart yarn available to me then.  I will say this for Red Heart...it holds up nicely.  I was able to donate his sweaters to the thrift store and they looked practically new even after several washings.  Not so much with Wool Ease yarn.  I knitted him a very intricate sweater out of that and after just one washing it pilled so badly he couldn't wear it anymore.  So disappointing.

I wouldn't have a problem working with Red Heart yarn on these sweaters again if that's all I had available to me or all I could afford, but I do like working with the Bernat worsted weight.  It has a nice feel to it and holds up well while knitting.  I just don't know how well it holds up with washing.  I'll find out, I guess.

It rained again last night and today.  It's nice to sleep through a gentle rain.  Not to mention how cool it was during it.  The sun is out and it's warming up and I imagine the humidity will make it feel warmer but it's not supposed to get too high today so it will be tolerable.  I don't even have any fans on right now and I'm very comfortable.  I hope it's not too little too late for the corn crops.  And the farm animals.  I don't think all of my blueberry bushes made it.  I forgot about them and didn't water them early into the drought.  We got to them but they were already brown by then.

I have to run to the library today.  Tom says the car is okay to drive but I'm taking my phone with me so I can call hm if I get stuck.  He says it's just the O2 sensor.  If I go I think I'll take the truck's alternator in and get it tested and if it's the problem, pick up a new one so he can work on the truck Sunday. I don't expect him to get the truck ready by Monday but it will be a start.

Off to eat something and then head to the library.

TTFN

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Early morning shopping

And by early morning, I mean 2 a.m.  We're back down to one vehicle now.  I could drive the car in town but I wouldn't trust it any further than I could walk home.  The engine light is on so trips in the car are for emergency or urgent use for now.  Tom is going to fix the truck since it's the easier and cheaper option for now.  When I say cheaper, I don't mean cheap.  I just mean it's not going to cost us as much.  I wish things would stop breaking down.

So I decided, instead of getting up early to get to the store and back before Tom had to go to work, we would just shop last night so I could sleep in this morning.  It was pouring rain when we went but not torrential.  Good steady rain for a few hours, which we desperately needed, with some lightening and thunder.  Quite nice, actually.

But in the middle of the night, the store is being worked on with painting crews, mopping and waxing crews and such so there were a couple of aisles I couldn't go down.  No big deal.  I got what I needed and came home.

And couldn't get to sleep for hours.  I think it was almost 4 before I finally dozed off and woke up at 8:30 with pain and couldn't get back to sleep.  So I just got up.  What can you do?

I'm making good progress on the baby sweater that resembles a swing coat and the child's sweater (size 6) in pink.  I looked at yarn this morning when I was at the store and they don't have any Bernat worsted weight yarn anymore.  Just Caron Simply Soft and Red Heart.  The Red Heart yarn is a big bulky for my sweater patterns.  Wouldn't be bad for child blankets but I don't plan on making many of those.  If I can't get the yarn cheap, I can't afford to knit stuff for charity.  Fortunately, I have a huge stash of yarn I can make several children's sweaters out of and even some hats and scarves.  And since they still have baby sport weight yarn there, albeit in pastels only, I can keep up with baby stuff.

I ordered some new knitting needles since I can't get the size I need anywhere around here.  I don't know why size 5 & 6 circulars are impossible to find in craft stores but they are.  While I was at it, I got some more stitch holders.  I do use just waste yarn a lot but sometimes I need something a bit sturdier.  And it was only a couple of dollars.  I bought Boye needles because it's what I've used since I first learned how to knit 40+ years ago and haven't had a single problem with them in all that time.  I have used different brands occasionally and have had problems so I stick with what works for me.  In the future I'll need some longer circular needles but that can wait.

I plan on picking up my old projects come fall so I can finish up the two sweaters I started last winter.  And I'm still plugging away on the Greek Key Striped afghan in teal and off-white.  Something to curl up under this winter.  And yes, I'm already looking forward to winter.  I'm not a summer person at all.  Neither is Tom so moving south for retirement isn't on our agenda.  If anything, Tom would move further north.  I wouldn't mind so much except the expense of living in a remote location wouldn't fit in with our future, meager retirement income.

I still have some yarn to work on dishcloths since I apparently lost one of the ones I just finished up last month.  No one is copping to it's disappearance.  It's not in the laundry and not in the sink so I have no idea what happened to it.  Probably the car key fairies.  They're responsible for everything that gets misplaced in the house.

