New Year's Resolutions

Okay, back to the resolutions. How will I keep track if not on this blog?

I've added another resolution: stop biting my nails. I've been chewing on my fingers for 21 YEARS. I don't know if this year will be any different but it is truly an ugly habit and I hate my hands because of it. So if I can keep them polished and pretty it might deter me from gnawing on them. It's worth a shot. It's so embarrassing.

Okay, back to resolution #2. Finances. I was pretty proud of myself on New Years Day because after lots of research I realized the only way to keep my drafty sliding glass door to the balcony less, er, drafty, was to hang heavy curtains over it. So I looked around for curtain options and pulled out an old sheet for a lining, but then didn't have any fabric to go over that and thought maybe I should go to the fabric store and buy some heavy fabric for the top of the curtain. I hemmed and hawed and made MHM get up about 14,000 times to help me hold various pieces of fabric over the door. I sat down in my big closet where all the crafty stuff is stored and looked through all of the fabric I have (there's a lot, bins of it) and didn't really find anything suitable except for some white flannel but that really wasn't doing it for me. I leaned back and looked up... at my stack of blankets. And there on top is a sage green quilted bedspread I'm not using because it's winter and I have a big fat fluffy (almost too warm) duvet on my bed. BINGO! Off we went to the hardware store for a heavy duty curtain rod and some curtain rings with clips on them. For about $30 I have the entire door covered floor to ceiling. Yes, it is dark in my living room right now, but I can pull the blanket to the side when I need to. And then it gets so cold I close it right back up again.

So, what does this have to do with finances? #1, it will save loads on my heating bills. That room is always cold but it is also where I spend the most time. The difference in the temperature is noticeable. #2, I refrained from buying new fabric by using what was just sitting around. #3, come summer I can use the same thing to keep the heat out. #4, the blanket is just clipped to the curtain rod, so it will be usable again.

Overall I could probably have done better if I had waited for the stuff I needed to come to me at a lower price. However, this is the South and once again my Fair City is under going a serious cold snap. My apartment building is just not built for this kind of weather, so I was facing a heating emergency. As I was reading about the different options available (weather-stripping, covering the door in plastic, both of which would have rendered the door unusable for the rest of the season, and draft-dodgers, which I already made a few months ago) finally came across curtains. When I lived in London, in a very old, very drafty Victorian home, there were big heavy curtains all over the place. Both the front and back doors in the hallway had heavy lined velvet curtains (not nearly as fancy as it sounds, they looked as old as the house was), as did most of the windows. There were space heaters and bed warmers and hot water bottles all over the place. I think the reason the English are addicted to hot baths and tea is to stay warm.

So, financial/craft project to start the new year and save some money! I also picked up some really good CFL bulbs at Lowe's, the cast a yellow light instead of that awful glaring white you see so often with flourescents.