Due to it raining everywhere else in the country apart from where all our hydro lakes are, New Zealander's are being asked to make power usage savings to avoid blackouts this winter. All over the country people are changing all their light bulbs to those energy saving ones, switching off things that aren't in use, doing dishes by hand instead of in the dishwasher, taking shorter showers, cold washing everything, using hot water bottles instead of the electric blanket...the list goes on. All these measures are having an effect. Across the country our overall electricity usage is down by about three percent.

I got my power bill the other day, and yes, there was a reduction in usage compared to this time last year; not a big one, but a reduction nevertheless. On the back of the bill, at the bottom where I never look, there was a message. My electricity retailer has been 'absorbing' some sort of cost that has 'increased more than five fold' over the past few months. They can no longer keep absorbing these costs so they will be passed on to us, the consumer. It's not a huge cost, about two dollars a month, but I find myself wondering at the timing of the increase. Electricity is costing them no more to produce, but hey, those prime time television advertisements and full page newspaper ads asking us to reduce our power consumption must be making a dent in somebody's pocket. Add to that the fact that we are making those reductions and someone, somewhere, is losing out. I suspect that they can't realistically raise the price of electricity while asking us to reduce our consumption, after all, the cost of producing the power hasn't really increased, but they have to maintain their profit margins somehow.

I can't help but wonder how many other unavoidable surcharges are going to be added to my power account before this 'crisis' is over. If we keep saving, as we're being asked to, will the costs keep rising? I, for one, would welcome the sight of a few wind fields across the country, at least it would prove that we are not bound by the power companies.

The rain has stopped. Bad news - it's snowing.
For the first time in the years I've been living in this house the rain was really causing problems. We've developed some sort of leak/gap thing above one of our bathroom windows that's sending water into the wall. No idea how long it's been going on, but since it rained long and hard all morning the leak made itself known and led us to the wall problem. I could dig my fingernail into the worst of the soggy wall boards and come out with a nail fill of rotting wood. Obviously the problem has been there for a while. I can see a positive side to this though, we've been planning to redo the bathroom soon (planning that has been going on for about three or four years), this will speed things up a lot.
Another leak made itself known in our bedroom, one we'd thought we'd fixed but mustn't have. Hubby's scrambling about in the attic at the moment trying to find it, but the water seems to be running down one of the rafters before hitting the spot it is dripping at. He's not very happy.

I'm working tonight, and I have a funny feeling that the two girls I'm working with will not turn up because of the snow. Fair enough I suppose, they both live twenty minutes south of here and they're both relatively new drivers, but it will be the forth weekend in a row that I've been short staffed on a weekend shift. Strangely, no one ever gets sick midweek. Except me, but I always turn up for work. I think it will be a quiet night anyway because of the snow, lots of farmers around here. And the All Blacks test is tonight as well, maybe I'll get to see it. Maybe the power will go out and I won't. At least I have lots of candles and fill gas bottles, there will be light and heat, if nothing else.

Take care everyone.

I used to fall down quite a lot. These days the accidents are fewer and further between but they seem a lot worse.

Yesterday I was taking a couple of bones outside for the dogs and slipped on the doorstep. You know those seconds that seem like hours? It was one of those moments. As my feet went from under me many things went through my mind. First, of course, was 'this is going to hurt'. Second was 'I hope I don't land on the dogs'. Thinking back on it now, it probably would have hurt less if I'd landed on at least one of the dogs, they'd be much softer then the concrete. As it was I managed to land on my hip on the edge of one of the steps, my elbow on the other, and dig myself in the shoulder with one of the canon bones I was holding.
Yesterday the pain was sharp and stinging, today it's a dull ache from my hip to my shoulder that hurts constantly. At least I know that it will go away soon.

Life has been pretty ho-hum around here lately. Dad keeps ringing for the gossip but it usually ends up that he has a lot more to tell me about the people I live near then I have to tell him. The boy is happy though. A couple of weeks ago a new family moved into a house over the road and they have a six year old son as well. The boy seems to think that because he is so close, he can go over and visit him whenever he wants. He can't, but they do spend an awful lot of time together. This new boy is my sons first good male friend, all his other friends are girls and I've noticed that the girls are spending a lot more time together doing girly stuff.

My car got hit twice in carparks last week. Not bad hits, just taps, but it got me paranoid about my driving. Once, it's definately the other persons fault, but twice?
It's still the other persons fault.

Coming home from town the other day a car going in the opposite direction spun out in front of me at about 120km/h in the pouring rain. It managed to cross all four lanes without hitting anyone else before plowing into the trees lining the road backwards and coming to a stop. I didn't even have time to brake. Amazingly, the woman driver was able to get out of the car and walk away. I stopped long enough to see that, but as several other cars had also stopped, that was all the help I gave. I came home and drunk half a bottle of wine to calm my nerves.

