Need help lowering my power bill AND the temperature in my house

My thermostat is set to 76 degrees fahrenheit. It is almost 8:00pm and currently 81 degrees on the lower level of my house. It is much hotter upstairs and the baby's nursery is probably pushing 90 degrees. That is not a good temperature for a baby...

So help me out. How can I lower the temperature in my house without killing my energy bill which, by the way was almost $400.00 last month!?! I've been looking into installing a radiant barrier in the attic and possibly on the garage door. Any experiences with this? Any tips would be GREATLY appreciated!

Steps we are currently taking:

1. Installing ceiling fans in all of the bedrooms upstairs
2. Reallocating some of the insulation above the nursery (it seemed thin in spots)
3. Turning off the pilot light to the gas logs (should have probably done that in March... Oops.)

Why I love the Old Spice Man

The Old Spice Man and his commercials have been a refreshing breath of air to the mundane commercials currently on television. It was at this year's Superbowl that I first met the Old Spice Man:



We probably replayed that commercial 10 times that night. Hilarious! But it was more recently that I grew to appreciate Mr. Old Spice. My baby sister was getting married. Those of you that know her know that she can get a bit anxious and her wedding day was no exception. I had prepared an emergency kit for her wedding day that included bandages, a sewing kit, superglue, etc. but I never thought that the most important emergency item would have been two simple words - "Swan dive!!!"



Anytime someone blurted out those words she smiled and the anxiety seemed to melt away. Thank you Old Spice Man.

Another reason I love the Old Spice Man is because he listens to his fans. I love his video responses to comments left on YouTube.



and

So few surprises in life...

There are so few surprises left in life - so few moments when one is truly shocked. I was hoping that the birth of this baby would be one of them. I know that everyone means well in offering their opinions about pictures of our baby; however, Chris and I really want to be surprised. We want Chris or the doctor to be there to catch the baby and exclaim "It's a ____!!!" for the first time. I'm beginning to feel like I'm losing my surprise... The ultrasound technician assured us that all pictures that she gave us were safe. I've since shown the toe grabbing picture to my wife's boss (an OB/Gyn) as well as taken a poll regarding it on my pregnancy forum and both have resulted in me being told that the shot reveals nothing. However, I still feel like if this baby turns out to be a boy everyone will tell me "I told you so!!!" or "I've been saying that the whole time!!!" Honestly, although I have no preference in having a son or a daughter, I would love for this baby to be a girl in order to avoid hearing it from everyone.

As far as I am concerned nothing can be told from the picture and there is as much of a chance of this baby being a girl as it being a boy. I still believe in surprises.

Happy Canada Day!

The kids and I were getting ready this morning when I said to Cadence, "Do you know what today is?" She said that she didn't and I replied, "It's Canada Day!" She looked down at her shirt and said, "Uh oh!" and ran out of my bedroom.

She came back a few seconds later wearing a red t-shirt and said, "That's better!" It was so cute!!! I had to follow suit and went back into my closet to change. Gabriel, never wanting to be left out, grabbed a red t-shirt out of his room as well.

Here we are sporting our red for Canada Day. :)

Happy Canada Day to all of our friends and family up north! We hope you have a great holiday!!