Flip-flops: The latest in winter wear.

Remember when I told you the big news?

No?

You know...about our fireplace? The new one?

Still, no?

With the remote control that will keep me safe from blowing off my face?

Really? Still, no?

The one that will retire the Ugly Librarian Sweater?

Oh yeah, NOW you remember. You're just like Bubba. I can say a million meaningful things but the second I mention that, "blahblahblah I don't think I'll need the Ugly Librarian Sweater anymore blahblahblah", his eyes light up like it's Christmas friggen morning.

Sheesh.

Anyway, so the new fireplace. It's in.

The sub-contractors who came out to professionally torture me with their Down With The Sickness ringtones also happened to install our gas insert over the course of, like, five hours, so now I get to push ON with delight and watch my fireplace do something that used to take at least 20 minutes, a change of clothes, a hike to the backyard (usually in the rain) and a few tries to get going.

POOF - on. I love that.

And, an announcement that may be of greater importance than the potential retiring of the Ugly Librarian Sweater - I can possibly wear flip-flops year round now.

SERIOUSLY! That is big news right there. Not that I'll be able to work on my flip-flop tan in the winter months since, while I can be warmed by this fake fire, I can not actually be tanned by it, but still - big news that I won't have to maybe wear socks and leg warmers and slippers all at once to keep my toes from freezing off from November - April.

That is awesome.

Unfortunately, we haven't quite mastered restraint with the push button greatness of this fireplace yet and so ended up cooking ourselves into a Finny and Bubba stew yesterday as we watched Sunday football and made up for a Saturday off of NaNoWriMo by writing 3K+ words in one sitting.

It's possible that my novel has taken on a football theme, though I can't be sure since I refuse to go back and read anything I've written because I'll be too tempted to edit. And you can't edit during NaNoWriMo!

I mean, you can, but then you might kill your word count and no one wants that.

So, yeah, this post isn't really all that substantive, but I thought you should know that I will probably be wearing flip-flops all winter long when I'm at home, while NOT wearing the Ugly Librarian Sweater as long as when the gas bill arrives it doesn't rival our mortgage payment.

Because we fully realize that we're riding the sweet spot with the new fireplace right now. That time after it's arrived BUT before you get the bill, so you *don't really know how bad it will be* so you just crank it up and then, when it gets too hot, you turn it off and open the front door to catch a breeze as though it's the middle of July.

Yeah, we've been bad. But I'm sure that first bill will set us straight.

So, on second thought, the Ugly Librarian Sweater may be back IN and the flip-flops may go back out into the garage with the off-season clothes, but I'm waiting for that first bill to decide. Don't tell Bubba.

And sorry for the bizarre posts this month, you'll have to bear with me, as NaNoWriMo is working in tandem with the fireplace to cook my brains.