1. What's your favorite color? Blue

2. What's your favorite website? Funtrivia and NZ Herald

3. What's your favorite animal? Dog

4. What's your favorite TV show? Doc Martin

5. What are your 5 favorite episodes of 24 in order? Never ever watched one

6. What's your favorite Funtrivia quiz category? Movies

7. What was your favorite subject in school? English

8. Do you like TV? Nope

9. Do you have any phobias? Fish

10. Have you ever been advanced compared to others? No idea

11. Have you ever been held back? No

12. Have you ever had enemies? No

13. Do you fall off of stuff sometimes? Often

14. What's your favorite Funtrivia hourly game? Easy

15. What's your favorite badge? Above Average

16. What's your favorite quiz? I quite like the 'Quiz about me' types

17. Fries or cheeseburger? Snadwich

18. Science or English? English

19. TV or computer? Computer, I could live without TV

20. Phones or conversation? Conversation

21. Books or movies? Books.

22. DVDs or tapes? DVDs

23. Playstation 2 or Nintendo Gamecube? Don't have either. But we do have a PS3 and I spend hours playing Lego Star Wars with the boy

24. What's your favorite Funtrivia daily game? Local Trivia

25. Roller coasters or water slides? Roller Coaster

26. What's your favorite movie? Not a movie, but I watch the the BBC adaptation of 'Pride and Prejudice' over and over

27. What's your highest Lord of Obscurity score? No idea

28. More or less math problems? Less, much less

29. Word problems or math problems?  Word problems

30. Science or History? History

31. What's your favorite time of day? Twilight

32. Do you like drawing? No

33. Do you like acting? No

34. Do you like soda? Yes

35. Do you like technology? Yes

36. Do you like Great Britain? There are so many places I'd love to visit. I'm from a very young country and I love history. I'd never emigrate though.

37. Songs or poems? Songs

38. Winter or summer? Summer

39. What's your favorite Funtrivia team? World Wide Wizards

40. What's your favorite game show? TV - Who Want's to Be a Millionaire?

41. What's your favorite message board? Team message board (World Wide Wizards)

42. What's your favorite country hourly? Australia

43. What's your favorite class? Mine

44. Hobbies? Reading

45. Member status on Funtrivia? Gold - well worth it!

46. Quizzes played? 5941

47. Accuracy? 71%

48. Badges? 26

49. Blog posts? Too many

50. Global Challenge division? 'Not playing'

51. Current Team? World Wide Wizards

52. Approximate hours of sleep? 6

53. Normal alarm set? 7.15am

54. Sleep Beginning time? 11pm - 12

55. Did you like anwsering these questions? no

56. Which questions were your favorite? I don't have any

57. Account created? Dec 20 2005

58. Class? 79

59. First team? New Zealnaders

60. Experienced, Veteran, or Old Timer? Veteran

Yep, both the pregnant couples I know are past the twelve week mark and I'm going to be an auntie - twice. My brother and his wife, and hubby's sister and her husband are pregnant, and both - to their embarrassment - without trying too hard about it. Little brother and his wife found out that they were five weeks pregnant three weeks after they started trying!
Of course all this good news causes pain for some, in this case hubby's brother and his wife who have been trying to have a baby for the past two years. The news for them just keeps getting worse and worse, at the last update there were now three reasons why conception was going to be hard to impossible for them, and hubby's sister - who has always been a skinny, sickly thing - is taking that really bad. She and her husband weren't even that serious about trying for a baby, they just thought that they should since they are both turning thirty this year.

Anyway, now that they are all past the 12 week mark, I told the boy that he was going to be a cousin and how special that was since he was going to be the oldest. He was so upset! Because the new babies are coming from both sides of our family, this Christmas he's no longer going to be the only child/grandchild for anyone except Mum and Dad, and - get this - we never get him the best presents! Such materialism for a six year old. But I know where he's coming from. Since he has been 'the only', uncles (especially) and grandparents have spoiled him, we spoil him. He knows how much cuter then him the babies are going to be and the only upside he could see about the entire situation is that maybe he'll be extra spoiled this birthday and Christmas because everyone feels guilty.

Yes, I am ashamed. I have raised my son to see his relatives as nothing more then gift givers. I'm overprotective, I treat him like a baby (because he is my baby), and I spoil him - and I've expected everyone else to do the same. Halfway through 2008 I realise that 2009 is going to be very different for my son. I have six months to convince him that it's a good thing.