Sickness Strikes Again

Elliott has been home sick from school for the last two days.  He woke up yesterday morning around 630, complaining that his throat hurt.  When I felt it, I realized he had a fever.  I took his temperature and it got up to 99.5 before he sneezed and dropped the thermometer.  I decided I didn't need to know the exact temperature, since that was enough to keep him home from school.  He started feeling better later in the day, and I thought he would end up back in school today, but today when my husband woke him up, he was running a fever and had a very whiny quality in his voice.  He's acting fine right now, and REALLY wants to go back to school tomorrow, so hopefully he still feels well enough tomorrow!  I'm also hoping no one else in the family gets sick.  Elliott has next Thursday and Friday off school and my sister has the day off Thursday as well, so the three of us are planning on going to Bismarck.

I've managed to do a surprising number of things at home over the last two days, even with Elliott home.  I worked out for over an hour yesterday, and just about 90 minutes today, while Elliott was snuggling the dogs and watching TV in my room.  I straightened up the living room and my bedroom today, and might tackle Elliott's later.

My sister has the day off today, and is grocery shopping right now.  Having her here has really helped us stick to our budget.  She works in Minot, so she usually has no problem running errands for us.  Since I'm not with her, I can't impulse shop, and it works. :)  We're under budget for this half of the month right now, so I should have some extra spending money when we go to Bismarck, plus have extra to put toward debt. :)  I have done a little more online shopping lately than usual, but it hasn't amounted to what I normally spend in stores.

Adapting and Finding My Perfect Day

So my husband found out on Friday that he's on swings this week, and possibly all month.  I really hope it's not all month, but we'll deal with it if is.  He's worked an off shift (3-11pm usually, but sometimes a random 12 hour shift instead) well over half of the school year already.  So he only sees Elliott for a few minutes in the morning and for a while on weekends, but it seems like there is ALWAYS something going on every weekend when he's on second shift.  When I say he sees Elliott for a few minutes, I mean that quite literally.  He rolls out of bed about 5 minutes before it's time for Elliott to go to school, and if he feels awake and alert enough takes him to school, otherwise those 5 minutes are it for the day.

I keep reminding myself that at least he gets those few minutes a day.  He's been home from a deployment for almost 16 months now, so will be eligible again in the very near future.  It just feels like he's missing so much, considering he IS here.  Elliott's in kindergarten this year, and hadn't had any formal education before this year, and had hardly even been away from me.  He's doing REALLY well and has grown a lot, especially in maturity.  I am so proud of him!

Having my evenings alone has it's advantages, though.  Like today I picked Elliott up from school and we came home and built a snowman.  After I got tired of playing outside we came inside, put away laundry, and decided what to have for dinner.  Elliott helped me with dinner, and then after his bath we got to snuggle in bed.  My husband called on his dinner break to say prayers with Elliott, and to tell him how much he loves him.  Then we snuggled some more while we read 6 or 7 books, before he went and got into his own bed, and I went to workout in the living room.

I just feel like there's so much more freedom when it's just Elliott and me at home.  We aren't usually in a hurry to get stuff done, and as long as we get a bath, teeth brushing, and prayers in by 730, the day is a success.  It's not that my husband is a bad dad or anything, he just doesn't like to do things like play outside very often, and he's asleep within minutes if Elliott tries to snuggle him in bed.  I definitely like it better when my husband's on days for a variety of reason, but it's nice to remember there is a silver lining in perfect days like today.

Financial Goals

Almost a year ago my family took a vacation to Disney World.  Everyone was excited about the vacation, so my husband and son helped me save money for the last few months before the vacation.  We paid close attention to what we spent money on, used lots of coupons, and enjoyed watching our vacation savings grow.  After the vacation, we tried to get back onto that track in an effort to get out of debt faster, but we just never made it stick.  My husband and I were talking about it, and decided that getting out of debt, just to be out of debt wasn't concrete enough for us, and especially not for Elliott.

So we've made new financial goals, that will hopefully help us to get out of debt faster, and enjoy a vacation along the way!  We are going to Missouri in early June anyway, to celebrate my dad's 65th birthday.  My husband's sister is supposed to fly out and see us while we are there, and my husband would really like to spend at least one day in a nearby theme park with her.  There's also a Legoland Discover Center that will be open in Kansas City by then, and since Elliott is really into legos right now, we thought we might try to do that as well.  Since it won't have been open very long, we'll have backup plans in place, but hopefully the Discovery Center will work out.

