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March 12, 2005
awake.
several times in the last week i've awakened at an unusually early hour. i'd guess i'm waking up around 6:30, which is what time sunrise begins... that means it's actually still dark when i first awaken. and, not surprisingly, it's cold as fuck, too.
i think it's the cold waking me up. i have flannel sheets, wool blankets, a down comforter... i don't think bedding is the problem, but maybe i'll try stealing the sleeping bag away from mo tonight. (seems so mean though!)
i set my space heater on a timer last night thinking it would be running for a while before i woke up, but not so... it came on at 7:30 (timers are not really an exact science... i was aiming for 6:30). maybe i should set it for 5:30, although that starts to beg the question of whether i should just leave it on all night. i don't much like the idea of sleeping with a space heater on, however.
i guess if i lived without heat for a long time, i'd acclimate to it completely. i can already tell that, once i leave bed, morning is easier. i can get breakfast going immediately instead of feeling like i need to drink tea for a while before i can even move around.
sarah has been so kind as to loan me her kerosene heater. i tried it for a while this morning, and despiting having a window open, i started to feel ill and had to shut it off. today is shaping up into a fairly fine day, though, so i probably won't need a lot of heat during the day. plus, i'll be baking a cake, and that will warm the place up.
:|:
last night i did a little financial analysis for the last six months. where does my money go, exactly? the answer should come as no surprise: car repairs, shoes, and clothes. in approximately that order. at least, as far as i can track with my credit card. food might emerge in the top 3 if i went through my debit card statements, but it's fairly tedius work, and i just wanted a general picture of where money is going.
despite his expensive problems, spacepod is still costing me less than a completely trouble-free new car would cost. repairs do not come even close to equalling a car payment, maintenance and insurance is the same, and of course taxes are lower. now the camper, on the other hand, is a fucking money pit. although the repairs are not all that expensive, any money that goes into the camper is money i don't need to spend. i haven't reached the point of saying that i have to get rid of her, but that could happen sometime this year if i feel i can't whittle away my debt agressively enough. she's not costing me a penny right now, but if i'm not going to use her, i might as well sell her, because the money from that sale would be quite helpful. well, if i even could sell her. i might be the only person in the country insane enough to buy a rusty diesel westy. seriously.
ok, enough about that. time to get baking.
Posted by lisa at March 12, 2005 10:13 AM | TrackBack
Comments
so sorry the kerosene made you sick! was it the fuel that was already in the heater? That was kinda stale, you might do better burning it off outside and then using fresh fuel.
if it was fresh fuel, then maybe the smell of kerosene is just not for you :( I don't mind it -- to me it smells like being warm.
Posted by: Sarah on March 12, 2005 12:31 PM
it was the stale fuel-- i should have taken your advice! the funny thing was that i couldn't really smell it, so i am not sure what was making me feel so weird. maybe my threshold is just kind of low.
i don't mind the smell of diesel, and diesel and kerosene are similar, i think. i know kerosene is one of the fuels you can run a diesel on in an emergency.
oh well. i was preoccupied with the cake today and didn't burn it off outside, maybe this evening or tomorrow. monday looks to be cold and rainy so i should be ready to try it again then.
Posted by: lisa on March 12, 2005 04:28 PM
Timer on the heater -- very clever. I think I'll suggest that to a friend of mine who uses auxiliary space heaters.
Posted by: Phil on March 13, 2005 08:29 PM
ok, so a) your comment won't post right away because i have to approve it first and b) you might get a server error but your comment probably posted anyway and c) previewing doesn't work so i've removed the preview button.