Nesting

When I was about 8, I remember sitting around the Christmas tree opening gifts and watching my older sister (who was in college at the time) open a package of bathroom towels: a gift from my parents. She seemed genuinely pleased with the gift, and I was perplexed. I'd noticed she only received household items that year, so I asked her if she wished she'd gotten a few more toys instead. She explained to me that as you get older, you prefer the more practical items... like towels.

I decided that day: that would never happen to me. I would love toys my entire life.

Well, fast forward 25 years and things have changed. Somewhat. I do enjoy getting towels and linens (who wants to spend hundreds of dollars on stupid towels and stuff no one will ever see?) but there is the odd household item that remains more of a 'toy' than anything else. I think it's technology that does this... I grew up with basic devices like Atari and Nintendo, so when I can play with touch screens and beeping noises, it makes my heart flutter.

This weekend, we splurged on a new toy. Call it an early Christmas gift to ourselves. Yes, it has a practical household use (a very necessary one, in our climate) but its bells and whistles more than make up for that. Yes, we bought a Nest thermostat.

Before you get all "why would you spend money on something like that?" on me, I will tell you that our previous thermostat was a piece of garbage. It let the furnace run for hours on end, making us swelter in the mornings and freeze in between. It was programmable, but only when it wanted to be. It was like a menopausal woman who wanted everyone else to feel what she was going through.

No more! The Nest is wonderful. It's hooked up to our wireless and we can access it from our iPhones - anytime, anywhere. It's up to date on what the weather is like outside, so it can heat (or cool) accordingly. Not to mention it also knows the age of our house, which makes a difference in heating and cooling needs. How fabulous is that?! Oh, and did I mention that it can sense whether we're home or not and save energy that way, too? Yes, it's our little Comfort Robot. No more coming home on a Sunday afternoon to 16 degrees during a snowstorm.

Yeah, you could say I'm excited about my thermostat. :)