Today

Today I:

.... continued to hang almost all our laundry to dry.  Today it was a load of towels, washcloths, and socks.  On the left under the bath towels you can see the vent.  With the cold weather we are having right now, the heat is unfortunately running quite often, so I take advantage of that by drying the laundry over it.  

I had picked up the bad habit of using my dryer for everything except for some underthings and Mr. GV's biking clothes, which need to be line-dried.  I have a clothes line outside, but didn't use it this past summer like I should have. So back in December I started again with this great drying rack I've got.  I've found if I do one load of laundry most every day, I can keep up this way.  Shirts I put on hangers and hang them in the guest bathroom on the shower rod.  That shower is only used when J comes to visit, so they're not in the way at all.  It is a small room and if you shut the door it warms up very nicely in there, and the shirts dry overnight.  

I do use the dryer for a few things:  sheets (because of their size), and dog bed covers/blankets and "dog sheets."  Dog sheets are sheets that cover the love seat, the backseat of the car, and our comforter to keep the hair from taking over.  If I don't put these items in the dryer, the hair does not come off.

Another benefit to air drying in the house during the winter:  it adds humidity to the dry air!  I don't know for sure if this is the reason, but our hands are suspiciously not as dry and cracked as they normally are in the winter.  Until I'm proven wrong, I'm going to believe it's from the extra humidity in the living room.  

.....marveled at the beauty of the veggies and fruit Mr. GV was juicing.  

....cooked up a black bean vegetable soup from Veganomicon.  I cooked the beans overnight in the slow cooker then cooked the veggies this morning and added it all to a pot.  I haven't tried it yet but Mr. GV says it is very good.