The One with the Heat that WFMW and a Blizzard too (only it didn't come with Reese's...)

I have a simple but wonderful money saving winter lifestyle.

We keep our heat set at 62.

This is the lowest temperature that visitors will tolerate.

We close off the vents in all of our bedrooms.

And keep their doors closed.

We then proceed to live in the office/den/living room.

With a small ceramic heater.

That can be set as high as 85.

And this baby cranks!

The whole room is toasty warm within 5 minutes.

And it keeps the temperature regulated for as long as it's turned on.

I then take it with us into our frigid bedroom.

And we're warm all night.

Believe me, last winter we had the heat set at 62.

After we received a $300 gas bill.

But we had no space heater.

And my hands were icicles all winter long.

I couldn't move I was so cold.

Thus, the $25 Sunbeam heater.

Invest in one (or three) for your own home!

(check out We are THAT Family for more great ideas!)

And here's something I'd like to mount on my wall.

The HP TouchScreen 600.

BooMama is giving one away.

I KNOW!

Can you believe it!

That would be crazy sweet!!

Kevin got called for his first subbing job yesterday morning.

We were still in bed at 7.

Unusual for us, but he had a stomach ache.

The phone rings at 7:02.

The automated phone service says "report at 7:05."

WHAT?!

He launched into high gear.

And had showered, dressed, grabbed his lunch and his sub paperwork and was out the door in 16 minutes.

Impressive.

The school office was quite impressed with how quickly he arrived.

And many of the students ended up telling him they really wanted to have him as a sub again.

How awesome is that?

I was so proud.

I ran to the grocery store an hour before he was expected to return home.

As I drove down M50 I encountered miles and miles of big yellow school buses.

Packed with high schoolers.

"He must be getting home about now," I say to my mom who was on the cellphone with me.

"I guess this is the beginning of the rest of my life."

*smile*

And seriously, leaving at 7 to get home by 2:15 is not a bad way to make a living.

I'm loving it.

Especially compared to the last year's schedule.

Leave by 6.

Home by 9 or 10.

That sucked.

But I'm so happy for him.

And just plain proud of what he's doing.

He's going to make a great high school teacher.

Seriously.

And I'm seriously considering signing up for substitute teaching as well.

It's a great job.

You can turn it down if you want.

It's flexible.

It pays pretty well.

And it'd be fun to get involved.

And people have forever been telling me I'd make a good teacher.

I might focus on the elementary and middle school age though.

I think the high schoolers might intimidate me a little.

I don't know, though.

We'll see.

After Kevin got home I taught a piano lesson.

Then we celebrated his "job" by going out for cheap date.

It was fun.

And we didn't overeat.

That's always good.

Then it was time to hit the road for the 25 minute drive to a middle/high school band concert.

Five of our students were playing.

That auditorium was stinking hot.

But they played wonderfully.

And we were proud!

We were nearly the last people to leave the school at 9:35.

Meaning we'd miss the Biggest Loser finale.

I'd forgotten about it.

Crap.

Enter: the dvr.

Thank you, DVR, for saving my life.

Ok, I admit.

That's a teensy bit dramatic.

But whatever.

As we walked out to car, we noticed a blizzard.

Yes.

A blizzard.

We drove home in what was some of the worst conditions I've seen in a looong time.

Like maybe since we drove to my parents' house Christmas Eve and the 4.5 hour drive took us closer to 9 hours.

I was scared.

As per usual.

But I was so thankful Kevin was driving.

He does very well in snowy conditions.

We made it home in one piece hoping the snow would keep falling through the night.

Not so much.

Green grass greeted us in the morning.

Lame.

But alas, there are at least 5 months of winter left.

And plenty of time to enjoy the snow.

But I have always been of the opinion that if it's going to be this cold, there had better be a bunch of snow on the ground.

But that's just me.