I'm nearly done with The Walking Dead.  It's an amazing series, much better than I had thought.  I'll see if I can get the second season but not right away.  I get burned out if I do marathons.  Plus we've got the Star Wars movies to watch as well.  And I'm working my way reading through the Harry Potter books and watching the movies after each book.  I just finished up The Order of the Phoenix last night and will watch the movie tonight.  I think I might try a few other tv series I haven't watched before I take on the second season of Walking Dead.  I get my knitting done while watching tv.

I think I'm going back down for a nap because I can't keep my eyes open and it's getting warm already, although it's not supposed to get extremely hot today.  Hard to say since the Weather Channel is misbehaving today and isn't showing any input for our local weather.  But for now it's tolerable in the house with hardly any of the fans going so I don't anticipate being terribly uncomfortable.  Yesterday was supposed to be 100+ with heat indices near 110.  But it barely broke 90 so it wasn't too bad at all until evening when the humidity got really bad.  Then I turned on the air conditioner but I put it on low because I actually got chilly from it.  Professor, of course, immediately crawled into bed right beside it when I turned it on.  He is one hot puppy.

Well, hopefully I'll get lots of knitting done and even some sleeping. 

TTFN

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Mini heat waves and mini rain showers

Monday was broiling hot again and tomorrow promises the same but we had some rain last night and a prediction of rain today.  I'm not sure how much rain we got but Tom said the sidewalks were wet when he got up around 10 a.m.  And it was raining when I finally zonked out around 4:30 a.m.

I hardly slept all weekend long, even with the herbal sleeping capsules.  I think they're a bust and won't try them again but I might use the store brand version of ZZZquil again.  I didn't have much of a sleeping pill hangover...a bit but not much.  I slept until 2 p.m. yesterday with the a/c on because Professor had woken me up around 9 so I just got up and switched the window fans pointing out, closed the rest of the windows and turned my a/c on.  The minute I did that, Professor crawled onto the bed and curled up next to it.  He was probably getting warm and wanted me to do something about it.  I'll do the same tomorrow morning, although I hope I can sleep well enough to get up at 9.  I got up at noon today so maybe I'll get to bed earlier tonight.

I've been working on baby sweaters but one of them I made a huge mistake on.  For some reason the armholes are all two inches too short so I need to go back and redo them.  Trouble is, I'm just not interested in them now that I've hosed them up.  I will get back to them, but in the meantime I'm working on a pretty girl's sweater that has similarities to a swing coat, but not exactly.  I also have been working on the Greek Key Striped afghan.  Well, not yesterday but over the weekend it was pretty nice so I got some work done on it.  I'm on the plain stockinette section now so it's easy going.

I also decided, after digging out my bin of patterns and finding a leaflet of children's sweaters, that I would make some sweaters for school age kids, too. I'll probably dig out my stitch dictionaries so I can change up the design from time to time but for the most part they're pretty simple designs and since they're for small people, I can get many projects done to satisfy my need to accomplish something.  Plus I really want to make something for kids who don't get a lot in the way of warm winter things.  I'll probably knit up some hats and scarves as well.  And mittens.  I should be able to put a dent in my yarn stash if I keep this up.  It's so much more satisfying than knitting for myself.  I'm just not sure where to donate them.  I'm not terribly keen on the food pantry as they are all distributed through churches and I feel that church charities put pressure on people to convert based on personal experience.  I'll see if the library can take them.  They take hats, scarves and mittens.  If not, maybe I'll see if there is a Pagan center that will take them.

I need to do laundry today but with rain in the forecast I'll probably have to dry them in the dryer.  It would be nice to hang them out, though so I can get all of them washed in one day.  But if it takes them three days to dry because of the rain, that's not a viable alternative to the dryer.

I got The Walking Dead from the library, first season, and I really like it.  I've never really been creeped out by zombies but that first episode was really creepy and scary.  I wasn't so on edge in the second episode although it definitely was a very suspenseful viewing.  I'm totally hooked now.  We still have episode 2 & 3 of Star Wars to watch, too, but I was able to renew those so we've got all week to watch them.  I get a lot of knitting done watching movies and tv shows.  Mission Impossible is on one of the nostalgia channels and they're in season one now with Dan instead of Mr. Phelps, which I think is the best season so I've been dvr-ing those.  The knitting shows on PBS are done for the season and while I didn't think they were as good as some in the past, still I learned new things and picked up a few patterns to knit from.

Well, I should get a load of clothes started.  I looked at the weather forecast and saw some green moving this way.  It will probably skip us but I don't want to risk putting clothes out on the line.  Tomorrow will be too hot.

