Saving

Camouflage trash is working out pretty well. I keep calling the satellite people trying to get out of my contract. Hopefully they'll eventually get sick of me calling and let me cut it off. Good news though, I've discovered that I can watch my favs (Gray's Anat*my, E*R, Private Pract*ce and Brother & Sist*rs) on the internet with very few commercials so who needs cable/tv anyway?

I've received several requests for Bodie Beans. Soak pinto/great northern/black beans overnight. Rinse and cover with water in a Crock pot on low all day. In the last hour add salt to taste, sauteed garlic (4 to 5) cloves, sauteed onion (1 to 2) and 3 or 4 habanero peppers. Continue cooking for about another hour. Serve as is or use an immersion blender to make refried beans. May need to remove some liquid before. Note: careful with peppers. My first version of this had 1 pepper in it and the beans were pretty warm. Since then I've had to add 3 or 4 to get the same heat that I had in the first pot. Have no idea why.

Everything is unplugged all day unless needed and electrical panel switches are off (except to freezer/fridge) all night. J has a flashlight in case she needs one. The furnace is gas but does require electricity for the fan. I've adjusted the settings on the fridge & freezer to not be quite so cold. Yet even though we have made all those changes we are still using about 15 kwh a day. I do not understand. Considering everything that is cut off I would've thought it to be less. Before we did this we were averaging 26 kwh per day. I was hoping for 10 kwh per day. Still striving for it though. Thinking of turning on the ventless gas logs for heat instead of central. They're supposed to 99% efficient whereas I believe that central heat/air is about 90%. I stopped typing and did just that. I'll have to look tomorrow and see how many kwh were used to find out if this is my problem. Tried to change the overhead kitchen/breakfast room lights to CFL's but they are some kind of funky size that won't work with CFL's. Dang.

My grocery bill has gone from $100 per week to $20-25. Beans & rice baby! Juices can be watered down some and still taste great. No complaints from J. Vitamins/calcium/zinc are every other day. Zinc is only temporary but J had those little white spots on her nails so I knew she was deficient. A radical kid with a zinc deficiency can mean a self-regulating problem coming. Wearing clothes more than once if they are still clean and not stinky. We are down to 3 loads of laundry every two weeks including sheets.

I talked the p-doc into seeing J every 2 1/2 months instead of every month to save gas, plus I don't need to be traveling in the autobahn that is Atlanta without insurance.

Tonight is our treat night. G gave us a package of chicken and we're going to have chicken piccata. Decadent & delicious. God bless chicken!