FMM - Shock at the Mailbox

We've been living in this house for 17 years now, and I pretty much know what my utility bill will be each month, based on how hot it is.  The bill includes water, sewer, sanitation, and electricity, but the bulk of the cost is from electricity.  In the spring I get to enjoy paying around $130, while over the summer it climbs to a high of around $350 for one month before dropping back down.  So last Friday when I went to the mailbox and opened my utility bill, I actually gasped at the amount due:  $476!  What the what?!?  The lowest setting for our A/C is 73 degrees, and Jeff was gone a good part of the month for work, which meant we weren't even running two computers.

Paying $350 hurts, but $476?  That was really going to impact the month.  After looking at the bill, I saw that it showed my electric usage had doubled from the last reading, which didn't seem right.  I called the city and requested to have my meter reread; they did that on Monday, and when they called on Tuesday to tell me that the meter had indeed been misread the first time, I was so relieved!  The adjusted bill total?  $353.  See?  I knew what it should have been!  I'm glad I called, and I'm also so glad I don't have auto pay for this bill - it might have slipped through the cracks until it was too late to have the meter reread.

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I mentioned that I went to Ikea last Saturday, but I didn't buy anything very exciting - a couple of new pillows for our bed, a 4-pack of dishtowels for a whopping $3.99, and two small trash cans which are pretty cute - here's a picture:

Well, here's part of them anyway, thanks to Paco skidding in...wat doing heer mom?  Squirrel outside??  

I bought them to hold the potting soil and perlite for my succulents - originally I was thinking I'd dump the contents of the bags into the cans, but they were so clean that I couldn't bring myself to do that just yet.  

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I've been making good progress with my shawlette - it still looks like a hot mess, and it will until I finish it and block it to open up the lace panels, but here's a picture anyway:

I get confused often enough that I needed to label in no uncertain terms the front of the piece - I had the little clips on as designation for the front, but that didn't stop me from knitting it wrong, doh!  The bigger label is doing the trick.

I have some sock yarn all wound up and ready to cast on, but so far I haven't wanted to stop knitting on the shawlette, which is unusual for me - normally I have several projects going at the same time.  This is the sock yarn:

The lavender will be for the toes and heels - this yarn is so festive that I can't wait to see what it looks like all knitted up!

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Allie will be home for the weekend to celebrate her birthday a few days early; there will be plenty of shenanigans and lazing around, I'm sure.  Of course we'll start off the weekend with a short run - this heat is making it hard to run many miles, but whatever we do will be fun.

Have a great weekend!