TTFN


Thursday, July 19, 2012

More rain!

We had some lovely rain overnight and a bit more today with temps in the low 70s or high 60s.  I didn't bother to check.  It was so nice not even using the fans and having that lovely breeze coming in through the window.

I even slept last night in spite of the sleeping pill not taking effect for hours.  I took it at about 9 p.m. and was still awake at 2 a.m. so maybe it didn't take effect at all.  I woke up to let Professor out around 9 a.m. but went back to sleep and slept like a rock until 1 p.m.  I actually got two rooms cleaned and a good head start on the kitchen in addition to a real meal for once.  Baked chicken, noodles in butter and parsley and corn.  Not a huge meal but easy to cook.

I've been making good progress on the baby items and will probably work on my Greek Key afghan tonight as it's so cool out.  I slept under my purple one last night instead of crawling beneath the covers.  Making the bed was a breeze today.  The new one is a lovely baby blue and off-white.  The old one is purple and off-white.  Stark white wouldn't work well with this pattern.

I intended to do a lot of reading today but stayed online too long.  I really need to stop that and since I won't be working in the dining room cleaning tomorrow I'll be more inclined not to turn the computer on until I fix supper. Out of sight...out of mind, sort of thing.

Time to get the chicken out of the oven and butter the noodles so I'm off.  The rest of the night will be knitting and reading.  Although not necessarily at the same time. 

TTFN

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Survived another heat wave

This one was only a couple of days and broke sooner than predicted so I've got the windows open and fans blowing that cool 81 degrees in the house, which has a temperature of about 90 right now.  Except for the two rooms that have a/c.

They got rain to the north of us today although we could see the clouds and even enjoy the wind and cloudy skies.  And even smell the rain, but no wetness for us.  Shame since the soy beans are looking a bit wilty now, too.

I'm working on two baby sweaters right now.  I quit on one until I found the tape measure which had fallen under the bed and gotten kicked even further from view.  I can get back to it now.  If it's cool enough tonight I want to get back to work on the Greek Key afghan.  It might be a bit too heavy on my lap though.  If so, I'll work on the baby sweaters.  I need to find a charity to give them to but I'll check into that when the time comes.

We watched Star Wars: The Phantom Menace last night and picked up The Clone Wars today.  Zach is a major fan.  I like them but don't consider myself a huge fan.  But that's okay.  Now I need to order the third one from the library so that will come in when we're done with this one.  I'm not watching it tonight, though.  Tonight I'm taking a sleeping pill and going to bed.  I'm back to watching the sun rise every morning and not getting to sleep until after 6 a.m. or so.  I don't feel rested at all with this kind of non-sleep schedule.

Supper tonight is just chicken thighs and broccoli-cheese soup.  I'm not in the mood to cook much.

TTFN

Friday, July 13, 2012

Rain!

Wasn't enough and wasn't very long but it did rain today.  Less than 10 minutes but it actually left puddles in the road even if it didn't get the sidewalk under the trees wet.  And the air got extremely humid afterward.  Hopefully it will rain even more tonight.  That was a 10% chance.  Tonight is a 40% chance.

I had gone down for a nap because, of course, I didn't fall asleep until around 6:30 a.m. and then had to get up three times after that for Professor and Hannibal.  I finally got up around 10 because they weren't going to leave me alone.  But once I went down for a nap, I fell asleep immediately, only to wake up about 10 minutes later to the smell of rain and the sound of the wind knocking stuff off the dining table.  It smelled lovely and soon the rain came, but as it didn't last long, I went back to sleep.  Ten minutes later that Rachel bitch from Cardholder Services called and woke me up.  Then the library called a few minutes after that.

I gave up and got ready to go to the library to pick up a Star Wars movie for Zach.

I think Zach is going to have to fix supper again because I'm going back to bed now.  I'm so tired of not sleeping and feeling dragged out for most of my life.  Too muggy to knit right now anyway so sleep is about all I feel like doing.

TTFN

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Sleep but not rest

The store equivalent of ZZZquil got me to sleep and kept me there but I woke up with that sleeping pill hangover I hate so much.  I ended up going back down a couple of hours after I woke up and slept hard for 2 more hours.  And I'm still just as tired as I always am.

At least I got sleep though.

I had meds to pick up so I went to the store today and picked up a few things.  We've been watering the outdoor plants with runoff from the shower but I think the blueberry bushes are toast.  They don't look like they will ever come back.  Zach's shower runoff will go toward the grape vine today.  It's getting brown leaves and all the grapes have died out before they ever got ripe.