In order to do the fun things we want to do, we have to get rid of a set dollar amount of debt, and save in our vacation fund for the fun things.  We were going to take money out of our tax return to pay for the vacation, but I think it will work better if I work hard at paying off a specific debt, and then saving for the vacation, before moving on to focus heavily on the next debt.

We've actually already started planning for our next big vacation, too.  We're really hoping to do it next summer, but before we do that, we have to be debt free other than our mortgage, plus of course have the cash available for the vacation.  I think having set goals (including a set amount we need for the vacation) will help us stick to the budget much more closely than just saying "We want to be out of debt by next April."

Making the Routine Work

I got up with my husband this morning at 415.  He had squadron PT on base at 6, so I stayed home instead of going to the gym.  I prepared his lunch and pulled out some of the stuff I needed for my son's lunch as well.  Then I did a few things online that I needed to get done, and even found time to do some daily clicks on sites that I hadn't done much lately, all while my husband was getting ready for work. 

After my husband went to work, I worked out for about 40 minutes, before hitting the shower.  I then started a load of laundry, and started Elliott's breakfast.  After I got him up, I packed his lunch, helped him pack his backpack and fed him breakfast before hitting the door for school. 

When I arrived home from dropping Elliott off at school, I sorted the clothes that someone left in the dryer yesterday (I think it was my husband, but it might have been my sister), and started a second load.  I pulled out everything I need for dinner tonight, and came back upstairs.  It's only 1015, and I've already finished everything online that was on my goal sheet today, except this blog post.   I also straightened up the kitchen, and will be cleaning my bathrooms as soon as I finish this up.

I am REALLY tired, and think I need a nap (I was up until well past midnight last night).  I'm excited that I can take one guilt free, since I got so much done already.  I don't especially like mornings, but I really think I must be better at managing my time in the mornings, because I always seem to get more done if I get up early.

My goals for the rest of the school day include a nap, vacuuming, and working on my grocery list and gathering and sorting coupons.  After school it will be time to relax with Elliott until his dad gets home, and then it's dinner, baths, stories, etc.  I'll get my husband to bring up the laundry from the basement and put away ours tonight, too, and Elliott's tomorrow.  I'm hoping to make it into bed by 10 pm tonight, so I don't want to have too much to do after Elliott goes to bed.

Finding an Exercise Routine

My husband has recently set a goal to lose 40 lbs.  He would like to lose at least 25 lbs in the next 3 months.  That's good news for me and my weight loss journey, because it means it will be easier to eat healthy if it's something that everyone wants anyway (we're lucky and Elliott loves fruit and most veggies).  It also means that we can work on motivating each other to work out, stay on top of healthy eating, etc.  My sister would also like to lose some weight, but her motivation isn't as strong right now, but she's willing to go along with the healthy eating and everything.

So now that my sister lives with us and works an evening shift, I'll be heading out early in the morning to go to the gym with my husband twice a week.  We need to be on base by 545, so that I can work out for almost an hour and still get home in time to get Elliott ready for school.  That means I'll have to be up and out the door almost 2 hours earlier than I usually get up, so I'll have to get in bed earlier.  I think I can make that work, though.  My son is in bed by 730 every night, and most nights my husband is in bed by 930.  My sister doesn't get off work until 10, and I've been hanging out with her until after midnight, but I'm sure she'll be ok if I go to bed earlier (so I can be up by 445). 

In fact, I think that what will probably work the best for my exercise routine is if I go ahead and get up with my husband EVERY morning and work out at home after he heads out to do his exercise class twice a week.  Then I'll get 4-5 work outs in every week, and won't have to worry about when to squeeze them in.  It will also give me some time to get some stuff done online in the morning.  Even though I don't really consider myself to be a morning person, I have to admit that I'm usually more productive in the morning.  Hopefully I'll even find more time to blog this way. :)

February Goals Update

I've kind of fallen off of the healthy eating wagon since my sister got here.  It's always harder for me during the winter anyway.  I'm really trying to get back into it this week.  I don't plan on giving up ALL the not so healthy choices I can have (I'm gluten free, so that limits several choices right there).  But I'm hoping to do better about moderation.  Yesterday was a disaster.  We had burgers and doritos last night.  I didn't portion the doritos for everyone, so we ended up eating an entire bag!  There was some finger pointing on who was to blame, but the bottom line is that bag should have lasted an entire two weeks and was all gone in ONE sitting.  From now on, I'll portion stuff into individual bags or bowls before it leaves the kitchen and everyone else will have to deal with it, whether they like it or not. :)

Financially things are in decent order.  We didn't make quite as much progress as I would like toward debt this month, but anything is better than nothing.  My husband and I had a rare kid free date night, and we took Elliott to see Journey 2, but otherwise didn't spend too much extra.  Our budget includes entertainment money that was enough to cover those things. 

