Extra fridge for snacks/drinks is nice lol especially one two different levels! I only have the 1 fridge, but its huge.

I have seriously been thinking about what I want to do if/when Nathan grows up/moves out. And I was thinking I could totally turn my master bedroom into a mini apartment. I'd need a mini fridge, a microwave and storage unit (for food). I could easily move my desk/computer into there. I could use the backdoor if I really wanted to. But what the heck would I do with the rest of the house? :P I would not want to rent it out to strangers. And none of my kids seem to want to really LIVE here. Katie is the only one with a plan and its generic "live somewhere cold so I can have a husky" ROFL. Shane is trucker so he comes/goes and he might choose to live here full time if I opened that possiblity up to him. But I do not want to deal with his relationships in my house, and gawd thats what would happen if I did let him live here full time and have relationships here! Ugh. Can't even think about that. Nathan - I have no clue if he wants to stay/go at this point in time. He did say last year at the therapist he would want to move out but stay close because he wanted to be near to support me because of dealing with issues with dad. But now that dad and I are separated/to be divorced, who knows what his thought process is now.

You got a forum point while making a post! Check out the shop here! sprinkles magic dust to share the luck

Hmmm. Maybe sell it and get something smaller? I don't know if that's possible where you are, though!

oh gosh.. we have two fridges, and then two freezers.. a big stand up one, and a chest freezer. But they cost almost nothing to run, and whatever they do cost is FAR outweighed by the savings of buying meat when it's on sale, or buying in bulk, etc etc.

.. and I forgot, we actually have a mini fridge in our bedroom, too :P Alex keeps his lunch stuff in there so the kids don't eat it, and we have full water bottles in there.

Rattoony earned 1300 EXP Points!

Head back to the Battle Quest headquarters to finish up this quest! Because this was level 29 you earned 1300 experience!

That was a FIGHT for 29.. I used both my skips.

30k xp now!

No, for the price I'm paying on my mortgage, I'm best staying here. I'd love something smaller, I hate housework and a bigger house means more housework. Which is why my thoughts have been running to mini apartment in my master bedroom lol - If I never use the rest of the house, I don't have to clean it, right? :P I do like the idea my kids can come visit and have rooms to stay, it just doesn't seem they want to do that (excepting Shane perhaps and thats because of his type of job I think, not because he wants to come see me - tho he DOES want to come see me AND have a place to stay too lol).

I had a chest freezer in the kitchen, I rarely got to fill it up the last I don't know how many years. I wanted to get rid of it because of that. So Ryan took it when he moved as he didnt' want to buy a big fridge. He bought a mini fridge and has the chest freezer. Not that he has a lot of frozen either.

One day I would love to do that thing i see a lot - where the person meal preps like 10 different meals and freezes them all, and all you have to do is thaw it out/cook it whatever. Sounds great to me. But I'll probably never do that. I'm sort of too lazy LOL

Anyway, having a big house/big fridge/freezer is great when you have lots of people. I'm slowly seeing my life dwindle down to me. And I don't feel the need to have all this space. Heck I'd eat out more if I could afford to eat nice places with variety of food vs only fast food. Then I wouldn't have to buy food/cook either! :P But I know I can't afford that, even if it was just me.

Ok, I skimmed b/c you guys have been chatTEEE. lol

I haven't even been able to keep up with the stupid BH (in forever) this year, and that's one of the things I told myself I was going to do. Will try harder at real life stuff, lol.

How does have 2 fridges and 2 freezers cost almost nothing to run, Mieke? Is your electric cheaper in that area? Even when it's just me and running 2 fridges during Autumn and Spring when the central air isn't kicking on, I've never had a bill less than $125 at this house. It's absurd considering I have those energy saving light bulbs and the only thing that runs more frequently is the "smart" TV.

Kat, you mentioned about the foods I make... I've always been interested in international foods and of the wide variety that I've tried, I favor Japanese and of the past couple of years, Korean has been added to that favored list. I prefer rice to potatoes and love how many vegetables they put in their dishes. (Not really a fan of Chinese food...at all.) Koreans love their spicy food and Japanese love their ramen and sushi. I also watch vlogs of single women from both countries, especially to see what they make and eat day to day. :P

Daughter will be here next Thursday and I'm sooo looking forward to it! I've already got several ideas of foods to make her that I've been enjoying and I know she'll like. She already likes some of the Korean stuff like kimchi and since I made my own, I know she'll enjoy that. Plus there are a couple noodle dishes I've made that I LOVE and can't wait for her to try. I'm also going to have the homemade ramen done by then. I just need to find some appropriate storage containers for the broth so I can freeze what I make.