I'm on the last sleeve of the baby sweater.  I looked up some more patterns on Ravelry for sport yarn and I've got some lovely christening gowns that I can convert to dresses in my pattern stash.  They're challenging but fun.  I'm ready to get back to working with worsted weight in the evenings since the night time temps are down to about 60 now.

Zach is going to cook supper tonight and I only have one load of clothes to wash and stick in the dryer so I'm getting an early start on bed time.  I hope I sleep tonight but if I can't I'll use the herbal stuff.  I don't want to use the other stuff on a regular basis.

Maybe tomorrow I'll be more energetic and at least able to get some minor things done.

TTFN

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

More sleep deprivation

I've gotten less than 10 hours of sleep in the last four days so I've had a lot of down time, lying in bed trying to sleep but not succeeding.  I even took some herbal sleeping pills last night and couldn't keep even keep my eyes shut.  I tried reading myself senseless but that didn't work either.

As a result I've gotten absolutely nothing done for the past couple of days.

If I can sleep tonight I'll have something to write about tomorrow but as it stands now...all I can talk about is how I'm not sleeping.

TTFN

Monday, July 9, 2012

Fibromyaglia and hot days don't work well together

Last week in addition to the heat, I was battling the pain and fatigue that goes with fibromyalgia...always exacerbated by temperature extremes.  Not being able to sleep from the pain has been a regular occurrence for me and while I do have nights I can sleep, they are the exception rather than the rule.  No wonder I am so tired all the time.

Now that the weather has settled down, I kind of hoped the pain would, too.  It didn't keep me awake last night...the dog did that with his insistence on numerous trips outdoors to investigate the skunk that seems to have taken up residence in our neighborhood (and that aroma is enough to wake you up anyway.)  But today I'm hurting.  I've taken some ibuprofen, which did nothing at all, but I save my tramadol for night time.  Mostly.  I will take one after I eat supper in the hopes of calming the raging tides of pain.  Okay maybe not raging but certainly uncomfortable enough that I'm shifting in my chair trying to find a position that doesn't hurt.

I took an hour nap today but had to make a trip to the library, the credit union and a quick stop at the store for a few items.  I'm getting better and keeping the tab down at the store but I need to do better.

Macaroni and cheese tonight...homemade, of course.  I love the new oven with a door that shuts.  I just need to get used to the knobs so I can turn the correct one each time.  They're backwards from the old stove so it's taking some getting used to.

I"m still working away on the baby sweater.  I'm knitting a pattern that calls for fingering weight in sport weight yarn and making adjustments as I go.  The sleeve didn't fit so I ripped it back and am trying something different.  I hope it works because I'm getting a bit tired of the sweater now.  I also plan on getting back to some projects I've got in various bags all over the house.  I need to finish a few things or rip them back to the beginning.  I'm running out of room.

Spending less time online is working out well.  I'm just reading while I cook supper and sometimes while I eat it.  I"m getting more done even if I'm doing it at a slow rate due to the pain and fatigue.  I didn't get the clothes out on the line and will dry them in the dryer but we're talking quarters rather than dollars so it's okay to use it now and then when I can't handle the physical activity of hanging clothes out on the line.  It's mostly having to tramp down to the basement and carry a heavy load of wet clothes up but I need to work on that.

Supper appears to be done so I'm off to turn everything off and hope it cools down in here fast.  It's not as hot as last week but it got up in the low 90s today.  Not a joy at all, but not the brutal week we had before.

TTFN

Saturday, July 7, 2012

On the other side of the heat wave

We survived it but it was a thoroughly miserable experience without central air conditioning.  The a/c in my bedroom wasn't even cooling off the bedroom much, let alone the rest of the house.  I tried for one day to cool off the house with the a/c on high I managed to keep the dining room at 85F.  Tom had some comforters on the floor and napped there but at night moved back upstairs.  At one point during the week the upstairs temp was 105F.  Which is what the outdoor temps were so...

We had at least 4 days with a heat index of over 103, two when the heat index was 105.  Zach and I stopped in to split a breakfast at a restaurant and their a/c wasn't working very well at all.  They had fans but unless they actually were blowing on you, you were sweating. 

Mostly I just stayed home and closed off the bedroom with the curtains and stayed right next to the a/c.  Hannibal and Professor also slept right next to it since my bed is butted right up against the window.  Occasionally it wasn't cool enough in my room so Professor went to Zach's room, which you can actually shut off from the rest of the house.

