Being warm, football playoffs

Oh the joys of being warm! It is so nice to be able to have a warm house again. We finally managed to get the wall heater installed on Wednesday. It's so nice to wake up in the morning to a warm house, no need to fear that the fire has gone out in the night. This is something that everyone takes for granted these days. After all, there are very few people in this country who do not have some type of heating system installed in their homes. The concept of heating with wood is so foreign to many that they cannot even conceive it. Don't get me wrong, I love the smell of a wood fire and I think that a fire speaks to something primal in all of us, however, heating with wood also has many downsides. First and foremost is the work involved with heating with wood, especially if you cut your own firewood. If you don't cut your own wood and have to purchase it, the cost associated with buying firewood is quite high. Then there is the splitting, the stacking and the handling of the wood. Of course let's not forget the mess associated with burning wood. You have extra dust, ashes to dispose of, ever present wood chips, splinters, bark and other wood debris. On top of that, when you heat with wood, it doesn't matter how lousy you feel, you still have to maintain the fire and your supply of wood to feed the fire. Otherwise you will be cold. No going to bed for hours to sleep off whatever ails you, because if you did that you'd wake up to a very cold house. Especially if you were the only one home to tend the fire. We will probably still use our wood burning stove to supplement the gas heater, since we have several cords of wood that we had purchased in the spring. However, gas will now be our primary heat source. Hallelujah!

Our football team played their first playoff game last night. We won 36-6. Since we won the first round we will now go to the second round. Next week's game will be at home also, but I understand if we win that one the third round game will be away. Far away. About 4 hours I think they said. Oh, joy (heavy sarcasm here). I'm thrilled for our boys, and especially for all of our seniors, but I am not thrilled at the prospect of having to travel so far for a football game. It will mean that we will have to leave very early and so I will probably only be able to work a half day that day. That makes things hard for us financially. Since my income is the only one right now, we need every penny that I can bring home and losing 4 hours will hurt. Of course if we have to travel that far there is no telling what time we will get back home. That means that I will probably not get much sleep. Since Saturday is just another day at work for me that means I will be a zombie that day. I am also just ready for the football season to be over with. Even Jacqueline said something to that effect. She is eager for concert season to begin.

Since Jeremy doesn't have class on Fridays he rode with me to work yesterday so he could fill out applications. We are hopeful that he will be able to get a job soon, so that he can pay his own expenses. Putting gas in two vehicles and paying for his food is really hard right now. If he is able to find a job it will help. He also needs some tools for the course he is taking and that is another expense we can't afford right now.