Utilities on the Up & Up

Imagine for a minute living in a huge house with all your favorite amenities. Ranging from a heated pool, hot tub, jacuzzi in the master bath, big screen tv, central heating and a/c, washer and dryer, dishwasher, latest fridge, and an electric oven. Now, imagine that electric bill. Pretty high huh, maybe close to $200 a month?

Now imagine a one bedroom apartment. Imagine it with an older fridge, a stove from the seventies, a water heater that is not even in the unit, and a LCD tv and a wii, finally, wall heaters. Living in a small apartment such as this, in an older building with pretty solid walls there is no need to use the heaters unless you are losing heat through the windows. To combat this, put a piece of cardboard between the two window panes and you find a lot more heat stays in your apartment. So... With the heater breakers turned off, everything unplugged but the refridgerator and tv, what do you think your electric bill would be now?

Try...$121.

Not even kidding. This was our electric bill for January. We have had some problems with our fridge freezing food, and not even getting cold. After numerous fixes it is finally working how it should! A tub with a constant stream of hot water leaking no matter how tight you have turned off the faucet may cause the water heater to continuously heat water as well... No one told us that! After loosing tons of groceries to the bipolar fridge, and lots of wasted hot water, our bill kept moving higher and higher. After further investigation, we were able to reduce our rent due to our problems with the appliances!

Thank goodness for understanding power companies!

Next bill...<$50 would be appreciated!

Hope you are all having better luck!

Stress Relief

Its that time again where it feels like everything you do is working and then something is thrown in your face that is new and you have to learn to deal with it. It always seems like right when we get our priorities straight, they are thrown way off balance and what/who should have been first, without even realizing it, ends at the bottom....Again.

This happened today! Justin and I felt impressed to attend the Draper Utah Temple on Saturday. We spent 4 hours in the safety of God's house. A day as spiritual as this particular Saturday could not stop our spiritual progression so we continued through church on Sunday! After spending a beautiful day learning of the gospel and spending time with Darin and Jolyn and the kids, we got to come home and rest. The worries of the next day (Monday) were placed at the back of our minds and all we focused on was rejuvenating our bodies just like our spirits had been rejuvenated.

And then Monday hit.... After sleeping through the alarm, rushing to get ready, nearly being late to class, it was almost too much! About five minutes into class, Justin & I noticed that we were five assignments behind in one of our Accounting classes and four assignments behind in the other! What a mess! The adversary sure does know how to get in our way when everything was/is going so well. After my last Accounting class of the day, I normally get to sit down to lunch and get my mind in check for the work hours ahead of me. Keep in mind.... its Monday.

Today already started off on an interesting foot, so of course, lunch was going to be different too! As soon as I stepped foot into the office I knew something was up and that I just needed to start working. From that point on, it felt like the world stopped turning and everything that was running smoothly before suddenly stopped! And all the things that were moving with the world, fell in piles on the heads of those directly associated with getting these processes done. The week of tuition deadline is always the hardest for people in the finance department. I don't think some of the students realize how much goes on behind the scenes!

When the processes to run checks quit working and we had hundreds of checks to work on and tax forms to get out, I ended up working an hour later than I have ever been scheduled. With deadlines coming up and lives outside of work to focus on,  my life just got harder!

So... My stress relief today has been focused on Crocheting with our Suki on my lap, and watching TV dramas that have characters with lives harder than mine! Oh boy.... Get ready for a great week of school, work, religion (THE most important), and last but almost as important as religion, spending time with my best friend.

I love you Justin!!

Have a good week everybody!

Hobbies or Habits?

Each one of us has our favorite things to do everyday. Some like to read while others like to cook. When do our hobbies cross the line to a habit? Do we do it everyday? Once a week? Do we work on our "hobby" while our spouse is in the room? Do we use this time to better ourselves or to just take up the empty time in our everyday lives?

These are a few questions plaguing my mind today. Everyday I like to walk home from work, sit on the couch and watch a TV show. Sometimes I'll do dishes, exercise, play with Suki, or even cook.  Yesterday, I decided to watch a TV show, cook, and... Do the dishes! Would my watching a TV show be considered a habit or a hobby? I believe it has become a habit. Reasons Why: I do it everyday, I manage to perform other tasks while watching it, and I still have time to take advantage of having a spouse and an adorable kitty to play with!

Did it start as a simple hobby? Yes... I used it to calm down and relieve stress for the first couple of weeks. Now it has become an everyday thing and the stress-relieving meaning has now flown out the window. Its not as easy anymore for me to slip into the show's character's lives as it used to be. I don't forget my problems, I don't let the time slip by quite as easily either.

Take my advice. Watching TV can be fun and entertaining at first. But after continuous use, it just becomes the noise in the background while you focus on other things. Do we really want all that noise in our lives? Can you feel the spirit as your constant companion while you are watching TV or playing video games? I believe these distractions make it harder to feel the comfort offered to us when we allow these worldy influences as a constant. Do we spend as much time making a habit out of scripture reading as we do everything else?

What is your priority? When does it go from hobby to habit?