Oh, Humidifier!

Today we had our humidifier worked on. We got the manual switch changed to automatic one. No one wants to run down to the basement daily to change the switch based on the outside temperature. Especially here, where it can vary greatly from day to day.

It's a nice concept, the whole-house humidifier. We need to keep the auto fan on for a couple of days to get the humidity levels up. I guess the walls and hardwood will absorb a lot of the initial moisture. After Saturday, when we turn the auto fan off, the humidifier will come on whenever the heater comes on. Heat and moist air. Feels like Washington DC? Not really. I haven't even noticed the humidity levels rising. I keep hoping that it will "automagically" (thanks, Anni!) make my skin moist and clear. Or that it will make my hands soft instead of dry and flaky. And that I will be able to wear my contacts all day without major eye-aches. But no such luck. It has made the house warmer at a lower temperature, though. Of course, the insulation also makes 25 degree days like today bearable!

The fact that we even need a whole-house humidifier is just odd. I remember speaking with my friend Kris's brother-in-law before we moved here. He's a California guy who now lives in Denver. He said that it would be well worth the money to have one. He also told me that he goes through lots of chapstick and lotion, especially in the winter, which I'm finding out that we are doing as well. I haven't had the itchy skin that some friends have told me they had while living here, but I have oily skin normally (except on my dry, cracked hands, of course!). Here I have normal skin. This must be the type of weather that my skin has been preparing for all my life, 'cause it has spent years producing excess oil that I don't need! Both kids have dry patches on their faces which require me to sneak into their rooms before I go to bed and put UnPetroleum Jelly or hydrocortisone cream on their cheeks! The things we do as moms......

So far the auto switch on the humidifier is working. The fan has been blowing moisture in the air. The windows got some condensation, so we turned it down a bit. We'll see how it goes. Sadly, I am looking forward to visiting the humidity in California. A state which never seemed humid until now.