2011-02-03 - 9:18 p.m.

My water bill arrived.

For all those who take hot water heaters for granted, please don't.

I don't.

I REALLY apprechiate the wonder of pleantiful hot water instantly available which is really not at an exorbiant cost!

I never would have thought about how much energy it would take to heat the water in my dishwasher if I didn't fill it with HOT water to begin with.

The month without a hot water heater consisted of taking an exorbiant amount of time to babysit the dishwasher which I had to manually fill with water at every change of cycle, and then wait as the heating element for the "Sanitize" mode heated it up.

I am sure I will ALSO have a rather inflated electric bill due to the stove and dishwasher being used to heat water that month.

The irony is that the $140 that it cost to pay the differential of the labor charges that the Insurance Company insisted had to be paid upfront before the plumber would do the work would have cost LESS than the inflated energy and water bills!

However the thing is that when one is living paycheck to paycheck there is not a buffer to cover such. I had to wait until I had that $140 available.

Every month I try to follow that great fiscal advice of "Pay Yourself First"

I mean I have GIVEN others that advise.

Its frustrating as I have an autodraft into a savings account yet every month there is SOMETHING that comes up so that I have not yet been able to actually create any nest egg.

I just can't wait for there to be a moment in life where I DON'T HAve an "Emergency" which requires the "Emergency Fund."

Really... Life has been so full of those moments that the emergencys have regularly arisen and been regularly handled as gracefully as possible, yet I still haven't been able to create that fund!

Ce la vie...

I did decide this year to go on that hiking trip which was nice. The one thing I did for me. My friend ( I really can't say "boyfriend" but he sure acts like it, despite the fact I only really want a date for a few hours about once a week and DO NOT want to be serious... It is what it is...)
Anyway, my gentleman friend did offer a Christmas Gift of going on a weekend hiking trip. I decided to graciously accept as I recognized that it IS good for him to join me on the hikes. He has quit smoking and is getting in shape and I know it makes him feel better about himself. I mean, so I am not madly in love, but this man is VERY GOOD to me and is a solid friend there to help out so why not accept that friendship?

I did however turn down an offer for a weekend away ( which I am sure he was hoping to be a ROMANTIC weekend away) just before Valentine's Day. I am really just not interested. Dinner for a few hours will be fine. Traveling with a group of friends on a hiking trip is comfortable. Frankly I was a little disappointed because I would honestly have preferred to travel ALONE. I mean I just need that ALONE time more than anything else.

But I was not going to be able to go alone, and this nice man wanted to not only offer me the gift but also was interested in sharing the experience. Now the cool thing is that he offered the gift making it CLEAR That he did not EXPECT to go. He was going to give me the gift of sending me off as my Christmas gift WITHOUT the expectation of an invite to come along.

It was the organizer and the other hikers who said " Invite him along"

So I admit I would have felt way too SELFISH to accept such a gift and NOT invite him along!

We DID have a marvelous trip. It was rainy and yucky out but it was still so good to get away for the weekend and get the exercise and be outdoors.

I actually love running in the rain. I would have liked to have run in the AM, but I didn't have any pants to run in! I brought shorts but it was too cold for that. I am on a hunt for a decent pair of winter pants for winter running. Can't afford them new (even on sale) so have to wait to hit E-Bay or second hand stores eventually. Just not priority yet. I got by with long johns and layering with a big pair of borrowed sweat pants that are huge on me. The only problem is however that for winter running I do get sweaty and then as it is cold the cooling can then cause one to get chilled very quickly so hypothermia is a concern.

When I ran the past few times I again had that extremity poor circulation trouble. My toes and fingers were SO COLD even though the rest of me was hot. So I need to find better socks and gloves and under layer to whisk away moisture for running in the winter as well as better pants-- eventually.

The funny thing is that I stopped at a store to see what they had and I found an AMAZING pair of TEVA sandles on clearance that I couldn't resist. Figures summer items were what were on the deep discount rack this time of year.

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