October 27, 2011

Outside Temp: 42 F

What I cooked today:

Walnut Chicken with Fried Rice:  I haven't made this in a while, and I thought it would be a nice change from stews and soups.  Of course, when I went shopping on Sunday, I forgot the snow peas, the mushrooms, and the celery (well, I tried to get celery, but they were out).  I also didn't check to make sure I had enough sherry and soy sauce and sesame oil.  I was lucky, but I used up the rest of the oil and almost all of the soy sauce.  Ugh.  It turned out fine, but was missing that crunch I get from the snow peas and the celery in the fried rice.  I'll try to be better planned next time!

Update:
Patrick did catch a mouse today.  Ryan has still been going around setting off the traps, but he missed one in the closet.  The mouse got hit right in the middle, which squished his guts out.  Katie said his face was still cute.  We tossed him out the front porch, where the neighborhood orphaned cat was waiting for his 'dinner'. 

We got our first Electric bill today.  I was actually expecting the bill to be a little higher than it was in California, since the stove, oven and dryer are all electric (they were gas in Ca).  There were two things I found funny about the bill.  First off, it was only $60.  I don't think we EVER had a bill that low in CA.
Second, I looked at the comparison to last year (and the last 12 months) and I had to laugh.  In October of last year, the owner (who is a bachelor who worked a lot), only used 256 kWh, whereas we used 490 kWh.  Of course, I'm sure he didn't do 4 loads of laundry a day, then use the stove and oven to prepare food for a family of 6.  He left in January, so the house has been empty since them.  And in the summer months, the kWh usage was below 100 a month.  I guess that's the cost of the fridge and having the other appliances plugged in.  :)

I also thought I would log into Southern California Edison, to see how my bill was running for the CA house.  The fridge is still there, but we took the washer and dryer.  And, we obviously havn't been running the A/C.  The current bill is about $9.  Yea!

The boys have another game tomorrow night, so we'll see if they've inproved in the last 4 days.  I really hope so.  And maybe I can actually get a clear picture this time!  I've also learned that we need to bring $1 bills, since the vending machines don't take anything larger than a $1, and they really don't take credit cards.

We also have the halloween party (for adults) tomorrow night.  I'm hoping to get some good pictures, but we'll see.  I'm not big on halloween, so Patrick and I may show up without costumes.  :)