Wait 5 Minutes

The saying around here is "If you don't like the weather in Missouri, wait 5 minutes."  It's not a favorite for no reason, trust me.  We'd had some spectacular 70 degree days today and Monday (today hit 79!) where the normal highs are in the 50's.  J. and I have been slowly cleaning out our basement and you could literally feel the temperature change as we were dragging things out to the trash trailer.  On our last trip out, the temp was down to 53 and it was starting to rain some random drops.  Time to go in!  A little over an hour later and it was sleeting. 

 

Crazy Missouri weather.

 

The reason we're cleaning out the basement (the whole house, really) is that I hired an energy auditor and he's coming next Monday.  Our utility companies (both gas and electric) have rebates that will fully pay for the audit ($400) and up to $800 of work that is recommended by that audit (caulking, new windows\doors, insulation, weatherstripping, etc.)  You just have to implement 1 of their recommendations (not all) to get the  money. 

 

The reason we're getting ready to gut our laundry room is because it's sitting over an uninsulated crawl space and the walls aren't insulated either.  You can literally feel the cold air coming up through the floor in the winter.  It also runs up through the walls up into the 2nd floor home office as well.  We have GOT to get that fixed to be more energy efficient.  Having that rebate money will help a lot on the costs.

 

In other news, we found an electrician that will help us with the solar panel project.  We have to have a licensed electrician sign off on it before the utility company will even come inspect it.  He's charging us $500 for the signoff and 8 hours to review our plans, answer any questions we have, and do any work we need him to do.  I think that's a pretty good deal and we can get a federal tax credit of 30% of that cost back on this year's taxes.

 

We have a lot to do but, for now, we're waiting.

 

Waiting for the energy auditor to arrive on Monday.

 

Waiting for the application to be approved by the utility. (They have 28 more days!)

 

Waiting for the solar panels to arrive.  (They should be here this week!)

 

Waiting for Spring to officially arrive so we can start the garden.

 

Did I mention that I am the most I.M.P.A.T.I.E.N.T person on the planet?