It's really winter up here now--yesterday and today temperatures have been around the -40 mark. Thursday is usually laundry, but my normally infalliable 1988 Toyota Tercel station wagon, the Inconvenience, ain't goin' nowheres today. The car was plugged in for about two and a half hours, and still no luck--just lots of noises that didn't sound like they were doing anyone any good. I'm quite surprised; last winter I never had any trouble with the Inconvenience. Although last winter using the car was much more optional, as I was living in a room in the hotel where I worked, and everything I could possibly need with the exception of groceries was right down the hall. Now that I am in an adorable little cabin, I am forced out of the house much more often. The laundromat--and my boyfriend's house--are both about ten minutes out of town, so the car is getting pressed into use much more often. I am already planning to walk out to my boyfriend's house more often (about 45 minutes on a packed-down but not plowed trail along the highway) and suspect that I should begin being prepared to hike out to the laundromat with my big packsack instead of driving. It looks like the boyfriend will be coming to my rescue this week. He got his car started and, provided the transmission wants to go, I'll be able to use his old beast to run out to the laundromat and back. As much as I hate driving his car, there is no way I can survive without laundry. My work clothes are a mess.
This morning I met with friends for breakfast and ran some errands (well-bundled up, I assure you), and meant to head out to take care of the laundry and visit Ben in the early afternoon. When the lack of ignition derailed those plans, I got sucked into the vortex of the couch and started internetting. Ignoring, of course, all the chores I could do around the house. In the process of my lookin' and clickin', I found a couple of blogs I like. Aesthetic Outburst, Door Sixteen and The Vintage Cabin have been great eye-candy on a bleak day. They've actually almost guilted me into working on all the things around my place that need doing--but only almost. I am still basking in the glory of a finished project:
It's not exciting to look at but hopefully will help keep the heating bill down. I covered the back door (currently unused), as well as the bedroom and bathroom windows with sheets of pink styrofoam insulation (which is, yes, almost the same colour as my towels; they used to be a lovely smoky purple when I bought them almost ten years ago, but in the interval have faded and I doubt I will replace them until they are worn to shreds). The door definitely needed to be covered, and as the curtains on the windows were never so much as shifted out of the way, covering the windows as well just seemed logical. I may cut a peep-hole into the bedroom window if it gets claustrophobic-feeling, but for now I don't mind. There is this consolation, at least:
The Magical Mystery Plant has put out new blooms (again!), and is a welcome touch of life and colour. I have no idea what this plant is, but it seems to be thriving under my lacksadaisical care.
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