We unplugged both freezers and one of the fridges for an entire month last summer, and it only took $4 off our electric bill. They're all energy saver, so maybe that counts?

Our electric bill is generally around $125/150 in the winter and summer, between running the heater or the ACs.

Supplier Rate 8.315¢/kWh
PPL Price to Compare* 14.612¢/kWh

Supplier Rate is what I'm paying now. Used 697kw in December.

I do the budget plan, but pay $150 a month, give or take. And that's with the washer and dryer running uh.. a.. lot. It's a lot. It doesn't seem like a lot, but it's a lot :P

and best from drills yay! needed the book

I prepay my power - so I put $150 every month, sometimes I use it all, sometimes I have to add a little. I'll have to see if I can find a graph like that, I know I get a "bill" every month, even tho I prepay it. I was rather confused the first time I saw that because it said my bill was $180 and I know I didn't put 180 on the power that month lol

mmm yes Mieke and I have chatted a lot lol!! I know you are looking forward to your daughter coming!! We have rice a lot, but I usually put cheese on mine, not veg or sauce lol He eats it plain or with rice. I want to expand my meal choices but I am soooooo lazy about it. Its easier to do what you know how to do. Meh. Maybe one day. I did print out a bunch of other meal ideas and put up a list to inspire me....so maybe I'll make a few of them soon.

Hmm... I don't think it's the rate so much as I think my house is using more kW than it should. Unless I pay for it, I don't have a way to check that out.

electric 543.246 kWh @ $0.13900000 $75.51 gas 101.000 CCF @ $0.53900000 $54.44 And then there's delivery charges... Duke Energy Delivery Service Delivery Fixed Delivery Service Charge $31.26 Usage-Based Charge 101.000 CCF @ $0.03097500 3.13 Gas Delivery Riders 16.92 Applicable Surcharge 101.000 CCF @ $0.00247525 0.25 Total Delivery Charges $51.56 NRG Gas Supplier Energy Charge 101.000 CCF @ $0.53900000 54.44

I don't get all this shit but I know it's all bullshit. I also don't know if doing budget billing would do me any good.
NRG is a secondary supplier that is usually cheaper than the local one but I'm starting to wonder if it's the delivery charges that are higher than what Duke is.

Hmm... another thing to look into.
For now, I'm going to get some cleaning done before I get distracted on these new things. :P

Heh. I looked at mine but couldn't tell what the price per kilowatt was. Only how many I used lol I guess I could divide....but meh. Hmm I may have to up my monthly prepayment just a tiny bit so I can stop needing to put a little extra on sometimes. Make my life easier if I don't have to find $20 at the end of the month to add to the power. My average monthly over the past year is 161. :/ My kw used ranged from 831 (in Oct) to 1472 (last Jan) - huh. I am using more kw in winter? lol Gotta stay warm I guess. Highest "bill" tho was Aug at $180 for 1086 kw used. (It was 1472 kw used in Jan for $158) Lowest "bill" was March, $137 for 1095 kw used.

I have ONLY electric. No gas, no delivery charges, nothing like that. Just my electric power usage.

oops wait haha I din't see that notice - thanks for teh book!! It was you, not drills :D

We don't actually eat a lot of rice? Though I do love a good pilaf! Like.. we eat it, but just not super super often.. mostly because Lily hates it.

Looks like our average for last year was $127.17. Which I don't think is too bad, considering there's 5 of us here using lots of stuff, all the time haha. I will say, I've noticed a BIG difference since we started using the air fryer most of the time, instead of the oven.

Ok yeah... something's wrong w/ the way I'm billed and it's never been good at this house. I used less than you 2 and I'm paying twice as much? My bill for last month was $221. Think I'll go back to Duke for a few months to see how that pans out and leave out the secondary energy/gas suppliers b/c they always get you on the rate per hour but if it's the excess delivery charges that are killing me, then I'll know for sure by the end of a 3mth trial period.

Oh and Kat.. the book was from me. :P I got it as a participation prize and I'm really not concerned w/ reading expensive books to my "secondary" pets so I sent it your way. ;) Also, I TOTALLY get just fixing what you know. Sometimes it's WAY easier to just fry up some stuff w/ butter, salt and pepper and be done with it. :P What I've been experiencing is that after having traditional American holiday food, I CRAVE Asian food! I've been working on a recipe book, handwritten, but since I don't have everything in them I generally just save them on my laptop or under a category in my Youtube for Food. :D Easy to bring up the recipe video.