Me time is much easier to find when I'm home alone (or at least the only one awake).  My sister is going to be working an evening shift a lot, so I hope I'll still be able to find some time for me.  I've done some crafting this month, as well as reading 3 books.  I've also managed to find more time to work out than I thought I would.

Time Flies and I am Terrible at Blogging!

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I last blogged here.  Things have been incredibly hectic.  I really need to stop waiting until the last minute to do things!

My sister moved in with us at the very end of January.  We moved a bunch of stuff into the dinning room so she would have a place to put her stuff.  We planned on going through the stuff in the dining room right away and getting rid of some, and storing the rest.  It's mostly seasonal stuff and stuff that Elliott has outgrown.  Anyway, we still can't eat in the dining room.  We even bought a new dining room table, and haven't been able to use it yet. 

My son turned 6 this month!  He invited 22 kids to his party, but it snowed that day, so only 6 showed up.  It was still fun, though, and much easier to handle. :)  My husband ended up having to go to work before the party was over, so I'm kind of glad that we didn't have a bunch of kids.  It was a great group, though, and gave us time to play all the games I had planned, without getting bored waiting for a turn, etc.  Elliott was a little bit bummed that one of his best friends didn't show up, but he was out with an ear infection on Thursday and Friday (Elliott's party was Saturday), so we weren't really expecting him on Saturday anyway.

My sister had no trouble at all finding a job.  Both places she applied offered her a job, but she took the one with a less fixed schedule.  Like this week she works 9am-5pm today, and 2-10 pm the rest of the week.  She's been there a week, though, and likes it so far.  The pay is much better than her last job (but her last job was in southern MO where the cost of living is incredibly low).  She's suffering from sticker shock when she goes shopping, but otherwise seems to like living out in the middle of nowhere. :)

Goal Update

My family has been sick for the last two weeks.  Elliott was home sick from school three days last week, and my husband should have been home from work just about every day, but he was too stubborn to go to the doctor until late in the week (and the doctor DID tell him he should have been there sooner and shouldn't have been at work, so I was right).  This week I'm the only one holding on to the sickness, but I think I'm about to finally kick it.

One positive about being sick over the weekend?  We didn't go shopping.  We live in a pretty rural area, so shopping isn't something I regularly do on a whim.  I see people whine about having to drive "across town" and it takes "at least 20 minutes" to get there, and it makes me smile.  If I want to go anywhere to shop, it takes me more than 20 minutes to get there.  I can get to the BX and the commissary (grocery store) in about 25-30 minutes, and it's another 15 or more to Walmart, Target, KMart, the mall, etc.  It's one of the tradeoffs of living in a small town with a great school, affordable housing, and friendly neighbors I guess.

So reporting on my goals for the last two weeks...I've done great financially.  We haven't even cashed my husband's check from his part time job, and we still have over $80 in cash left, plus over $200 in the bank (aside from the minimum we keep in there for emergencies).  I probably will go get groceries this weekend, but I don't anticipate doing much more shopping than that, so I should be able to keep it pretty low.  I think we will need gas in both cars one more time this month.  That should be it for shopping for this month. Which still leaves me with more than enough to go out for Elliott's birthday, and buy all the stuff we still need to get for his birthday party.  We should still be able to make an extra payment toward debt, even though we're probably going to go slightly overboard on Elliott's party.

Health wise I've been too sick to do much exercising, but I've done a little bit.  I've lost weight, but there's a good chance I'll gain it back now that I'm not sick anymore, so I'm not going to count it.

Doing stuff I enjoy has been fun. I made all of Elliott's birthday party invitations on the Cricut.  We are doing a Toy Story party and we invited 22 kids.  The picture of Woody that Elliott chose had 7 or 8 layers, so it took quite a while to put all the invitations together, but it was fun.  We're also doing picture frames with the kids (with a picture of each child with Elliott in the frame), and I'm using the Cricut for that as well.  We're doing another game or two that I'm using the Cricut to create pieces, and I'm doing some decorations as well, so that's kept me pretty busy.  I'm really enjoying getting to use my Cricut, though, and learning more about it.  Elliott's party is in less than two weeks, so as soon as I finish up the stuff for the party, I'll be working on Thank You cards on the Cricut as well.  That means I haven't had time to do any scrapbook layouts, but all the party stuff has been tons of fun as well. :)

New Year, New Goals

I don't normally make a lot of New Year's Resolutions, but do take some time to look at my goal list and tweak it a little bit.  I do more of that in August, when my birthday rolls around and school starts.  So a lot of the goals I'm working on are from then.

