Weather Proofing

So, before I begin with my weather-proofing tutorial, I have to admit that I thought everyone was pulling my leg over this one. It all started when I was telling a coworker how drafty our house was. It was built in the early 1900s and still has the original windows. While they certainly add a certain authenticity and charm, they also let in a ridiculous amount of frigid air. We had a particularly windy day last week and a gust of wind through the crack of the window in my home office blew papers across my desk. Um, yeah, that's bad.

My coworker nonchalantly said, "Why don't you just shrink wrap the windows?" I looked at her dumbly, but not wanting to show my natural Florida ignorance, I just mumbled a reply and walked away. I then called my mom and said, "My coworker just said the weirdest thing. She actually suggested that I shrink wrap the windows. Bizarre, no?" To which she replied, "Oh yeah, we used to do that in Virginia every winter. It works great."

I can't believe that we'd never even heard of this in passing. So, I sent the Irishman to Lowe's and said, "Since everyone else seems to know about this, they should know what you're talking about. I guess." And they did. In fact, he came home with two different products.

The first was the shrink wrap.



The second product was a weather strip that you use to cover slight gaps in the windows. Here's the box.



And here's what it looks like covering the gaps in our windows.



Grey was the only color they had, but if it was white, it would have looked seamless. As it stands, we didn't really care what it looked like as long as it kept the cold air out. One thing to note about the weather striping, make sure that you put it on top of the gap and not in it. You'll notice in the picture above, we needed to use a double strip of it for the first part of the window and a single piece for the second part.

Okay, back to the shrink wrap. This is how it works: First, clean the window sill very well. Then, apply a strip of the double sided tape around the edge of the window (or series of windows) that you want to seal. Next, put the clear material (which looks like Saran Wrap) over the window and trim it so that it's hanging over the edge by a couple of inches.



Don't worry if it's a little loose and wrinkly because the next step is hitting it with the blow dryer. But first, make sure that it's securely stuck to the double sided tape.



Here's the Irishman using the blow dryer on the highest and hottest setting. We actually ran a single piece of plastic across all of the windows that you see because this was the room where the papers were being blown all over the place. Did I mention that the high yesterday was 35 degrees? While that's significantly warmer than a lot of the U.S. right now, us Floridians are shivering in our boots!

Just a couple of users tips:

1. If the window/window sill is particularly cold, you may need to heat the tape with the hair dryer before applying the plastic, otherwise it won't stick.

2. This process is a bit tedious, particularly the first time you try it, so be certain to have any children in a separate room while you're doing it because certainly, expletives will be spoken with reckless abandon.

I'll let you know what the results of this little "Welcome To Winter" experience are, but we're pleased with it so far.

Childhood Phobias

Sleep has been rather elusive in my life lately. Specifically, I don't think I've gotten consistent, solid sleep since February 26, 2006, the date of my positive pregnancy test. Strangely enough, that is also my ex-boyfriend's birthday as well as the date (in 2009) when I received this job offer. Bizarre.

Anyway, the problem is, Parker is (and has always been) a poor sleeper. But you know what? I don't and can't blame Parker for being a bad sleeper because I was a notoriously bad sleeper. I think I was probably 7 or 8 before I consistently stayed in my bed and went to sleep on my own.

As a result, I clearly remember what if feels like to wake up and be alone. And to be afraid. I'm not sure exactly what I was afraid of. Was it a fear of the dark? A fear that my parents wouldn't hear me if aliens decided to abduct me? Or possibly a fear that my brother was lying in wait in my closet until the exact moment that sleep took me before he sprung out to scare the bejesus out of me? While those are all possibilities, the reason didn't really matter. I just remember the fear.

As such, I simply cannot let Parker cry out for me in the night without going in there. I mean, it's not like he's going to need me forever. In fact, in approximately 10 years, I'm going to have to drop him off 3 blocks from school so that he won't be seen with his very uncool mom. I know these things are coming, so for now, I'm chronically sleep deprived so that my little boy can feel safe for just a little while longer.

I also don't buy the argument that I'm making him needy and dependent by responding to his needs. He's just a little boy. He's allowed to need his parents. If he didn't, 3 would be the age of majority and not 18. Besides, my parents held my hand when I needed it and I'm clearly independent and just a bit headstrong. Okay, a lot headstrong. Regardless, I don't think that I was screwed up in that particular department.

Now please excuse me while I go hook myself up to a pot of coffee. Oh, who am I kidding, I'm just going to dip into my canister of NesCafe for the 4th time today.

Salads

While I was visiting my brother in Orlando last weekend, we went to some pretty cool restaurants. As I scanned the menus, I noticed that they offered an awful lot of salads with pretty interesting ingredients. Even though I'm a vegetarian, I almost never order salads as my main course. It's probably because I'm usually still hungry after I finish them due to the lack of protein. These salads, however, had nuts and a variety of cheeses that would probably solve that problem.

I made a mental note to experiment with it and ordered the three-egg omelet filled with veggies and served over home fries (I had just run 13.1 miles after all and I was starving).

So, last night, I decided to make a fancy cafe style salad at home. I started with baby romaine lettuce and added the following:

pecans
walnuts
dried cranberries
1/2 diced apple
golden raisins
onion

I then topped it with an excellent balsamic vinegar (this is one thing that you should definitely splurge on) and extra virgin olive oil. I hit it with some seasoning salt and gave it a taste.

It was rather excellent. I would have given anything for some Gorgonzola or some goat cheese, but I didn't happen to have any at the moment. I made a pretty big salad and I'm happy to report that I wasn't hungry again for 67 minutes. That's pretty remarkable for me.

