Fill 'er Up!

I have to wait another fifteen minutes til bathtime so I thought I'd spend it with you. Now you must be wondering why I have a countdown. Why, you're thinking, if she wants to take a bath, she should just go on in there and get to it! Unless, there might be someone else in the tub, which would make it awkward. Especially because the only other occupant of the house is a 16yo boy. And I normally don't invite people over for a bath. Just seems a little forward. Or maybe just weird. The fact is I have something of a disparity between the size of my bathtub and how many gallons of hot water are available from my water heater at any given time. Why doesn't she crank up that water heater to maximum output, might be your next question. Because she's cheap! is the resounding reply! It just costs too much to keep that much water hot and ready at all times. Plus, the temperature of the water coming out of the tap is much too hot for human contact. To overcome this hot water quandary, I simply fill the tub about half full with just the hot tap on. Then I wait about half an hour, climb in to the just-right water, and add hot water from the now recovered water heater until it's up to my chin. Add a little white tea & ginger bubble bath, light a few candles and, ahhhh, it's steamy, fragrant bliss until my toes take on an appearance similar to what I imagine bleached prunes might look like. A nice long soak in the tub and flannel pajamas, maybe a big mug of hot chocolate. That's how we survive winter here on the prairie.