Here's a list of the things I'm currently working on:

Focusing on my health.  I have had several relatively minor health issues for a while, but a lot of minor issues can create some problems.  I've been on a gluten free diet for just over a month, and it seems to be helping some.  I do plan on doing some other things for my health now, too, though.  The big one being actually sleeping more, and realizing that I don't really NEED to be busy doing something for 18-20 hours a day. :)

Getting rid of debt.  My husband got a huge increase in his BAH this year, plus a regular raise because he's been in the Air Force for 8 years now.  That gives us a pretty big chunk of extra money each month to put toward debt.

Saving for a basement remodel.  My little sister is moving in with us next month.  We are all very happy about that, but it means some rearranging and decluttering.  This spring/summer we are going to remodel our basement and put a big bedroom down there for us, along with an office.  That will give my sister my current bedroom, and make things more comfortable for everyone I'm sure. :)

Spending more time doing the things I like to do.  My husband gave me a Cricut for Christmas, and Elliott and I have been having so much fun with it!  We haven't actually used it yet for scrapbooking, but we have made a chore chart, thank you cards, and some fun stuff that Elliott just wanted.  I also just started working on Elliott's birthday party invitations on the Cricut, and we love the way they look. :)  I can't wait to use it on some scrapbook layouts. 

Lose some more weight.  This one goes along with the first goal of getting my health under control.  Due to a couple of the issues I do have, losing weight is hard.  I'm working on it, though. 

Spend lots of time doing fun stuff with Elliott.  I've had a lot more trouble adjusting to  kindergarten than Elliott has.  I really enjoy our time together in the evenings and on weekends.  We already do a lot of fun stuff together during those times, but I've noticed that some days it just seems like I have too many other things to get done.  We only have 3.5 hours from the time he gets home to the time he gets in bed  (and that has to include, dinner, bath, prayers and stories, etc), so I'm working on ignoring anything that he isn't helping me with during that time.

So those are my main goals for this year.  Only one of them has a real deadline (the money for the basement remodel needs to all be saved by summer so we can work on it then).   I'm hoping to make progress on all of them, though! :)

Old Navy Clearance Deals

Yesterday my guys and I decided to go do some after Christmas shopping.  We got a $100 Banana Republic gift card in the mail just yesterday morning from mypoints.com, so we decided that Old Navy was definitely on our list of places to hit.  In case you didn't know, you can use any Gap family giftcards at any of the Gap family stores and online.  Banana Republic and Gap are both usually better deals than Old Navy on sites like mypoints, so I always order accordingly.

Because I haven't spent much time at all online since Elliott's Christmas vacation began last Tuesday, I didn't even realize that Old Navy was running a Super Cash promotion right now.  if you aren't familiar with the promotion, it's pretty basic.  You spend $20, you get a $10 off a $20 purchase to use during a specific week or two a few weeks out.  You can get up to a $30 coupon off of a $60 purchase by buying more than $60 in one transaction.  The current promotion runs through January 22, and the coupons can be used January 27-February 8.

I started out in Old Navy by myself, because my husband said he didn't need anything.  He wanted to go to the Radio Shack nearby, and took Elliott with him.  It didn't take long for me to find enough stuff for Elliott that I wanted him to come check it out and make sure he liked everything, so I  called Carl to tell them to come on over.  They finished up their shopping and came on in. 

We quickly had a cart full of stuff that was mostly 75% off.  Other than a shirt that was clearanced to $2.99, a pair of shorts clearanced to $.47, and a pair of jeans for $10, everything we bought was 75% off. 

We ended up splitting our shopping into 2 transactions to take advantage of the Super cash promotion, and so we could use all three giftcards we had.

I ended up buying a coat for myself for $19.98
a pair of jeans for Elliott for $10
a coat for Elliott for $12.48
a fleece pull over for Elliott for $3.73
a glove, hat and scarf set for myself for $2.50
3 waffle shirts for Elliott for $3.23 each
a belt for myself for $3.73
and a short sleeve football shirt for Elliott for $2.99

With tax my total was $69.66, and according to my receipt I saved $165.97, but that didn't include the savings on the shirt that was $2.99.

