I must admit that everything I know about winterizing a house comes from watching my mother make the rounds of my childhood home roughly every November, putting door snakes at every drafty point, and then admonishing at least twice-weekly that we weren't trying to heat the whole neighborhood.

Now that I'm grown, with a family and a toddler who is one mental leap away from figuring out how to open doors on his own, and my own gas bills to pay, I tend to take this more to heart. So I do my own winterizing routine, checking out the place for drafty edges and blocking them up with towels and the occasional stuffed animal. It's not a bad system — but it's terribly unscientific, and I can't help noticing that it's not having a huge effect on my gas bill.

Then I recalled my research last year into energy audits, and they were the very definition of "scientific." The detailed graphs showing hot and cold spots showed every last scrap of lost power, whether it be sheets of blue sneaking in around window edges or the surprising spots where cold passed right through thinly insulated walls to infiltrate a seemingly hermetically sealed area. I'm giving it serious thought for next year. (Sorry, Mom.) They're surprisingly cost-effective, could very well pay for themselves in one winter of saved energy bills, are actually offered by your electric company in some areas, and now, we rate them on the List. So not only can you learn the best methods for your house, you can find out who your neighbors think are the best in your area!

Sometimes I have a tendency to overdo things. I never set out with those intentions, but there are times when I have a problem realizing when enough’s enough. Going overboard on some things isn’t necessarily bad, but other times it can put you in quite a predicament.

Case in point: I recently made a pot of chicken soup. OK, what’s so terrible about that? Well, I made enough chicken soup to last until spring. Seriously. It didn’t start off that way. It started with just a chicken. But like the Grimm Brothers “stone soup” fable, it kept growing. Mind you, I was both the traveler and the villagers in my own version of the story, but I couldn’t help myself. I would add a little of this and a little of that, some more celery, a few more potatoes and before I knew it I had multiple pots brewing on my trusty stove.

So now my refrigerator is stocked with Tupperware containers full of chicken soup. Which, depending on how I look at it, can be a good thing. I don’t have to worry about grocery shopping or meal planning for a few decades. I won’t have to do the fast food routine during my lunch break. I won’t have to consult the List for personal chefs — or maybe I should so I can share my never-ending chicken soup recipe with them! Hmmm, I wonder who I’ll have to call once I start sprouting feathers and a beak? I guess I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Today’s a great day. A day I didn’t think I’d see, at least not this early in my life. I’ll always remember where I was when President Barack Obama was sworn into office — sweating profusely on a treadmill at the Angie’s List employee gym. You know something big is happening in the world when everyone crowds into the fitness center just to be closer to a TV so they can witness history.

Despite the turnout, our trainer Kelsey wasn’t there. That’s a first. She seems to always be there, to offer us fresh fruit or remind us how many reps we’re supposed to do. Today she joined thousands of local residents at the Conseco Fieldhouse in downtown Indianapolis to watch the momentous event on the giant screens. Of course, that’s nothing compared to the throng of people who turned out on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to see the action unfold first-hand. Something like 3 million people showed up. That’s an incredible thing to see, even if it’s only on TV. Angie’s List Data Manager Ann Marie Titsworth flew out to D.C. to take part. I can’t imagine what it was like to stand among millions of people chanting and clapping, all united for a common cause.

Watching the inauguration gave me a great feeling of hope and a sense of peace — the exact opposite of how I’ve been feeling for months as I listen to the newscasts paint an ever-drearier picture of our country’s situation. But as I turn back to my work in the Blue House and flip through the online newspapers, searching Angie's List Magazine story ideas, my sense of awe is deflated somewhat. Stories about the inauguration are followed by hateful and hurtful comments. We’ve come a long way, but we have a long way to go.

I’ve had my car for about four years, and in that time, it’s been through a lot with me. It’s survived some minor fender benders, but it’s always gotten me where I need to go. My old job required a lot of driving, and I’ve taken it on trips all over the Midwest, so it’s already at about 90,000 miles. I’ve put it through the paces, no doubt, but it’s never let me down.

Friday morning was no exception. The temperature was about -10 when I was getting ready to leave for work, and while I had complete faith that my car would start, I still held my breath as I turned the key. It started without a problem. It was running a little slower than usual on the drive to Angie’s List — the defroster took longer to work and the numbers on the display took a little time to change as I scanned the radio stations — but hey, I was running a little slower, too. The cold will do that to you. Other than those few things, it was the same trusty car I’ve always been able to count on.

Unfortunately, I know my car will most likely have problems as it gets older. While most issues now are ones that I’ve somehow caused (after all, I’m the one who hit a piece of plaster — or something; I still don’t know what it was — on the highway, putting a dent in the front bumper), there will probably come a day when more age-related issues begin to pop up. But at least I know I’ll be able to count on Angie’s List for a reliable mechanic to take care of those issues.

Actually, I’ll probably need the List for car-related fixes before that. Did I mention that I locked my keys in the car Friday morning? If I hadn’t had a spare set inside, I would’ve no doubt been doing a search for a locksmith.