My gawd it's so humid with a high dewpoint here that my kitchen floor is slick. I've started to mop it but I needed to turn on my oven and put on a box fan to dry it b/c it's ridiculous. It's like 63 here! Also had to lock up the kitties b/c 1 or 2 usually follows me around and I don't need kitties getting their paws wet with cleaning solution.

I love cheese but not on rice, lol. On spicy ramen, YES! I can't even tell you how many things I eat with rice that potatoes would never compare to. Plus, per calorie and starch/gluten/whatever - rice is much better.

[edit] Your fairy forum dust worked, Kat!!
You got a forum point while making a post! Check out the shop here! I see you edited that you got that book from me. :P

Used to have baked potatoes on the grill all the time when Ryan was here cooking on the grill. I may have to bake a potato in the oven again soon, tho I know it won't have the same flavor. I did buy some mini baby potatoes to boil & salt, they're yummy.

I wonder if I should try the auto setting again - set a high & low temp and its supposed to heat/cool automatically by itself. I usually just use the heat or cool setting rather than the auto.

yaaay forum points for others sprinkles more magic lucky dust

Ok.. gals... here's a conundrum that some "woke" peeps would look at as age discrimination but it's totally NOT and you'll see why.

We have a number of peeps that are beyond retirement age that continue to work. Work, being the key word, here. (Emphasis on the 2 individual words which is why I didn't use "keyword") MOST of those still WORK, very actively. sneeze sneeze blow nose Sorry... humidity and whatever it does and whatever allergies associated with it (mold?) gets to me. blows nose Anyway... we have a whopping THREE team members for my team. One of those is 10yrs past retirement age and while there's absolutely nothing at all wrong w/ that, he does the bare minimum to stay "active". Aside from the fact that this guy has a lovely soul and is endearing to all of us, he literally does next to NOTHING for his higher paid position. And you know what.. it's allowed b/c he's been there for soooo long and he's soooo old that all is forgiven! The mistakes in what he does - forgiven. The lack of doing actual work - forgiven. The fact the other 2 have to constantly check his work, giving us double work - forgiven. When does it end?!!

I've always thought there should be a competency check on older (OLD) drivers but it's only in working with and knowing a LOT of 'older' workers that I'm beginning to wonder if there shouldn't be some kind of guideline for that, as well. Most of the others I'm aware of fulfill their duties without hesitation, including being on call. The guy on our team, turns his phone OFF at night, no matter if he's on call that week or not! He hasn't answered a single page for the last 2yrs! Like, when is enough, enough?

It has nothing to do w/ competency. He's fully competent and still learns new stuff so it's not a question of functionality, although that should be a part of it, too.

Idk. If you've been somewhere for 40yrs, does that give you the excuse to just - in my perception - use up company resources to accommodate you b/c you don't want to retire? And these are people that have ALL the benefits of retirement that they no longer give to anyone else so it's not like they're losing anything. I hadn't thought about it in the first few years at the job but I've seen changes that really pissed off people that had been there longer as their retirement stuff changed A LOT and then there were voluntary retirement offers several years ago which the smart ones took but were pissed off about... Idk it was very political, in a sense. Corporate political.

Bleh.. having one of those shit work days. Why does the first day back have to be filled w/ such nonsense, including an asshole coworker (a member of my team) that does shit without telling the rest of the team what's going on. THAANKS, ***head.

Yep.. in a cursing mood. Sorry.

You've earned the Oofa Fruit Finder achievement! 1/10 total. Hmm. I had 43 oofa fruit, and used about 30 of them before I got that. Going to need to find/buy a lot of oofa fruit I guess. Edit: 170+ oofa fruits later, only 2 bugs total. Ugh. tosses pets back in resort will buy more oofas when they are out again.

hmm. Yea. That can be upsetting for sure. If you are retirement age and cannot or do not want to stop working, fine - feel free to keep working (I probably will keep working because I will need to, even if at a very old age it ends up being a part time walmart greeter job lol) But if you are "working" and not actually WORKING then that is wrong. Age or no age. I don't care your age. Do your work. Otherwise, retire, quit, change jobs whatever. If you are causing more work for people you work with, obviously you either need to do more/better work or not work at all. Is there a way to prove/show that this person is not doing the work he is supposed to? I mean, if that is something you'd want to do....