I used a gift card that had $11.20 left on it, that I had cashed in my cash back from my credit card for.  Then I used $58.46 of the $100 giftcard from mypoints to pay for the rest of it. I got a $30 super cash coupon to use on a $60 purchase, too.

My husband went through and bought

a coat  for $19.98
a pair of shorts for Elliott for $.47
a pair of fleece pants for $6.23
2 thermal shirts for $4.98 each 
and a fleece pullover for $6.23

All of the stuff he bought was for himself, except the shorts. With tax he spent $45.87, and paid using $5.03 on a giftcard that we got through our savings account for Christmas shopping, and the rest of the $100 giftcard from mypoints.  It had $.70 left on it, so he got that back in change.  According to his receipt he saved $127.30, but once again, that didn't include any savings for the shorts that were only $.47.  He got back a $20 Super cash coupon off a $40 purchase as well.

We had planned on using most of the $100 giftcard on school clothes for Elliott for this spring and next winter, but  we are still very pleased with our purchases.  We had put back money for coats for ourselves anyway (we usually buy every other year or so in January), and ended up spending less than we had saved.  We can use that money with the super cash coupons and stretch it to more than $100 anyway for school clothes. :)  I also put it into our savings account, and will cash it out on Gap giftcards to get 10% cash back as soon as it clears, to save us even more money.

Saving for Christmas

My family tends to go way overboard at Christmas time.  I'm not sure if I should admit this, but our Christmas presents take up a over half the floor space in our living room on Christmas morning.  While they are still wrapped and stacked.  We only have one child, and yes, all the presents on Christmas morning are his, my husband's mine, or the three little (furry) girls' who live here.  My living room is small, but still...

Cyber Monday: Is It Worth It?

I've seen a lot of posts today and received a lot of emails about cyber Monday deals.  In my opinion, most of them haven't been that great.  I've seen several "deals" that are actually not good at all, from companies that offer better discounts on a fairly regular basis anyway.  So even though I've been to several different websites today, I haven't ordered a single thing, although there are still a few things I'm looking for to finish up my Christmas shopping.

To get the best deals, you have to do your research all year long, or consult someone who has.  For instance, a store offering 30% off everything available online might seem like a good deal until you realize that several times a year they offer 40% off everything.  A movie for 50% off retail price might look like a good deal, until you realize that most stores sell it for about that price anyway, and run their own sales on it sometimes making it even cheaper.  That same rule applies to a lot of things that have a suggested retail price that is often much higher than what you would pay somewhere like Target, Walmart or KMart.

Do a quick search before you buy, especially if you aren't 100% sure this is a bottom price.    One of the big craft store websites has their Cricut cartridges on sale for Cyber Monday.  Since my husband just bought the Cricut Expression for me for Christmas on Friday, I'm not really familiar with what is considered to be good sale prices.  I saw one that I liked priced at $39.99 (retail price $89.99) and thought that might be  a good deal.  A quick search on Amazon let me know I could get the exact same one for just under $25, and shipping would be free with a $25 purchase.

Finding Great Deals at Old Navy

I know I haven't posted in a while.  The group I volunteer with has had a bunch of extra stuff going on, so I've been incredibly busy with that.  Putting in 50 or more hours some weeks, plus all the other regular stuff I do (including volunteer work elsewhere) means that a lot of stuff has been moved to the back burner.  Unfortunately the blog had to be one of the first things to go.

Saving Money Without Coupons

Normally I'm definitely a coupon shopper, but yesterday I needed to get groceries, and didn't have my coupons with me.  I had left them in the car Friday, and yesterday my husband took the car to work, leaving me with the van.  I have stuff going on tomorrow, and the commissary is closed today.  We were completely out of milk, and almost out of bread, plus out of a few other, less important things.  It had been over 3 weeks since we had been grocery shopping, so I decided that Elliott and I better go yesterday, even without my coupon binder.

We went to the commissary with a grocery list and two coupons.  Our list was pretty long, because we hadn't been to the commissary in three weeks (we had picked up fresh produce at the farmer's market, but that was all we had bought),  and we were out of, or almost out of, a lot of other things that we normally stock up on to last us for a few weeks to a few months.

Kindergarten is Harder Than Anticipated!

