Things we learned in the dark

Our week with no electric after 7pm has been fun and surprising at times. We wondered whether it will affect our bill at all.

Here are a few things we've learned:

• Our eyes adjust rather quickly without the big lights. 
• Everyone has different versions of Rummy that they've played, and once we settled on rules, Mike still beat us. (He will lose at something, sometime!)
• It is peaceful in the dark, and the quiet is not as ominous as some originally thought.
• We tend to go to bed earlier when the house is already dark. 
• Too many different scented candles is not always a good thing.
• Circle stories (where everyone takes a turn adding to the story as we tell it) are more fun in the dark and everyone can contribute, though we tended to lose some direction when it was Ian's turn!
• You really must be thorough when washing dishes in the dark.
• Though a lot of fun, tasting various weird flavors of chocolate (like chile and wasabi) may not be the best idea in the dark, since you can't tell that you've dropped it on the couch till you find it melted there in the morning!

This week's challenge
Our challenge this week will be to spend only half of our grocery budget and to donate the rest to Heart and Hand's food pantry. Our weekly budget is $80, so we have $40 for the entire week. If the $40 is spent at the main shopping time, more cannot be bought later in the week.