i spent nearly an hour in bed because i didn't want to leave the warmth beneath the comforters. the way i'm heating my house these days is i only turn on the heat in the evenings, before turning it down when i got to sleep. in the mornings the house is only heated by whatever residual heat is left over from the night before. i should set a new schedule where i briefly heat the house in the morning (like i used to), makes waking up a lot easier.

my potential tenant contacted me today. sandy is her name. david said she's from hong kong but the way she spells her chinese name makes me think she's from the mainland. she said she'd like to come on december 30th and leave april 5th. that's not a problem. but she said her boyfriend would also be joining her for the first month. that's a problem. i told her it's only a twin size bed. boyfriend/girlfriend/spouses have stayed here in the past (i'd prefer they don't, but i'm willing to make exceptions) but only for short periods, 1-2 weeks at the most. so a whole month?

i told her i'd charge them a little extra for the first month because of the double occupancy. i also said i'd add a week extra's rent because she was staying an additional week according to her schedule. i don't know if she'll accept this arrangement. i secretly wish they'll find a month rental elsewhere for that first month, then move to my place when the boyfriend is gone. having two strangers living here during winter can be an ordeal, especially if her boyfriend is at home all the time.

i called the belmont senior center to make an appointment to see the medicare specialist regarding options for my parents. my parents wanted a monday appointment, but they only had a single opening (next wednesday), everything else is already booked. and the deadline to make changes to your medicare insurance is in less than 3 weeks. my mother asked me to go with her next wednesday.

for some reason i wasn't particularly hungry today. i ended up fixing myself a salad with some leftover ingredients in the fridge around 2:30pm (iceberg lettuce, sweet peppers, thousand island dressing), though i would've preferred something warm instead (though i made some hot tea).

sandy got in touch with me again, said she was fine with my proposal. she gave me some more details about herself. just as i suspected, she's from china (guangzhou). she said her hobbies are traveling and cooking, which made me warn her that i don't have a kitchen ventilation hood so no chinese-style wok cooking. this would be her first visit to the US, and she doesn't have much experience with the snow but looks forward to it. she asked how long typically does the cold last in boston, wondered if the weather will improve by march. i inquired if her boyfriend was here for research as well but she said he was just here for sightseeing. what kind of person has a month to be on vacation? "he will be around more often than me," she said, which made me regret renting out to her even more, even with the rent increase. who knows, maybe they might be cool, but they could also be assholes.

for dinner i made one last italian sub. i ran out of prosciutto but still had salami and capicola. i've got one more day left of making my own food before i hit that motherload of thanksgiving leftovers. this entire week feels like a build-up to thursday. then after thursday: black friday shopping!