A Balancing Act {with video}

One thing that we have always rejoiced about is the fact that we live in southern Ukraine.  Even if you are living in a northern country, if you are living in the south of that northern country, you are bound to have the warmest weather that is possible there!

Since we are on a peninsula, we have always referred to our area as the "Florida" of Ukraine.  Okay, so our weather is definitely not Florida weather, but it does have a nice sound to it.  Our village has also been jokingly named "The Bahamas."  With those names tagged to us, it sounds like we are living in the tropics, don't ya think?

Nonetheless, we are still pretty north in this world, which means we get cold winters.  (See the comparison between Ukraine and the US/Canada in the map above?  Hopefully this will give you a clearer picture of how north we are.)  And yesterday, our high temperatures were still below zero fahrenheit!  

{Below}  See the snow/ice around the inside of our front door?!

It has been a balancing act for hubby to keep our home warm.  In a village with low electricity, no gas, and the prices to fill a gas butane tank being very high, he has had to get smart.  So, what do we do?  We use a little of each of our resources!

{Below}  These butane tanks are filled with gas and used to heat our bedrooms.  Because this is the most expensive route for heating, we keep these on very, very low.

{Below}  Water heater under the window.  We have one of these in each of our three bedrooms.

{Below}  Hubby keeps our wood-burning stove going at all times of the day.  He keeps a pile of cut wood in our garage and brings it in as he needs it, allowing time for the moisture to dry out of the wood.  He gets up throughout the night to make sure the fire does not die out, and we are ever so grateful for his hard work!

{Below}  The floors in our main room are heated by water pipes running underneath the tiles.  The heat in them is produced by electricity.  We have learned that our home gets/stays the warmest when these tiles are working on high energy.  Since our electricity in this village is quite low, we allot as much electricity as possible to keep the floors running on high.  This means that we are only able to run one appliance other than the refrigerator.  So, we make choices throughout the day... either the washing machine, the stove, the boiler (to heat water for showers), the microwave, vacuum cleaner, etc...  Yes, it is a balancing act and if someone forgets to turn something off before turning something else on, all of the electricity shuts down.  But, if we balance it all just right, we are able to keep our house cozy warm!

Normally, the heat from the tiles is sufficient for keeping our main areas warm, but in extremely cold weather like we are having now, we have to burn wood for warmth as well.

We are ever so grateful for a warm home.  I am truly thankful for a husband who works all day and even through the night to make sure we are comfortable.  And, so far, not one of us even has a cold!  How's that for a miracle?!

Speaking of balancing acts, guess who started walking yesterday?  Since I am so proud of my just-turned-one-year-old, I wanted to share his first, sweet, tottering steps with you, my friends!

If you are reading this through e-mail or through a reader, click here to see the video.