My son has been in school for close to two months now.  It's been a lot harder to make time for things than I had anticipated.  My husband has been on second shift this month and last month, so when I pick Elliott up from school, I generally don't want to do anything but hang out with him until he goes to bed.  And since my husband is home with me during the day while my son's at school, that means I hang out with him instead of doing stuff I should be doing online or around the house.  So  between 815 (Elliott's bedtime) and midnight (when my husband gets home) it's a mad dash to get the house clean, work done online, and anything else I can cram in.  Which means my blog has been the first thing to go.  Sorry guys!

Finding Motivation

Apparently my motivation for almost anything online has disappeared in its entirety this month.  My husband's working an off shift, my son is in school,  and I'm too tired to do more than I have to do.  Normally my husband is pretty good about helping out around the house, and does most of the dishes that get washed in the dishwasher, and totes laundry down to the basement for me to wash, and then back up the stairs for me to put away.  He also helps with random other stuff sometimes, like cleaning up after dinner, vacuuming, etc.  Right now he is working 12 hour shifts at work, though, and has had a huge number of EMT calls, so I'm lucky if he manages to even remember to put gas in the car.

Saving Money: Menu Planning

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not an overly organized person.  I do go through my pantry every 6 weeks or so and look for things that will expire in the next 2 months and move them upstairs so I can plan meals around them. Otherwise I'm not real great anymore at knowing exactly what I have in my pantry and how many of them I have.

In an effort to save money on groceries, I decided it was time to get to work on meal planning.  This ensures that I use the things that are close to expiration, and also helps me to know exactly what I need for the next two weeks, instead of just winging it every day, and possibly sending my husband to the commissary for the one ingredient I'm missing.  An added bonus is that if I know what I'm supposed to be cooking, it makes me less likely to say "I'm not in the mood to decide on dinner and cook, so let's get something from the cafe," or "Why don't you stop at the food court on the way home and pick something up?"

A Night Out: Spy Kids 4:All the Time in the World

My family rarely goes to a movie theater to see a movie, because it's just too expensive.  In June I bought a Living Social deal that included 2 movie tickets, though, and had planned on using them to see Cars 2.  Stuff came up and we didn't end up seeing it after all.  The promo code was set to expire on September 9, so we decided we better choose a movie and see it this weekend.

Unfortunately there weren't very many choices for movies playing this weekend that my family wanted to see.  My five year old is easily scared, so that ruled out pretty much all of them except The Help and Spy Kids 4.  So of course, he chose Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World.  It was only playing in 3D at a time that would work for us, so we bought the tickets on fandango (using the promo code and a giftcard I had won last summer), and off we went.

Good Deal on Appliances at Menards

So as I mentioned in my last post, I got a new cooking range for my birthday.  My last one started acting crazy and pulling massive amounts of power.  Last week when I made zucchini bread, it ended up costing me approximately $100 for a double batch of bread/muffins.

So on Saturday we headed to Menards to find a new one.  Luckily Menards is having a big bath and kitchen sale now through September 5.  Major kitchen appliances are all on sale.  Energy Star ones are at least 15% off, and regular ones are 10% off.  Plus if you spend at least $299 on qualifying purchases and put it on your Menards big card, it's interest free as long as you pay in full within 6 months.

A New Stove For My Birthday

So my birthday is Monday, and I'm dreaming of shopping.  I was planning on going shopping for myself, all by myself, in an actual store today or yesterday.  Unfortunately my cooking range went all crazy sometime recently and started pulling insane amounts of power for everything.  My last electric bill was about double what it normally is, and considering Elliott and I were gone for 2.5 weeks of that time, I knew something was up.  I noticed it when I looked at it online to get some other piece of information, and it was only 3 days past when it had been read.  Normally I don't even look at it until I get ready to pay it 10 days or so after it was read, so we really lucked out there!  Anyway, so on the 4th day after it was read, my husband went outside to look at the meter, and make sure they read it right.  It turns out that in those 4 days we had already used more electricity than we normally do in a full month!  But the meter was barely moving, so we were fairly certain it wasn't just the meter going crazy.   So down I went into the basement, while my husband stood outside staring at the meter.  I flipped each of the circuit breakers off one at a time to see if there was any change.  And when I got to the range one, I had a sudden realization that it was almost certainly it going bad.  For the last few weeks it has been randomly heating up the oven when I have one of the burners on, but a quick hit to the oven knob usually turns it off.  My husband decided it was probably a switch and has one ordered, but apparently we don't need it now after all.