Around Here
How about a random gathering of thoughts and things that are happening around here?
Reading: Memorial by Bryan Washington
Knitting: Pink Socks. And The Shift.
Watching: Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist. And reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond when I need to just veg.
Playing: Tetris. Way too much Tetris.
Missing: My blogversary. Yep, it was January 31 and I forgot to post about it. 16 years of Carole Knits, can you believe it?
Considering: What do to about our current heat situation. We need to replace our furnace but aren’t sure whether to stick with oil or change to natural gas. At the same time we are thinking it might be time to remove our beloved wood stove and convert to a gas log fireplace. Doing that opens up a whole lot of options for our living room . . . demolishing the big brick hearth, determining if we can open up a closed fireplace front and chimney for a gas insert, or even just converting that to a traditional wood burning fireplace and putting baseboard heat in this room. And all of that means new flooring and sheet rock. It’s a lot, and every component comes from a different sort of expert or vendor. Decision fatigue is keeping me from moving forward on this.
Taking: iPhone photos ever day. The 100 Day Project has been a good catalyst for getting me back in the habit of taking photos and I’m getting to know the iPhone 12 in the process. I’ve interspersed a few of my favorites throughout this post.
Growing: Herbs in an Aerogarden. Kym posted about getting one and I contemplated it for about half a second before I ordered one myself. The basil and dill are sprouting already!
Appreciating: The lack of drama that has taken hold when it comes to politics. I realize this may change with the start of the impeachment trial but seriously, I love getting up in the morning and not finding half a dozen upsetting updates from the NY Times on my phone.
Baking: with Jackie on Friday afternoons. So far we have made banana bread (his favorite, I think), brownies, and chocolate chip cookies. I think this week we may try muffins. He loves to help in the kitchen, adding ingredients, and he puts his little hand on my arm to “help” me when I do everything from stirring to measuring. It’s adorbs.
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Lovely random thoughts! Choices are almost always good, but too many tends to make things too complicated (and maybe expensive). I hope you reach a decision about your heating that you’re both happy with. And keep baking with Jackie; he is adorable, even with his silly face!
I feel you on the decision fatigue thing. We need a whole house reno, most of it not huge but every room needs work. We’re resigned to moving out for expediency and our sanity, but so many decisions. Current procrastination fueled by the pandemic. That wasn’t really helpful, was it?
I am with you on the lack of drama in the news. It is actually a huge weight removed from my life! I did not realize how stressful it was…until it wasn’t! Lovely random thoughts! Your baking might have brought a tear to my eye… what a lovely thing!
The lack of drama has been a real gift for me. You are right, it is so nice to get up and not think immediately about what chaos has been sown overnight just for the sake of chaos. I would like an aerogarden to make salad lettuce, but so far have resisted. Please keep us updated on your progress. Keep making those memories with Jackie!
Enjoy your blog!
Our gas fireplace is one of the best things in our lives right now!
Fire every night if only for half an hour. Or in the morning for coffee. Or for cozy afternoon knitting.
Instant on, instant off. Ours even has a remote control.
Gas heat versus baseboard, gas let’s you filter the air. Cleaner.
Good luck, I’ll be watching for the results!
I love that you are baking with Jackie … have you seen those adorable videos with the dad having his daughter Rosie help him cook different things? You are making some of the best memories for him! Sorry to hear that you have to replace the furnace, those decisions sound so overwhelming. I know you and Dale will figure it out soon enough.
Love these random things and that chair is fab! Our gas insert is truly the best thing we’ve ever done. It throws plenty of heat and brings some great ambiance! He-lllloooo Jackie!
There’s something to be said for replacing fuel oil: constant availability! I’ll never forget those times when I was a kid that we ran out of fuel oil (forgetful or couldn’t afford? Don’t know.).
I do know that my father-in-law who worked for the power company was persuaded to go to all-electric-heating. It became prohibitively expensive over the years. He could leave his house in Illinois unheated, having emptied all the drains and put in antifreeze, and live in southern Texas for the winter for the same money he would have spent to heat the Illinois house!
Ack! Good luck with that big decision! It’s so challenging when there’s such inherent scope creep with a project like that. While it’s cosmetic and not critical for us, we’re in the midst of something similar with our kitchen island. It’s become such a beast we can hardly get past Stage 1 of discussion! I hope your current set-up at least gets you through the colder months to keep costs as affordable as possible.
Is amazing that we got so used to all the drama that now things seem downright boring, isn’t it?
I love that Jackie loves to help you bake. Sounds like you have a little sous chef in the making!
Oh, my. . . we are experiencing extreme decision fatigue as we re-design our basement. I’m to the point where I just want someone else to do it for me. . . And I love Baking with Jackie! XO (My aerogarden is happily sprouting, too! I love it!)
That Jackie is growing and continues to be adorable. How fun to be in the kitchen with him. Baking is such a sensory experience and fun for all. Your home project sounds like a big one. I can see how decision fatigue would be a factor. It definitely would be so for me.
Oh man, Jackie’s adorbs, even when he’s making a funny face!
Ugh, I get your decision fatigue. I always think about when we were looking at flooring and how hard it was to choose a design… and then there were a million colors to choose from, too! (We ended up going with maple! One color to choose from!!)
I’m about to start reading Memorial. How do you like it?
We switched to natural gas about a decade ago when we got our new furnace. I wish we had added gas to the fireplace, and a gas cooktop at the same time! I guess we could still do that, but it would have been smart to set up for it back then.
(late, sorry) The lack of drama has been life-giving for me. Even in the midst of an Impeachment Trial, I know I can read the news, instead of following Twitter, to find out what’s happening. it is LIFE GIVING. and now totally shifting gears – how do you choose what to bake with Jackie?