Brrr!

It was 6 degrees F at dinner, and 3 degrees when I left work to come home. I had an errand to run at dinner, which I canned because it was Too Darn Cold. (I'd last no more than a day in a Minneapolis winter.)

However, Operation Lower My Energy Bills is going well. I lowered my thermostat to 65 degrees last night, and didn't really notice it. The cats were fine, even Harlee. I forgot to lower it when I went to work, but did so when I came home for dinner. My thermostat appears to be programmable, so I'm going to see if I can dig up some instructions for it on the Internet. I also left fewer lights on for the cats.

I've been leafing through a vegetarian cookbook, and it has a bunch of recipes that sound good to me. But I'm going to make some fish and chips, and some baked mac and cheese this weekend. I'm trying to eat up what I've got. Next weekend, we have a three-day weekend because of MLK day, and that would be a good time to do a bunch of cooking. I forgot to mention that my mom gave me two packages of scone mix that I want to try.

I'm tired. I'm glad that it's the weekend. I worked a Wednesday - Friday schedule this week, and Monday - Friday next week, and then I'm going to switch to my Sunday - Thursday schedule because we'll be open on Sunday. (I could have worked a Sunday - Thursday schedule even though we're closed this weekend and next weekend, but I decided not to.)

Dryer Balls

I'm trying to decide whether to get dryer balls. (I had never heard of them before, but they were mentioned in an article about frugal living.) On the one hand, my dryer takes forever to dry clothes because it emits little heat, and dryer balls are supposed to help. On the other hand, I'm trying to limit my spending. I'm also looking into making my own laundry detergent, but the spending part still applies.

I'm also looking into ways to cut my spending.

Right now, I'm about to eat lunch and drink coffee. I hope that will jumpstart me to get stuff done around here.

Added: And today, I'm going to remember that it's NOT Friday, and I will talk to my mom at the scheduled time.

Cat Litter Bucket

Does anyone know if the big buckets of cat litter (35 pounds or so) are the same size as a five gallon bucket? I need a five gallon bucket with a lid.

Odds and Ends

I'm trying to remember to shut off appliances that I'm not using. Usually, I leave my computer on while I'm home, but today I shut it off after I used it earlier. However, I made fish and chips while I was talking to my mom, and brought the food upstairs, assuming that the computer was on. I ate the food while the computer was booting.

Mom is still doing well. Her numbers (hemoglobin, platelets, and white blood cell count) have been good. So that's a load off my mind.

I did order the dryer balls. We'll see how they work.

Not sure why I'm tired, but I am. I think that an early night is in order.