Thermostat Settings

Being single and living in an apartment can sure change your perspective about the thermostat, furnace, air conditioner, and utility costs. Doing some simple research showed that it can help reduce my utility costs if I utilize the thermostat properly. And now I'm going to share my findings with you. Unfortunately, I'm in an apartment and they won't let me install a programmable one, so I have to push the buttons myself.

One of the best sites I found regarding this was at the Madison Gas and Electric site. Being based in Madison, Wisconsin, I feel that they do have a good background in understanding heating during the winter. Go to their site to read a little more about "why" setting your thermostat back is good and what some of the myths are about doing it. A lot of other sites I researched said the same thing as theirs, but theirs was the easiest to read. I'm going to share the two important pieces of their site here:

The more you set back, the more you save

Set back	8 hours per day	16 hours per day	24 hours per day
5°	5%	10%	15%
7°	7%	14%	21%
11°	11%	22%	33%
13°	13%	26%	39%

Check with your doctor if you have a medical condition that requires different temperatures. If you have had problems with pipes freezing during extremely cold weather, correct the problem before setting back.

Recommended thermostat settings

	Winter	Summer
When you're home:	68°*	78°
When you're not at home:	55°*	85°
When you're sleeping:	55°*	78°

*Or as low as health permits. Check the owner's manual if turning down the temperature for more than 24 hours.

From Orvis

Since it is winter time where I am, I have set my thermostat to 60 F, last year I had it set at 64 F. I've compared my gas and electric bills, and they are 14% less this year than last. Yes, it means that I have to put on a sweatshirt or flannel shirt and throw an extra blanket on the bed, but it is definitely helping the bank account. I'm going to add to the mix of lowering the thermostat to 55 at night, and see what happens. Guess I have to get my Union suit pajamas out again.

Dozer dozing...

Last summer I set my thermostat at 74 F, but I think I'll set it up to 78 F next summer and see how that affects my bills. I'd set it higher when I am not home, but I do have Dozer here with me, so I'll be kind to him by keeping it lower.


Saving cents makes sense...and means more coffee at Dunkin Donuts...

Toaster Oven vs. Crock Pot vs. Stove

Being single and living in an apartment can sure change your perspective about appliances. At first it was because I am only cooking for 1, but doing some simple research showed that it can help reduce my utility costs. And now I'm going to share my findings with you.

A lot of my entries have been about cooking and that I typically use a crock pot or the toaster oven instead of the full stove/oven. Part of the reason I started using them was because it kept my apartment cooler during the summer months, and by not using the stove meant my air conditioner would run less. But in doing some more research, I found the information on the Consumer Energy Center site. This confirmed to me that even the cost of cooking was reduced by using a crock pot or toaster oven, but also contributed to my air conditioner running less, so even more savings were achieved. I occasionally use a microwave oven (thank you Elektra Q-Tion for giving it to me). Unfortunately, my apartment doesn't have a gas stove/oven, it is electric. I wish I had my old gas stove still.

Cost of Cooking

This table from the Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings compares the cost of cooking a casserole in several ways. It assumes the cost of gas is $.60 a therm, and electricity is $.08 a kWh.

Appliance	Temperature	Time	Energy	Cost
Electric Oven	350	1 hour	2.0 kWh	$.16
Electric Convection Oven	325	45 minutes	1.39 kWh	$.11
Gas Oven	350	1 hour	.112 therm	$.07
Electric Frying Pan	420	1 hour	.9 kWh	$.07
Toaster Oven	425	50 minutes	.95 kWh	$.08
Electric Crockpot	200	7 hour	.7 kWh	$.06
Microwave Oven	"High"	15 minutes	.36 kWh	$.03

So, my point is that you should consider using the crock pot and toaster oven more during the summer to keep your place cooler, use less energy, and save yourself a little bit each time you do. Add up the cents you saved, and that means you can stop at Dunkin Donuts for a cup of coffee... saving cents makes sense, IMHO.

Unstuffed Cabbage Soup

I can't say that I ever had stuffed cabbage rolls...if I did, I don't remember because my family never really used cabbage, except to make coleslaw, and we always had sauerkraut on New Years. But, I have heard a LOT of people talk about it, and they seemed to like it. So, when I came across a recipe on allrecipes.com, I decided to at least try it and make a pot full of what would taste like stuffed cabbage, but be a warm soup.

The recipe below was typed as I made it but I actually cut the amounts in half because I was making it for just me, like my grandmother always taught me, "recipes are nothing more than a good guideline...make it what you want, and with what you have..."

(cabbage boiled for 15 mins, patties about to be dropped in)

Unstuffed Cabbage
1/2 of a large head of cabbage
1 (12 oz) bottle chili sauce + 12 oz of water 
1 liter Schweppes Black Cherry ginger ale
1 lbs ground mild Italian sausage
Various herbs & spices (explained below)
1 egg

Salt and pepper to taste. Cut cabbage into 1-inch wide strips and put in a 5 quart stock pot or Dutch oven. Add ginger ale and chili sauce, cover, and bring to a boil. Cook 15 minutes.


