Plans, derailed

So in the midst of putting up plastic over our windows yesterday afternoon, we ended up taking one of our cats to the emergency room, which ended up taking 5 hours in total. He's doing well now - it was a recurring incident of the urinary problem he had last week, but we wanted to get it taken care of sooner rather than later. So the rest of the windows may not get done for awhile - it's really hard to do without decent light, and since we aren't usually around together during the day... we probably won't finish this project until the weekend.

And the plastic has already fallen down from the window in the basement bathroom. This is most likely a combination of the humidity and adhering the tape to the glossy bathroom paint. Sigh.

The heat is on, and it's no longer included.

So my first gas bill came on Friday. I knew it would be a bit of a shock, after living in an apartment with heat included for nearly 6 years...and waking up to toasty, clanky radiators every morning... but I didn't realize just how high it would be. Umm, $281, yikes. As a result, this weekend's projects include: 1) Readjusting the thermostat, 2) Putting up that plastic stuff on the windows.

So far, we have plasticked up 3 windows in the basement, and Adam already says he feels a difference in the bathroom. We're about to install it on the octagonal living room windows, as that has always been the coldest spot in the house. So for about $12 worth of stuff, if our gas bill goes down next month, I'll be very happy.

What do people keep their thermostats at? When I was growing up, and to this day, my parents keep theirs at 74 degrees all day and night. I used to think was normal and got into many an argument over temperature with former roommates, who I decided were just maniacal ice queens. Now that I'm paying to heat a 3 story bungalow, maybe they weren't so crazy after all. I am trying to go a few degrees colder now, keeping it at 68 or 69 during the day and 66 at night.

I will report back on how all this works out.