What Brings You to Little Merry Sunshine?

One of my favorite things about my blog is checking out my Site Meter site stats and learning what brings you, my loyal readers, to Little Merry Sunshine.

Quite a few of you find me by doing Google searches for "little merry sunshine," "wheeling township food pantry," "arlington heights," "Marshall Field's" and a variety of searches for information on the current local elections in Arlington Heights and I'm incredibly grateful my blog appears in the results for all of these search terms. I'm also grateful to my blog buddies Monkey Muck, Gourmet Goddess, Boxer Rebellion, She's An American Girl, Living Oprah, Ellen of the Tenth, and Fran I Am for their links and the readers who find me through their sites. I could never write this post without showing proper appreciation to Chicago's Best Blogs for the new readers they've sent me. Truly it's an honor being one of Chicago's Best Blogs.

But many of you visit LMS as the result of some more interesting Google searches . . .

An employee at one of the country's largest banks and recipient of tons of bailout money, spent some valuable work time searching "I get off on you getting off on me" and found my post iPhone, Therefore I Get Off.

Numerous state employees in states such as Nebraska, Florida, Georgia, and Louisiana (on state time!) and folks at some very esteemed higher education institutions have visited LMS as the result of searches for "stripper poles" (finding I'm Gonna Install A Stripper Pole!)and "prostitute names" (finding The Name Game).

People from all over the world searching for "AK-47" find my post What Were They Hunting With That AK-47?

More than a few folks are curious about "pregnant women wearing braces," which I find interesting since there are no pregnant women on this site. Really. No woman on this blog is pregnant. I swear.

Many of you are searching for food pantries in the northwest suburbs of Chicago and it's my wish that you're doing these searches because you want to donate, but probably some of you need some extra help these days. So this gives me a good opportunity to say to everyone: Donate to your local food pantry. They desperately need your help. The demand is greater than ever and if you set aside just a couple items each week, in no time you'll have a full bag of groceries that will really help someone. That someone could be your neighbor or your best friend or someday it could be you.

Many of you seem to be interested in recycling and tax credits for greening your home and installing solar attic fans. Visit my brother's website, Crystal Skylights. He'll take great care of you.

However you ended up here, I truly thank you and I hope you come back often. Without you, I'd just be talking to myself.

I'm Just Wondering . . .

John McCain has run his entire campaign on being a maverick and getting rid of earmarks. Does anyone need to hear that sorry bear DNA joke again - was it a paternity or criminal issue? He has repeatedly said that he will not sign any bills with earmarks and we will know their names.

No. More. Earmarks. Nada. None. Not ever.

Okay, that's cool.

But then tonight, he went and voted in favor of the Senate's bailout bill, estimated to cost $850 billion, an increase of $150 billion over the $700 billion bailout plan that failed in the House on Monday.

The extra $150 billion wasn't 3 days worth of inflation. As a matter of fact, that extra $150 billion is made up of "add ons" or "sweetners," which sound a lot like code words for "earmarks" or "pork" to me.*

So I'm wondering why John McCain, who is so vehemently opposed to these sorts of things would vote for a bill that includes $150 billion worth of them?

*Please don't misunderstand me, I'm in favor of parity for mental health insurance coverage, extending tax credits for solar energy (yeah for Dave and his business!), and increasing the FDIC insurance amount to $250,000, among other things. (link)

The Proof is in the ComEd Bill

My ComEd electric bill arrived yesterday and I am thrilled. Well, okay, not thrilled, but I am doing the Happy Dance. (That link put a smile on your face, right?)

The billing period started June 10th, just a couple of days after I got the Solar Attic Fan, and is the first bill I've received since its installation.

When comparing my one month usage for the same time period last year, my electricity usage has DECREASED by 35.6%!!!!!!!!!!!

You are probably thinking, "Well, that's convenient Jessica, but Chicago has experienced a relatively cool summer this year with very little need for AC usage" and you'd be correct. The average daily temperature from June 10th - July 11th, 2008, according to my ComEd bill was 72 degrees. During the same period in 2007, the average daily temperature was 74 degrees. Not a significant difference.

My Solar Attic Fan has produced significant savings for me in one month! Yeah! Great for Mother Earth and great for my wallet! Thanks Dave!

Hooray for Solar Attic Fans!

One of my least favorite things to do is climb up into the attic during the summer months. Historically, if it's 80 degrees outside, the attic is easily double that. I've always had an attic fan that I've never been convinced did anything other than suck up electricity and cost me more with Com Ed. Also, I believe there are monsters that live in the attic.

But today, I was forced to climb into the attic in search of one of my bins of summer clothes because I needed a cute outfit for a party tonight and couldn't find a skirt I wanted. Prepared for a lack of breathable air and monsters, I hesitatingly climbed the ladder. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that it was relatively cool in the attic, despite it being over 80 and very sunny outside! The attic was so comfortable that I could have easily stayed up there and gone through old boxes of crap. I didn't, but I could have.

What's the difference you ask? Well, two weeks ago when Dave was in town, he installed a Solar Attic Fan for me. He sells and installs only Sunrise Solar Attic Fans because they use the most advanced solar panels to collect and deliver power directly from the sun to the highly efficient 12-volt DC motor inside the power vent. A Solar Attic Fan, just as its name implies, relies on the sun for its power, not electricity, as it sucks the heat out of your attic. To be honest, I hadn't really thought about the difference with the new Solar Attic Fan, except that since he installed it, I haven't turned on the air conditioning once!

I love that with my new Solar Attic Fan, I'm helping the environment and living more greenly, but I REALLY love the impact on my wallet! PLUS, there's a 30% tax credit available this year when I do my income taxes! Yeah! AND Dave's business offers a 5 year warranty, which is 4 years longer than Michigan Building Code requires and other companies provide!

Want one for yourself? Call Dave. That's what his new business - Crystal Solarlighting Solutions - does. He can be reached at 231-651-0214. And yes, he'll do installations in the Chicago Area, as well as Northern Michigan.

Oh, I also didn't find any monsters in the attic. That doesn't mean that they're not there. Just that they were sleeping.