Rainy Day Fun

A big winter storm rolled into So Cal overnight.  The rain is coming down in sheets and I have been looking forward to a day with nothing to do.  I am not even going to clean the house, which requires a lot of effort on my part!  Phil is spending the morning up at his dad's house, helping out with a project there.  So it's just me and the kids.  We are plotting to play games by the fireplace, eat some yummy treats, and just have fun together.  As always, the hard part for me is the noise.  The noise, noise, noise, noise!  Yes, I often feel like the Grinch, constantly shushing the kids.  But today, I am going to try my hardest to not let it bother me and just enjoy the day.

Along the lines of noise, besides my ultra-sensitivity to it (and inability to distinguish what others are saying when there is background noise or other people talking at the same time), our house has a lot of echo.  The living room has vaulted ceilings and the whole house has laminate flooring.  Despite living here for almost two years, we have very little on the walls and just blinds on our old, single-pane windows.  So I went on J.C. Penney's website this morning and found some nice, insulated curtains.  Hoping to get over there later this afternoon or tomorrow to check them out.  We had a guy come over last weekend to give us an estimate on new double-pane, energy-efficient windows.  We're looking at a ballpark of $10,000 to $15,000 - just not in the budget right now.  That's not even the construction involved in cutting down the size of some the walls o' windows we have that I would like to trade in for more solid wall space.  So, I am thinking even a $1000 investment in good, insulated curtains will go a long way in cutting our energy bill AND the echo in the house.  But I think I can get away with spending maybe even half that number and be happy with the results.

Wish me luck in Monopoly!