We didn’t get to go to Missy’s funeral yesterday because our car broke down.  I feel bad that we couldn’t go, but what could we do?  There’s going to be a remembrance dinner for her sometime in the next couple weeks, and we won’t miss that.  I think Hubby’s Dad’s band is also going to throw a benefit concert for her kids. We’ll help in any possible way we can.  I’d love to be able to donate a large sum to them, but it’s just not possible.

We’re currently struggling as it is just the two of us thanks to car breakdowns, taxes, and now a huge increase in our power bill.  We new Blue Ridge was increasing rates for the area, but we weren’t prepared for what we received.  We were expecting a 40% increase which I think is just ridiculous when the entire world is struggling right now, but what can you do?

According to our last 3 power bills, we actually received closer to a 60% increase!  Our power bill is normally between $90-110 in the winter months because we use our wood heat, and we don’t have to pay a heating bill.  The last 3 months our power bill hasn’t been under $170. I freaked out thinking something was wrong with our hot water heater or something, but Hubby had everything checked.  I talked to a few family and friends to compare bills, and after I figured their increases we all fall in the 50-60% increase range.

I seriously don’t have a clue what we’re going to do when the summer months get here.  $170 is a high bill for us when we’re running the AC.  I freak out if we hit $200.  I don’t know what I’m going to do if I get a power bill for $250-300 or even more.  I know it’s something I definitely won’t be able to afford.

I know there are people out there who say think about your options, make sure your house is energy efficient, etc.  My house is as energy efficient as it’s going to get.  We have a drafty house in the winter because it’s old, and it’s almost impossible to stop all the “leaks”.  Having wood heat means it’s not going to matter either way though because we heat it for FREE.  In the summer I only use the window AC units when I have to, and most of the time I rely on the awesome breeze we get daily along with the ceiling fans in every room.  Hubby’s the one that tends to turn the AC on when he comes home, and he might just have to learn to deal without it.

I know I’ve been quiet over here the last couple of weeks, and I’m sorry.  We’ve just had so much going on that I really haven’t had much time to get online.  The only reason I’m here now is because I have a killer headache that won’t let me sleep.  I laid down, but my headache just got worse.

Within the last couple of weeks Hubby and I have had to deal with some personal problems of our own.  Then I’ve spent a lot of time with my sister over the past week helping her deal with the breakup with her fiance, and we kind of ignored Valentine’s Day because of it.  On Saturday we got the really horrible news that a very close friend of the family was murdered, so this just really hasn’t been a good time for us at all.

We had one good day yesterday while we celebrated Hubby’s birthday, but even that didn’t go as planned thanks to the restaurant really pissing us off.

I’m going to sit here for a few more minutes while I pick up a few things I really need during a sale I wanted to hit up before it ends, then I’m going to try my best to go back to bed again. I just really hope this headache goes away soon because I’ve got another long day ahead of me tomorrow. I doubt I’ll be around much until this weekend. We’ve got our friend’s funeral on Thursday, and a ton of other stuff that has to be done between now and then, so I’ll probably be back around sometime Friday or Saturday.