I love fresh air and have been known to keep my windows open in the dead of Chicago winters. Naturally, it did not even occur to me to close the windows this early in the game–even though the night temperatures have been doing precarious dips into the 40’s and 30’s. I have also scrupulously turned off as many of our radiators as I can so that this quirk doesn’t turn into our condo into an energy sink.
The other morning, Abe tentatively asked me when I intended to close the windows. I responded vaguely that I’d be open to discussion sometime around February. “What about November?” he asked pleadingly. “We’ll see,” I responded. Truthfully, my strategy was to keep saying “we’ll see” all winter long and then appear open to compromise when the nice Spring air wafts invitingly into our home. (I learned the “we’ll see” trick from my mom, who almost always substitutes “no” with that more diplomatic sounding phrase.)
Last night when Abe got home from his late night inspections, he was shivering. I assumed it was because he just stepped in from the cold, but as I was puttering in the kitchen, I turned around and saw that he had donned his ski hat!
After I did my share of laughing, my heart softened, and I closed our bedroom windows. The kitchen and living room are still open to the wonderfully brisk air, though, but I figure as long as I keep feeding Abe warm food, maybe he won’t notice.
After I closed the windows, I asked for help opening a jar of saurkraut that I purchased at Hyde Park Produce yesterday. I have not had much luck with their jars; the last time I bought some jarred Borscht (Abe’s favorite food–no joke), neither of us could open it and we relegated it to food storage. Same story with the saurkraut. “Man,” Abe exclaimed, as he put down the unopenable jar, “if we ever need our food storage, people will discover our bodies next to these two jars. They’ll think we’re dead AND incompetent!”
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| Abe sent me the same shot in an email before we were dating, and he titled it, “wish you were here.” That was a great clue! |
You need one of these! http://springmillcorp.com/Jarpop_info_2007.html Or something like that. I have no interest in endorsing a particular brand.
They don't work on every jar (e.g. ones where the edge of the lid is taller), but they're pretty great!
Another jar trick: Tap the edge of the lid against the counter. Repeat until you've gone all the way around the jar. This often breaks the seal just enough so that you can twist the jar open. Note: Be careful doing this if it's a jar of something fermented and likely to be under some pressure, e.g. sauerkraut or kim chee. Actually, just do this near the sink no matter what it is, heh.
-Juliana
We haven't gone as far as keeping our windows open, but we've turned off the heater. We just don't feel like paying for it. 😉 So I wrap up in blankets and do just fine. I'm used to it anyway because my mom keeps her house at like 65 all the time (my poor dad freezes, just like me).
Does he really like borscht?? I've never had it, but it sounds simply unappetizing. (My brother went to Russia on his mission.)
I'm with you. I like the fresh air too, especially living in an apartment getting everyone else's weird smells. We keep our windows open a lot. I'm glad we're not the only ones. 🙂
Oh Lil,
If I had only known you liked keeping your windows open I would have had you come live with us. Greg is just like Abe. In fact he came home for lunch and first thing he did was walk into the bedroom and close the window! Next thing I know I feel the heat on. GGRRRR I'm the one home all day, not him so I'm just going to turn the heat off and open the window. LOL We'll see how long it takes him to notice once he gets home this evening. If he turns the heat on again I might have to have him call you so you can back me up!
Luv ya!