Creature Comforts in my Comfort Zone

"Things that make you comfortable and at ease", "something that contributes to physical comfort" or "the basic physical things that make life pleasant — good food, warm clothing, etc". Those are some definitions of the term "creature comforts".

"A behavioral state within which a person operates in an anxiety-neutral condition, using a limited set of behaviors to deliver a steady level of performance, usually without a sense of risk", "the set of environments and behaviors with which one is comfortable... A person's personality can be described by his or her comfort zones" and "the level at which one functions with ease and familiarity" are definitions of the term "comfort zone".

I've been enjoying a number of these creature comforts which are contributing to the size of my comfort zone. Some of them are rather small in nature, even seemingly insignificant . Others are a little more notable and understandable at how they would make me comfortable. Herein is a listing of a few of these that I've been benefiting from as of late:



A new toilet to replace my jet flusher. I have always had issues with toilets flushing well in this house, although there doesn't appear to be any problem to cause slow flushing. Rick and I did some research and picked a doozie.




One of those silly fixes to make life easier. My cat insists on laying on these patio chairs all summer and they get so hairy! So I attached ties to them so they can be tied up and kept clean.


I finally got my glass top stove that I've been looking for for years. Already blogged this one but I'm still psyched about it. It's not hard to keep clean either, not with another creature comfort I discovered - Barkeepers Friend. Like Ajax or Comet but with some more punch, will actually etch some materials so it must be used with care.


A while ago my ex-son-in-law installed a digital thermostat in my living room for me and I appreciate it every day when it's in use. It warms up the house before I get up and turns itself down at night so I can't accidentally forget.


Between my hot tub and the house there used to exist a dark, damp, sparsely grassed chunk of ground - an eyesore and hard to mow. I finally got around to building a small addition to my deck and covered it up. Then I extended the garden next to it. Voila! Finally finished!


Rick's ex-neighbor who worked for Dell gave him a monitor years ago and Rick finally got frustrated with it's color issues and replaced it. Well, it was much bigger than mine (and I could see no problem with the color) so I asked if I could adopt it. I accidentally ended up with both monitors in use. What a great idea! Especially with my DVD "business", so much more room to spread things out and see what I'm doing!


Blending our 2 households means a lot of improvement in our belongings. We'd keep the better of both Rick's and mine and now we have lots of nice stuff. One of the things of Rick's that replaced mine was his big TV. Strange, though - he barely ever watches TV!




The best time of year to hot tub is winter. But here in Washington that means rain - no fun to sit out in the rain. Yet if it's not raining I like to see the stars. A temporary cover is what I need! I found this off-center umbrella and it works almost perfectly, it just doesn't like the wind.

About 4 years ago, when I finally got to move into the master bedroom, my kids installed french doors for me. But that meant I no longer had a window to open during the summer, when it's warm. I was under the misconception that I had to shell out $300 for screens - wrong! I just investigated and found that I can screen them for only $89! (now we just have to get the neighbor's dog to stop barking all night!)


Another silly fix - Rick did this one for me. A block of wood. Silly, huh? But it keeps the front screen door shut. So the grandsons or the grandpuppy can't let themselves out. And the flies can't come in the gap, since there's no more gap!


How about this creature? Sure, he's con - con - cocky (and proud of it!) and persnickety (aka - a perfectionist) - but he adds to the comfort of my home - thanks Rick for becoming an addition to my comfort zone!