Showering can be expensive when you have an electric hot water heater and a roommate who treats each morning shower like he's spent the last night traveling with Lawrence of Arabia.

How long does a typical shower last? I have no idea. How long SHOULD a typical shower last? Definitely shorter than the 25 minutes my roommate spent bathing this morning. This doesn't count the three minutes he spent brushing his teeth and the five minutes he spent staring at his face in the mirror.

Typically when I'm eating my breakfast and feeding the pets (the first things I do in the morning) the bathroom is wide open. When I grab my towel out of my bedroom, my roommate has mystically appeared in the bathroom. He's my home's version of Nightcrawler from the X-Men. He appears out of thin air and takes steaming hot showers that leave a fog thicker than those over the Thames.

When we receive electric bills, I'm very angry with him. Outside of heating your home, the water heater can be the second largest consumer of energy. It may be our first.

I think it's time for some action. There's many options for people wishing to put a timer in the bathroom, and I'm checking them out. There's simple options like the device sold on showertime.net, which lights up red when you've exceeded four and a half minutes to more oppressive options like The Shower Manager, "developed by parents for parents to stop their teen's excessively long showers cold."

Everybody has a tale of a sibling, child, dorm-mate or roommate that's bathroom power hungry. Care to share any?

So, each time the weather gets colder, I say, ”Self: You can handle this!” In reality, as a Southern belle, my body does not really adapt to these blustery climes as much as I would like it to.

I pile the blankets on the bed, crank the thermostat, and put on several pairs of socks. If I could, I would definitely start a fire right in my bedroom. Angie’s List has taken me in, and I love how the Blue House is filled with warmth and friendliness. But my toes are still cold. I am just not ready to give in to this weather yet.

I’m holding on to my memories of 70-degree Januaries and short sleeves in winter, as I sink into a tropical depression. I looked through the List to see if I could find anything to help with this problem and sure enough, I found some answers. I’m checking out storm windows and some new attic insulation in a few days, hoping that maybe, I’ll get my house to a balmy temp before I turn into a popsicle!

Brrrr ... All this talk of cold weather leaves me chilled to the bone. If I hadn't paid a visit to my brother's house this weekend, I might have forgotten about summertime weather all together. My bro's house, or more importantly his garage, is sort of like my personal storage facility for all things summer. Lacking my own garage because I live in an apartment, mi hermano is kind enough to let me use the free space he has. After neglecting my belongings for the past couple of months, he invited me over so we could work on our motorcycles, reorganize the space and add some extra security in the form of a new padlock.

First the motorcycle maintenance: He rides a 2006 Suzuki, which starts with the press of a button. Apparently when they made my Honda motorcycle, they didn't think about someone riding the vehicle a quarter of a century later. With two presses of the starter, my battery was dead and I had no chance of starting it up. Looks like I'll be paying a call to my favorite motorcycle mechanic. However, I did have the chance to sit on the seat and make "vrooom-vrooom" noises and pretend it's going to be nice outside sometime soon. Only five months to go.

Then on to space organization and reconfiguration. We removed my truck's old camper shell cap so I could list it for sale on the Internet and my bicycle (it can fit in my apartment's lockable storage area), and used the freed up space to hold both me and my brother's gas grills plus some patio furniture I've loaned him since I have no patio. Touching all these things for the first time in at least two months made me long for summer.

But we had to lock it all away. Up until recently, my brother's security system for his garage has been the "Faith-In-Humanity" brand — a.k.a. nothing, which almost always proves itself unreliable when tested by an opportunistic thief. So my brother, amateur locksmith that he is, bought a heavy-duty gate padlock receiver and a heavy-duty padlock and together we locked up our summer fun until the weather turns better for good. T-minus five months and counting ...

This past weekend, my best friend from high school married her college sweetheart, and I was honored to be a bridesmaid. Between the champagne, tears and late-night "Electric Slide" on the reception dance floor, it was one exhausting, but memorable, weekend.

The Monday morning following the wedding, I sleepily shuffled into the office with damp hair and just enough blush on my cheeks to look alive. I sat down at my humble desk, took a jolting gulp of hot tea, and peeled back my eyelids before beginning my daily routine at the Blue House.

I don’t normally look down at my hands when I type, but one quick glance at my clacking fingernails had me shocked at what I saw. My French manicure that I paid to have done on Saturday morning before the wedding was already severely chipping — we’re talking barely any paint left on a couple of nails.

The sight reminded me of all the frustrating services I dealt with on that pre-wedding morning: A tanning salon that tried to short me a day of prepaid tanning; a hair stylist that rushed through my updo; and now this — a $25 manicure that chipped two days later.

The beautification process for a wedding is enough to make any bridesmaid pull her hair out, but the businesses she pays to help her get ready are supposed to make the big day a little less stressful. Looks like I’ve got a few Angie’s List reports to write — and an at-home French manicure touch-up kit to buy.