Hello winter...

It's official.  It is now winter time in New Zealand.  It's been getting more and more winter-like in these past weeks, but now I think it can officially be considered full blown winter.  It has been raining literally non-stop all week, and is freeeeeezing!!  And unfortunately, it's only going to get colder.  See, unfortunately, our house is not actually that warm.  In New Zealand, central heating is pretty rare.  People tend to use (1) a fireplace (2) a space heater of some kind or (3) a heat pump in order to warm their houses.  We do not have a fireplace, but we do have a heat pump.  Now, the thing is, whoever installed it decided to place it in the hallway facing AWAY from the rest of the house, so when we turn it on, the hallway warms up really nicely, but the rooms where we spend most of our time (kitchen, lounge, dining) stay freezing cold.  So instead, Mark complains, and bundles up in sweats and wraps himself in a blanket to stay warm.  Now we did buy a space heater, but apparently that little sucker costs about 50 cents an hour to run, which means if we only use it for just 2 hours a day, that's already $30 extra a month!  God forbid we use it in the bedroom and actually keep it on during the night!  But actually, I bought that heater for the baby's room at night, because it does get cold and there is no heating in there.  The nice thing is, this little space heater has a thermostat, so it won't get too hot, and will keep the room at a consistent temperature, and it shuts off automatically once it gets to a certain temp.  At least our baby will be warm!!  Mark and I will just have to get some more blankets or something. :)  Otherwise, this winter is going to be very expensive!

Oh, the forecast for this week (and probably for the next month...)  Sigh.