I got our Duke Power bill today, and it’s the lowest one EVER. We’ve been trying to save energy, partly because we’re working on being more environmentally friendly and partly because gas prices are killing us. We’ve switched most of our light bulbs to compact floresents, and most of the ones that are still incandescent don’t get used much. Then we turned off the ac and started opening windows. We won’t be able to do that forever, but over the past month, we’ve only turned it on once for a few hours. 6 months ago, our average electric bill was $160 a month. This month it was $78. I got the bill today and couldn’t believe it. Now I’m wondering what else we can do to cut our energy use. I might get a power strip for the entertainment center so nothing’s drawing energy when it’s all turned off, but that’s about the only place we can use one. The only other things that stay plugged in when we’re not using them are the stove, refrigerator, washer and dryer.
This month I used my some of my precious scrimpings to buy books for the kids. Most of them were for Norrie, but I got baby-on-the-way a baby book and a book called The Always Prayer Shawl. I’d seen it on Reading Rainbow a long time ago, but it seemed more like a book for a boy than Norrie. I know lots of women wear them now, but I always felt funny putting one on. The characters in the book were all men too. I feel like I need to start getting him things and getting Norrie’s new room set up, so he’ll have a nursery waiting. I keep telling myself I have plenty of time, but when I was pregnant with Norrie we already had a nursery partly set up with a full bookshelf by now. I feel a little guilty that all of baby-on-they-way’s possessions right now fit in one box and are all hand-me-downs. Apparently I’m alone in this, because when I told Kelly I was planning to spend our gas card rebate on Chanukah presents for the children, he said, “You mean Norrie, right? The baby will only be 3 months old. He doesn’t need presents.” Norrie was only 2 months old on her first Chanukah, but we gave her presents. Not many, but she still got stuff. If you can’t tell, this is my new parenting fear. When I was pregnant with Norrie I worried that I wouldn’t know what to do with her, now I worry that one of our kids is going to get short-changed. Oh, and that Norrie won’t be potty-trained by the time her brother is born. Of course, we haven’t been working on that as hard as we should.