I didn't cook because the one time I tried, the temp in the kitchen went up 10 degrees.  No kidding.  The past two days the temps in the dining room were at 90.  I can't imagine what it was like for people who can't afford a/c at all.

As a result of the heat, I stayed offline most of the week, going on occasionally to check email and pay bills.  I found I really liked not being online much.  I knitted, read, worked on other crafts and today got a lot of work done on laundry and cleaning.  I'm going to make this the standard from now on.  I'm only online now while supper is cooking.  Then I'm off and back to watching my dvr stuff and knitting on a baby sweater. 

I"m drying the white clothes in the dryer today because socks and underwear get so stiff and feel uncomfortable when dried on the line but from now on the rest of the clothes will be hung out.  We've got to go into frugal lockdown now.  We've used up nearly all the financial cushion since the first of the year and I just can't afford to go any lower.  Groceries and utilities are the only things we've got that are flexible so from now on, no snacks and use only fans when we're in the room with them.  And meals cooked from scratch, clothes out on the line and fewer trips to town.

And now that supper is done...I'm off.

TTFN

Monday, July 2, 2012

Holy mackeral!

It was only supposed to be 91F today so I hadn't planned on using the a/c but by noon the heat index was 96 so I broke down and turned it on.  I'm only using the low setting so the temps in the dining room are still at 83 but it's the best I can do.  If we find it nearly impossible to afford a/c what are the people who are in worse shape than us doing?

I've been lethargic all day, taking a nap next to the a/c this afternoon.  Some knitting on dishcloths but nothing more than that.  We're heading out to the library and store in a few minutes.  If it's going to be worse tomorrow I don't want to get out at all and I have something due back at the library tomorrow.  Better return it today than not make it out tomorrow.

Whatever is for supper will involve little cooking.  I don't want to heat up the house in any way.  Maybe something microwaveable.  By 1 a.m. when Tom gets home it won't be so bad but right now it's just too hot to cook.

I'm going to pick up some baby yarn so I can work on a baby sweater.  I'm just in the mood for making baby clothes.  My daughter is pregnant and I need to come up with something for the baby but I'd like to knit something for the other two as well.  They lived in Southern California all their lives and never needed anything knitted beyond a light baby blanket so I'd like to knit something them once they move to Connecticut.  I'd rather use wool for the older kids rather than acrylic though.  And the thought of touching wool right now doesn't sit well with me.  I've got some singles I need to dye and some shetland wool that needs to be scoured and carded as well as spun but that's just not going to happen this week.  I hope we'll be done with this unseasonable heat after this week but I'm afraid we won't be and we'll have to dig into savings to pay for the a/c.  I hate this.

Well, off to get ready to leave.  I dread walking out the door.  For some reason the dog wants outside to lie in the shade but it's really cooler in here.  I think the a/c scares him for some reason although he took a nap with me and lay next to the a/c as well. 

TTFN

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Mosquitoes are out to get me

Not much sleep last night but not because of the heat.   The mosquitoes are just not letting us sleep much at all.  Tom tried to sleep downstairs last night but seemed to prefer the heat to the mosquitoes.  I have tried to squeegee the puddle down in the basement but it's just too far to the drain and too much of an uphill climb to make much progress so I bought a shop vac today.  Not a big one and it was on sale, but this is getting unbearable so I had to do something.

I also got some indoor citronella candles, too.  They seem impervious to any kind of DEET or insect spray so I don't know what the candles will do.  And they don't seem to mind the fans on high either.  Major super-mosquitoes apparently.

I did get some knitting done last night.  The temps eventually dropped to the low 60s overnight so it would have been comfortable sleeping if the damned mosquitoes had left me alone.

Professor wasn't feeling well.  He wouldn't drink any water and then started coughing. I noticed that when he did try to drink he was behaving strangely so I gave him a baby aspirin in bologna.  Within a half hour he was drinking water just fine...gulping it, in fact.  I suspect his throat was sore.  He seems fine today.  No coughing and drinking lots of water.

I didn't use the a/c today but have two window fans pointing outside and that is helping but Tom wanted to bake chicken today so the oven is on and I can feel it in the dining room.  Still, don't want to use the a/c until it's necessary and from now on, only to cool off the bedroom.  It's just too expensive to try and cool the whole house off with a room-sized a/c.

I've decided I need to take some time off from the computer...although not a vacation...more like I need to set limits. I have a lot to get done and now that I have some miniscule energy coming back, I want to use it for good instead of evil.  :)

Off to move to the bedroom to get away from the heat from the stove.

TTFN