My new mission this winter is to add one of these ingredient-laden, gourmet salads into my menu daily. They contribute heavily towards my 5 a day goal and I just feel better eating that much green stuff.

OUC Half Marathon - The Run Down

I had been checking the weather updates every 30 minutes for the 24-hour period leading up to the race. It was not looking good. The map of Orlando showed a solid green mass coming into the area on race day. Now, I don't want to sound wimpy, but running in a torrential downpour with the temperature around 55 degrees just didn't sound all that appealing to me.

So, I prayed and it sounded something like this. "Pleeeeeease don't let it be pouring at the starting line. It's okay if it starts raining an hour into it, but pretty, pretty please, don't have it pouring when we're standing at the starting line, okay?"

And you know what? My prayers were answered, although it started raining 30 minutes into the race instead of 60, but beggars can't be choosers, especially when it comes to answered prayers. Actually, other than the slippery roads, the rain wasn't too much of hindrance during the race.

My aching hip, on the other hand, was. We were running in downtown Orlando and they were keeping the runners on the right side of the street (to let traffic pass on the left). Well, after 30 minutes of running on severely sloping roads, my left hip (which was taking the brunt of the pressure) wasn't too happy with me. So, I scooted over as close to the middle of the road as I could and was constant aware that a text-messaging driver could take me out at any time. Talk about killing my runner's buzz.

I was actually ahead of pace for the first 7 miles (which took me about an hour and 10 minutes). Just as I was thinking that I should probably pull back to save my legs, I got a sharp cramp right under my diaphragm, which was making breathing quite painful. Things were definitely not looking good at this point. One of the necessities of running long distances is that you retain some ability to drift off into daydreaming, otherwise, running for more than 2 hours feels exactly like you'd think it would. Painful.

But, on this particular day, I would apparently get no respite because that lovely, sharp cramp decided to accompany for my last 6 miles, which ended up taking me longer than the first 7 miles did. I reverted back to my marathon training and starting taking one mile at a time. It was a battle the entire last hour, but naturally, quitting wasn't an option. That's not to say that it didn't enter my mind, with a whole other host of vile and nasty thoughts about the weather, my traitorous hip, my blasted muscle cramp and the city of Orlando in general. But, you push those thoughts out of your mind and you simply tell yourself this, "It won't kill you, so just get it done."

Besides, my speedy brother was waiting for me at the finish line. In the rain. Hungry and cold, so I had to stick it out and get to him (and a hot shower) as soon as I could manage. So, as I limped and hobbled my way through the city streets, one mile melted into the next and finally, the finish line was near. So, I stood up straighter, tried to pull together some semblance of proper running form and finished as strong as I could. Truth be told, it wasn't a half bad effort considering that I gave myself all of 5 weeks to train for it.

So, I crossed the finish line looking much better than I actually felt. Then, I said a string of profanities and got to a hot shower and a huge meal as quickly as I could. There's something decidedly unpleasant about being sopping wet and starving. Brother Dean was in total agreement and we fled the scene immediately.

With all that said, I'm glad I did it. I have the medal and 3 blistered and black toes to prove it and I can't wait to ramp up my training for the Disney Princess Half in March.

PS - That night, I went to 2 Christmas parties with my brother and I stood in 3-inch, pointy-toed heels for 5 hours. THAT is a feat deserving of a medal!

I'm Back

Whew, I'm back! I have to give a final in 45 minutes that I have yet to print and photocopy, but I wanted to check in to say that I'll resume regular blogging functions this week, complete with recipes, Parker photos and the rest of my weekly shenanigans. I'll also be posting full updates from death row and the wet, soggy Orlando half marathon that I wheezed my way through.

Orlando Bound

Tomorrow, I'm flying to Orlando to take my first real mini-vacation in ages. I'm not going for work, I'm not going with Parker and I won't have the dogs in tow. I'm flying alone to spend 3 days with my brother, which I don't think has ever happened before. Just some good old sibling bonding time.

We're running the OUC half marathon together in what will most likely be chilly, rainy weather. But you know what? I don't mind at all. I'm going to pick up a running hat and some water resistant sleeves today and that will be about the extent of my accomodation to the weather. Of course, I'll send happy thoughts for sunny weather, but we're committed to running this rain or shine.

And then on Sunday, we're going to watch football. And do nothing else. I can't tell you how thrilled I am by an entire day of lounging around and doing absolutely nothing, but watching the tube. It's been over three years since I've done that.

Mini-vacations (even ones where you're running 13.1 miles in the cold rain) are a blessing indeed.

End Of Semester Craziness

With only two weeks remaining, I'm finally in the home stretch of the first semester. I am counting down the days until holiday break because I feel like I haven't stopped since I set foot on campus back in August. That's the best part of being a professor. You have a flurry of activity and then nice long breaks in between semesters in order to recharge your batteries (and work on research of course).

Yesterday, I took a group of students on a 10-hour road trip to Raleigh, NC, to take a tour of Death Row. This morning, I feel like I got hit by a Mac Truck, but it was definitely worth the effort. I'm eager to hear their impressions in class today. As soon as I get a chance, I'll share all of the fun and gory details. I'll also share some pictures of the outside of the facility. But for now, I'm off to teach class and squeeze out the last little bit of attentiveness from my students who are every bit as eager as I am for this semester to end.

PS - There was frost on the grass this morning! Still no snow, but everything at least looked white.