Meanwhile, add Italian seasoning, Old Bay seasoning, and garlic pepper into meat. Amount depends on what you want it to taste like. Mix well with egg. Form into patties and add to the pot.

Simmer, covered 2 hours. Taste for seasoning and serve. Makes 8 servings.

It made the apartment smell FANTASTIC all afternoon while it simmered. I occasionally stirred it, and added some ground black pepper. And yes, I did use my instant thermometer to make sure that the patties reached 170F. So, overall, I liked it. I have enough of it left that I'll probably be eating it for a few days. A couple of neighbors caught the aroma when they were walking by and I had opened my door for a second, so they begged me to give them some of it.

I'm glad I used my Italian cooking background on seasoning this recipe, because I love the tastes...and I always keep grandma's quote in mind. So, I used what I had on hand. Hence the black cherry ginger ale, ground sausage, and herbs.

The only other thing that I think I'll do next time, is make them into small meatballs instead of patties. Though, the patties make a good sandwich if you use a slotted spoon to take them out of the pot, and wrap them in a tortilla, with a slice of muenster cheese....

Toska

A friend of mine recently posted on Facebook a word that expresses a very deep spiritual feeling and it made me stop instantly because I hadn't heard that word since I was about 14 or 15. Of course, as most of my posts point out, I was with my grandparents. I can actually remember the discussion I had with my grandfather about this particular word.

My grandfather (who was Greek) and I were tromping through the woods behind their house. They were VERY deep woods, but we were heading towards the powerline cut because both sides of the cut were completely covered with berry bushes, and it was time to go pick several bushels (I'll discuss that in another post) so we could make pies.

As we walked, he looked at me and said "you look troubled, what are you feeling?" I explained that "I just didn't sleep well last night. I don't know why. My mind just wouldn't stop. And now, I feel sad." He was quiet for a while and we journeyed farther into the woods. He was quiet, and didn't ask me any more questions. He knew that my mind was still whirling trying to figure it all out. It was processing what I was "feeling" and "what caused it," but it was getting nowhere. I was pretty much left alone to process the spiritual side of myself, and my grandfather was the kind of man that just let it step forward on it's own path. He was there for guidance, and teaching. But, when the emotions where on the overwhelming side, he could tell. And he could put it all into a perspective that I could embrace.

As the morning wore on, and I picked a seemingly ENDLESS amount of berries, the sun warmed my back. And I absorbed the energy of the heat. It warmed me from the inside and restored the stability that my spirit needed. Each handful of berries that I put into my basket reassured me that "by tonight, this will be delicious." So, my spirit was lifted.

I looked down the path to my grandfather, and asked him "why did I feel sad even if nothing happened?" He said, "There is only one word that explains it... toska." He explained it to me as "a feeling of sadness and pain, way down on the inside...but you don't know what has made you feel this way...your brain and your soul are just having a conversation about something that you feel and something you don't realize you know. It will pass when you find the positive moment of your path."

I have to admit, that at my age, that didn't make a lot of sense to me. But, it kinda did. By the time the journey into the woods ended, I was stabilized, and we had nearly 3 bushels of berries.

All these years later, when I read toska on that Facebook posting, it brought back that memory with my grandfather, but also made me look it up. Just to "define" it a little better. It is best explained by Vladimir Nabokov in the following quote:

"Toska - noun /ˈtō-skə/ - Russian word roughly translated as sadness, melancholia, lugubriousness.
"No single word in English renders all the shades of toska. At its deepest and most painful, it is a sensation of great spiritual anguish, often without any specific cause. At less morbid levels it is a dull ache of the soul, a longing with nothing to long for, a sick pining, a vague restlessness, mental throes, yearning. In particular cases it may be the desire for somebody of something specific, nostalgia, love-sickness. At the lowest level it grades into ennui, boredom."

 And...I'll just leave it at that...

Homemade Firebowl

Need to add some "ambiance" to your patio table? Well...I had been thinking about it and did a little searching for it, from a "DIY" stance since that is more of who I am.

I came across this blog post, and just had to share it: Rock Bowl w/ Flames.

What I like about it, is that you can make your own bowls very easily. When getting the Quickset concrete, you'll have enough to make a couple of these. And, using your "imagination," you can try some other things to enhance them.

Of course, you can always hand paint some designs on the outside, but they also do make some special dyes that you can add to the concrete to give it that special "feeling" without much more work.

Another thought that I had, was how I could cut down on even having to spend "that" much time to make the project.

I have several small clay pots that are simply cluttering up my garage. So, maybe I'll just try to figure out how to fill the bottom space in the pot, insert the gel packs, and surround them with rocks I collect when I'm hiking in the woods.

Bear in mind, that the gel packs that you get to use as the flame, may vary in COLOR based on what they are intended for. Play around with a few brands to vary the color of the flame, and to enhance the mood it is designed for.

I'll post again if I ever get my truly home made versions fired up...