I heat with candles since the utility company shut off my heat and lights in 2007 rather than give me two days to get the money. I have a bit of brain injury and I didn't have enough in the bank to write them a check, I asked for two days to transfer money.

They shut me off, so I didn't have any phone, heat, lights... and I was really cold because it was 28 degrees at night.

That was the Wednesday before Easter. By the time Easter had passed I'd worked out how to make coffee over an candle and indeed cook over a candle and I began to look into solar energy.

About two months later I got solar.

Since being shut off I have told PNM, the utility company, that I don't approve of them being mean to people for no other reason than to show their power and that I will not pay them. They were a little at a loss when they couldn't threaten me with anything.

Okay -- So heating with candles (I have a Saltillo floor, so it's pretty safe) does not create a lot of heat. But it's better than living with threats.

I got some great velvet curtains to keep out the drafts this year, where last year the french doors brought way too much winter weather in.

Then I saw these "survival blankets" which are supposed to reflect 90% of body heat.

I thought, hey, maybe they'd also reflect 90% of candle heat, and if I put them on the ceiling and walls they'd give me a few additional degrees of warmth.

(Last year I used tin foil by my plants to increase the light and that worked really well.)

So, I put up a few and it seems as if it's harder to breathe.

I wondered if that was because of there being less oxygen and the candles in consequence creating some carbon monoxide, but I don't think that's it because my windows are pretty leaky, with healthy drafts, if you want to look at it that way.

So, maybe my chest is tight because I'm worried about these silvery mylar sheets, or maybe they are coated with something that comes off indoors and isn't blown away the way it would be outside in a survival situation.

I wondered if anyone here knew anything about them in relation to health.

??????

Karen
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