[edit] stormy here. Ryan said the area is under tornado watch, but I didnt get any alerts on my phone yet. Just a lot of rain and thunder and a bit of lightning so far. No wind even. Not a bit. Supposed to rain tomorrow too. yay. Drive to work in dark and rain. what fun :( [Edit] 6am Well. Back to work I go. Will leave the house about 7. In the rain. Phone now says tornado watch too. Fun.

I think I saw a small clip about possible tornados down south. It's been quite warm, like spring. Crazy weather patterns.

What he doesn't do is pretty obvious, but there just really isn't anything to be done about it which causes me to vent about it from time to time, lol. Its just aggravating.

Ugh well that sucks that there isn't anything to do about it. Could you perhaps just NOT follow behind him and fix/do what he didn't do? But make it obvious that he was the one supposed to do it? Or will that just make work harder for you?

Yea. Its in the 60s again. Then supposed to get to freezing again tomorrow night. Sheesh. Stupid weather. When they say we have 3 seasons in one day, they aren't lying :P Winter when you wake up at 30 degrees, spring because it rains all day and is like 50degrees after the sun comes up, and then hot as hell summer 70+ degrees by 3pm. And back to freezing overnight (or at least cold, like below 50) Crazy.

Gotta head off to work but will probably be on a little bit while there as I'll have nothing much to do other than redecorate the door, take down kids artwork to send home (so we have room to put up new), and then my 1.5 hr meeting, which is at 1pm.

Sounds like a not very exciting day, Kat!

Taarna, I don't really have good advice on that one. It's so annoying when you're doing work that you're not getting acknowledged for and shouldn't HAVE to od, because someone has checked out. I guess I'd say the same as Kat, don't fix it and see what happens for a bit.

Mmm yea, nope. Not an exciting day. I did however accomplish all I said I was going to do and then a little more. The kids stuff is down and ready to be sent home Monday, the door has been redecorated (took down a Christmas tree door, put up a snowman door). The tables have new name tags on them, the kids have been shuffled around the tables a bit but are still at the same tables as they were before. Returned some library books, after like the 4th time of going up to see if the meeting in the library was over yet (I didn't want to go interrupt them and beep-beep the computer checking in books - then realized when I actually went in, that the computer was down anyway sigh lol) The PL was at least semi-interesting. It was a repeat of one we'd had before, but she actually went over DIFFERENT things than she did last year - so even tho it was a "hey check out the PBS website and all the great activities we have" - at least she went over different activities :P Tomorrows PL is also a repeat I think. Yay :P

Then Shane texted at like 2pm if I could get him after work, nope. Had to wait til after dentist (filling). But I did go get him. Then he paid for dinner out because I forgot to thaw anything for dinner. They got pizza hut. I didnt want pizza so I got taco bell. Which I got to eat with a still half numb mouth, as it still hasn't completely unnumbed everything yet.

Well, that's all good stuff!

... except the half numb mouth! I actually got taco bell today too, because uh.. I really wanted a baja blast icee at 1030 this mornign when I was done with all my shopping haha.

I got the strawberry wild cherry slushie with my dinner. I didn't want soda and can't have tea this late. Its a bit sour-er than I thought lol But still good. Trying to do my quests. I did a few at work but I always feel awkward when I am on my phone goofing off because I don't have anything to do and the other teacher is doing something (today, she mostly cleaned up the bookshelves, seriously? NOT something that HAD to be done) and piddled on her computer doing things. (I know she did some actual work work - she said she was putting "notes" in infinite campus from the parent conferences.)

You got a forum point while making a post! Check out the shop here! gulps Don't be mad! I'm not doing it on purpose! sprinkles magic dust on Mieke

Sounds like she does a lot uf stuff that doesn't need to be done.

But if there wasn't much else to do, cleaning bookshelves in important! :P

I'm almost done with mine, thankfully. I went shopping, left the house right after Iz got on the bus at 830, got home at like, 11? Made a carrot cake. Hated myself because I was like, how many carrots can it take? Not worth getting out the food processor, i can just use the grater!

No. It. Was. HELL. Never again. I will ALWAYS use the food processor for grating, IDC if it's one carrot instead of 7 :P

Then I made baked ziti and garlic knots for dinner, then dropped the big kids off at school at 6. Finally sat down at the computer haha.

WELL. Grats on the forum points. COM'N FAIRY. I NEED YOU. I need plushies!