No one's left the house in months it seems. For any length of time. (Well, some of us - but not all of us at once).

So this weekend, we went away, and I tracked the energy usage of the house while we were away. For about 54 hours.

The result was: 8 Kwh per day.

The most I can think of is the DVRs and the fridge. I noticed when we returned the baby monitor was on. But it's hard to live without and a pain to turn off. Next time I will have to remember to turn it off and pin down the energy usage there though.

I also got the electric bill for the last 30 days or so. Our bill was again 10% lower than last year (thinks to the CFLs mostly). It was interesting because we had a hot streak and used the AC a bit. Though not much, apparently.

Our average daily use for April was 15 Kwh per day.

I don't know if our 8 Kwh baseline is good or bad. It doesn't sound great for no one being home and nothing going on. Then again, using only twice as much electricity when people are always home, and all the cooking, laundry, computing, and TV watching that goes on, etc., isn't half bad. April is a low electricity usage month, overall. The longer days mean less light usage too, I am sure.

BTW, it's 85 degreed here today. Ugh!

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Well, I blogged last week or so I needed to get more active to lose a few pounds. Every spring I try to get a little more active from the busy/uninviting winter, I guess.

I think I did extraordinarily well the last 10 days. Honestly, most of the days I did no activity I was worried about pushing it/injury. So I threw in some days of rest. Phew. OF note, I sipped aerobics Thursday (bad I guess) and I stopped home to change and was going to drive over to the park so I wouldn't be late for BM's game. At the last minute I decided I could at least walk. He wasn't expecting me anyway, so what was a few minutes late? Anyway, I walked home faster than dh could pack up the kids and drive home - teehee.

Current Month Tally:

May 1 - None (rest day)
May 2 - 1 hour aerobics/yoga/strength train
+clean house +walk (to school) +lots of exertion (set up for festival and on feet for a long time)
May 3 - None

May 4 - None
May 5 - 1 hour aerobics/yoga/strength train
May 6 - 30 min. power walk (gym)
May 7 - Walk to park for game
May 8 - 30 min. aerobic activity @ gym / Rode bikes to school
May 9 - Walked all Day
May 10 - Walked/paddle boat/2 hour hike @ beach

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Mother's Day was Divine.

I received:

*1 can of pringles
*A day off work
*monkey cup
*home made heart pin
*downloaded CD (new band I like)
*Weekend in Monterey/Carmel
*A sunburn

Actually, we had the BEST weekend.

Friday I took LM to "Fairytale Town" (glorified park). I needed to get the paperwork for the June campout there. I took LM to a puppet show - something I never had done. I kind of wanted a special day with him, and I made clear this was something I had never even done with BM. He had a blast.

Once LM got out of school we drove to San Jose and stayed with Grandma. My parents were invited over for a BBQ. Yum!

Saturday we woke up pretty early and got the Monterey Bay Aquarium before it opened. IT was AWESOME! I had really wanted to pull BM out of school Friday and avoid the crowds. But dh talked me out of this for whatever reason. Being practically first in line was pretty special. It was a while before it got too crowded.

Around lunch I told dh all the people with kids would get tired out and maybe it would thin out a bit. IT was crowded, but not horrible. OF course, I looked at our kids and wondered if they were nearing the end of their ropes. BM was a little cranky. I Was too, but I just needed some food and advil - hehe.

Anyway, the kids got their second wind and we actually stayed until closing. Usually we make it such a rush of a day trip - it was just really nice.

We went to Ghiradhelli for ice cream after and noted the place (the whole area) was pretty quiet for a Saturday. Though maybe it was a bit early. Dh's favorite hot sauce place was empty / shut down. *sigh*

So yeah, the Aquarium was pretty packed, but the rest of the area seemed a little slower than usual.

We stayed at our "suite" at Motel 6 and it was pretty nice. Far larger than we expected. There were 20 rooms and we were informed that was the only suite on the premises (not surprised - how many times do you see suites advertised at Motel 6). Funny thing is the room cost the same as all the others anyway... But was nice with the kids and all.

Dh actually lugged his "not working well" DVD player so we could watch a movie. We may do that again sometime - worked out well in the end.

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The next day we made it to Dennis the MEnace Park (always want to go, but never have the time). They had a little lake with paddle boats so we did that.

We headed over to Point Lobos after that. I am not sure I really had heard of the place, but Analise mentioned it in her blog and we decided to check it out. Okay, we are in LOVE with the place. Best thing is it is a wonderful day trip for us so I am sure we will be back again.

On the way there we stopped in Carmel for lunch. We did a lot of aimless walking because we found a terrible map and weren't paying attention. Along the way we spotted our neighbors though. It was hilarious - what a small world. (We were only 3 hours from home). We finally found a "reasonable" and cute little restaurant. In the end the tab was pretty high, but the food was just divine. & they handed me a HUGE chocolate covered strawberry on the way out - for Mother's Day. VEry nice.

Then we went to Point Lobos and started out a little frustrated with the parking situation. We quickly got over it. We went for a nice walk and we spotted so much wildlife. Lots of little rabbits, and we even spotted deer on the beach. (I had no idea there would be deer on the beach. I heard dh say something about a "deer" and pointing to the ocean and wondered what the heck he was babbling about). I did at some point say it would be a miracle if BM made it home in one piece, but other than that, we had a great afternoon there. He just has NO FEAR. Lots of running and jumping along the cliffs. YEah... I have no idea where "Mr. No Fear" came from - just completely opposite from the rest of us.

Dh had wanted to go to the beach/state park in the a.m. because of thoughts of sun burn. The rest of us don't particularly burn but dh is very fair and prone to burning. So basically it never would have occured to me to bring sunblock. I said we should be fine, we would just go to the store on the way and get some. Sounded like a good idea. Well, since I don't burn much, I totally forgot. Not sure what happened to dh. We are all sporting nice RED faces today. LOL. The funny thing is LM is probably the most "fair looking" of all of us. But he didn't particularly burn. Those are my genes. The kids overall were fine. But dh didn't fare so well, and I am not so sure I have ever been so burned myself. Live and learn...

On the way home we stopped in San Jose for dinner, with Grandma. IT was just really a nice way to break up the drive.

I think dh at some point estimated our weekend at $350. (Of course, I forgot, I recived $50 cash).

We got a couple of free dinners though and yeah, I think we did good. I told dh this reminded me precisely of what got so many people in such a financial mess with the bubble. We had friends who would drop $500 every weekend on stuff like this. We even approcahed it rather frugally. $350 was fine for a weekend - no doubt. But once a week or once a month - living like that - we'd be broke too!

Oh well - I will share the true cost - and some pictures - later!