I’m so ready for spring! March seems to be the first month that I can even really think about it maybe actually being spring. I might change out my fall/winter-ish flowers in my big vase to forsythia soon… But I want to make sure we are mostly done with the snow because when I bring out the forsythia it’s pretty much a sign that I’m completely done with winter and I’m not sure I should make that mental adjustment yet. :)
Side note: one of the things that I love about winter in Colorado Springs is being able to see the Spanish Peaks to the south. I’m always sad when they “go away” for the summer (I think it has to do with the temperature and humidity) and it always takes my breath away when I see them for the first time when the weather gets colder.
Yesterday we stopped by Kangaroo Coffee to take advantage of their $1 and $2 drink deals. The oldest three have been clamoring to spend some of their money so I suggested they buy themselves a drink instead of the bags of candy they’ve been considering. I figure a drink is gone in an hour but the candy will be in our house for days – I’d rather just be done with it quickly. :)
Last night Jeremy and I were talking about CFL bulbs. They have really been annoying me lately: they get dimmer as they get older, they take longer to warm up as they get older, they are kind of garish light, they don’t last as long as they claim to, and if you use them outside when it’s cold they are not nearly as bright as they should be.
While I’m all about the energy savings, I don’t think that they are all they are touted to be and I’m a little annoyed that the government is outlawing incandescent bulbs over the next few years. We stayed at a hotel suite last year that used all CFL bulbs and it was incredibly annoying – we ended up leaving the lights on in all the rooms most of the time because they took forever to warm up. Pretty sure that saving energy technique is ending up using more energy than saving.
I think we will probably be buying more halogen bulbs than CFLs in the future so we can at least have decent light if we are paying $5.00+ per bulb. I can’t count how many times a day I need a light for just a minute or two and the CFL bulb not only is about 10 watts for the time I’m in the room, and they use more energy to run for just a few minutes since they are in their warm-up stage. Annoying.
What kind of lightbulbs do you use? :)
$1.99 for Pantry Essentials (gallon) at Safeway
CFLs are not environmentally friendly! http://www.richsoil.com/CFL-fluorescent-light-bulbs.jsp
That doesn’t surprise me at all!
We use the regular too, except in one overhead fan that requires a ladder to reach and I don’t like them even there. I can’t stand CFL’s at all- the light is so unnatural and blinding. I swear the “these save energy” reasoning is a load of bologna. Not to mention we did switch all them in our house once and it did NOT affect our energy bill at all….
I heard they did away with that requirement to make CFL’s mandatory…
I hate CFL’s too. We got new garage doors last fall and decided not get windows to save money. Just as I thought I miss the windows because I can’t go out to the freezer or get in the car without turning on the overhead light. We put in motion-detecting fixtures so that when we open the door from the house the light comes on. But, we have CFL’s out there and of course they take forever to warm up since they are so cold. I was just out there hunting through our box of painting supplies and couldn’t see a darned thing. Yeah, I think the CFL’s are just a bunch of hype. We are going to put in new can lights in the kitchen to replace the hideous wooden/fluorescent box on the ceiling (can I get an Amen!?) and are thinking of going with LED fixtures. They are expensive to start out but last 30 years! To replace you have to replace the whole fixture, not the bulb, but I ain’t planning to be here in 30 years!!!
Yay for replacing the fluorescent light box – I am excited for you!
I haven’t seen the LED fixtures, but lasting for 30 years would be awesome. I think the reason the CFLs have been on my mind lately is because that’s what we have in the kitchen and it’s where I want bright, immediate light, so the CFls are getting annoying. (We’ve been using them for a few years so I’m sort of used to them but I think they are getting worse in quality, not better.)
I agree! I don’t like CFL’s either. I always feel like I am camping and using a lantern instead of an indoor lightbulb!
Good news on LED’s Now you can buy bulbs that screw into your regular fixture. Here’s a link http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=led+bulb
I agree with you all; I don’t like CFL’s either!!
We started with CFL but have slowly switched over to LED. Energy saving and though expensive totally worth replacing halogen. Plus they are dimmable. Dimmable are pricey but the cost keeps coming down.
My hubby has been stockpiling the incandescent bulbs!
I’m considering it, LOL! I will probably buy a bunch before the 40s and 60s are outlawed!
I can’t stand CFLs either. One of my problems with them is that they contain murcury, so you are not supposed to throw them away. Most people don’t know that, though. Plus, I don’t have time to figure out where to recycle the bulbs and take them there.
My husband got some LED bulbs on clearance a couple of months ago and replaced the lights in our kitchen. They are wonderful. The only thing that took a little getting used to is they take a split second longer to turn on when I flip the switch. When we first got them, I found myself flipping the switch and starting to turn back to figure out why they weren’t turning on as they would turn on. Now, I am completely used to it and it doesn’t bother me any more.