Electricity

Well, what an interesting morning around here!!  I was sitting at the computer, Payton was still sleeping and Garrett was watching his one tv show, when the power went off.  My immediate first thought was, did I pay the bill?  Then I remembered, yes, on Thursday, I remember getting a confirmation and seeing it come out of our bank account.  So, I called my neighbor, nope, she had power, so now I was really wondering.  It took my a few tries to get through, but when I got a lady on the line from BTU, she said our power had been turned off due to non payment!  I said, but, I paid it, I have a confirmation, she said well, you didn't pay all of it.  I was $45.41 short.  Apparently I paid last months bill twice!!  I was mortified.  She then told me it would be $245.41 to get it turned back on, I was stunned!  I then asked if there was nothing we could do, it was an error and obviously I paid the wrong bill, she even was the one to figure that out for me.  She just kind of uh huh'd me.  I got a bit mad, I know she probably hears all kinds of excuses every day, and she doesn't know me, but it looked kind of obvious to me, we've never been late, never had a short pay, never had our electricity turned off, I mean is there nothing she could do for us?  She agreed to waive some of the fees, so it took me $85.41, I paid an extra $40 for mis reading my bill :-(  Then, she dropped the bomb that it could take anywhere from 4-12 hours to be turned back on!  I almost dropped the phone.  She gave me all these instructions to do when the meter read a certain thing, but said she could give me no idea when it'd be back on.  Since my car was in the garage and Payton was sick, I really couldn't go anywhere, I am SO thankful it's a decent weather day, no heat or a/c needed, and bright enough to have the blinds open and not really need electricity.  The kids needed baths desperately, so they took a bath in my tub, it's really sunny in my bathroom in the morning.  Breakfast was cereal, so that was easy.  Lunch became an issue though.  I couldn't heat anything in the oven or microwave, and I tried the stove but it's an electric starter, so I couldn't cook either.  I was starting to get really frustrated with the whole ordeal.  On a whim, I checked the meter and it was back on!!  It took me a few tries to get the meter back on, but I did it.  So, after lunch, we ran one errand and now Payton is napping and Garrett is playing in his room.  I've agreed to let him watch some tv, since his show got cut really, really short.  so, lesson learned, pay extra close attention to the dates on your bill!