Some Shopping

January, being the month after Christmas when the bills come in, is usually a time to be fiscally prudent, but I have bought a few, arguably necessary things this month.

For one thing, as I mentioned, my old, beloved Lands End swimsuit was definitely showing its age (at least 10 years old) since I started going in the pool twice a week, so that was something that had to be replaced. It's surprisingly difficult to find what I want, which is a one-piece with a relative high neck (so I don't have to worry about, ahem, cleavage issues during class), some support, preferably with a pattern rather than solid color, in my size, even without paying $150 or more--which, let's be honest, it would have to be The Perfect Suit before I would spend anything like that.

I did find one that I thought might do, at Overstock.com, of all places, for $30, which is much more my ballpark. Far from being a solid color, it's actually a little loud, if pretty; here's their picture of it:

It came last week, and fit well enough, so I wore it to class yesterday, and it seems it will do. I don't know how long it will last, so I will consider myself on keep-an-eye-out, rather than either active-search or not-even-looking status for now. (I also bought one last week at Costco, but it's going back: not nearly enough coverage/support. Nominally the same size. Whatever.)

Next up, a humidifier. I've had them in the past, but the last time I had problems with one, I didn't replace it; all the filter/cleaning/maintenance issues got annoying. Last week, though, I was thinking of how dry it gets in here during the winter, how I wake up congested and yet my nose manages to be be dry and running at the same time, how the static electricity is so bad I zap myself on everything, even Carlos the other day (he gave a puzzled little mrrp), and decided that perhaps I should get another one and see if it helps.

Then Consumer Reports came in the mail (my mother got me a subscription for Christmas), and I was delighted to see a page on humidifiers. It wasn't a full report, but it gave some information, then said the full ratings were available online, so I happily went to look at that.

Well. I have absolutely no intrinsic issue with CU's decision to have the print magazine and the online content separate, and require separate subscriptions, but my feeling is that in that case, an article in the magazine should not point to results available online if the magazine subscriber can't see them without paying for them. At most, they could have the magazine say that more information is available to online subscribers, but that's not how they did it, and it kind of pissed me off.

However! They did call out one specific make/model in the print article, so I just decided to order that one, and try to let my annoyance go (you can see that I haven't quite managed that yet). It arrived today; we'll see how it helps. (It's pretty quiet, too.) The thermometer I have in the bedroom, just a cheap one that probably isn't too accurate, has a humidity measure too, and it says the humidity was at 35% before I turned the machine on. Updates as that changes.

Consumer Reports says you should clean your humidifier every day, by the way. Does anyone do that? Well, their own "informal" poll said that 59% don't, but I bet it's more than that. Who's going to drain, rinse, and dry a humidifier every day? Not to mention clean with vinegar and disinfect with bleach weekly. It's the kind of thing that made me get rid of the last one. This one says that the tray and tank are dishwasher safe, so at least that shouldn't be too hard to do once in a while. Not saying how often I will.

Also, it kind of cracks me up that the instructions tell you not to use it outdoors. No, I will humidify the world, and you can't stop me!