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Monday, December 22, 2008

Power Outages & Winter Trips

Given the rush of everything I completely forgot that today was Give Me Five Monday, and as I'm too tired to do it right now, I'll do it in the morning. Better late than never.
We went about two hours north today to go and visit some family members b4 Christmas. I've been sewing up a s torm for the past week, and I'm terrifically happy that I no longer need to do anything with it for the next while and I can put my sewing machine away. I was making a hat/mitt/scarf set for the four siblings I was visiting, and a duffle bag for their brother late Sunday night, when all of a sudden the lights flicker, go off, and come back on again. I figured maybe that would be it, and it would stay on. Just when i thought it was safe to move, bam. It's pitch black inside my house, partly due to the fact that our entire block was out, and partly due to the fact that I have dark colored drapes. My Mr. finds us a lighter & candle, then we proceed to dig out the flashlights and the rest of my candle stash and re-light the house. This is around midnight. My sewing machine can't work without power, I (of course) discover that I'm hungry and can't make what I'm craving, and I begin kicking myself in the ass (yes, quite a sight...LOL) for not finishing the damned gifts before the last minute. I wait, and figure, well, if it's not ocming on right away I might as well pack what I'll be taking with me on our trip up north tomorrow. I pack, I fold laundry, I tidy up my sons room, and I get everything I need by the door so I don't have to worry about it. When I'm finished I find H passed out on the floor beneath a pile of blankets and lug him to bed. I need to mention that he's lately developed an intense fear of the dark and has refused to be more than 2 feet away from me, and have a flashlight gripped in his little paw. No sooner do I get him into the bed, then the lights come back on. In the 4 hours that it was off for (in the middle of a fricken cold snap) H had had the opportunity to test each and every light switch within his reach, and leave them all on, thus causing me to follow my way back through the house turning everything off, and planting myself firmly back in front of the sewing machine to finish my projects. 5:30 rolls around, and I'm finally done, put my things by the door, and crawl into bed. Alarm goes off, and I think to myself, jeez, it sure is cold in here, where's the heat??
I get out of bed in the MOST rude wake-up temperature I've ever had the displeasure to meet indoors, and hop into a scathing hot shower to warm up...only to be frozen the instant I step out and attempt to dress while shivering. Not an easy task when putting on tights and the like for a special Chritsmas outfit.
Anyhow, we had a fantastic day out with family members (I fell in love with the vehicle we rented to drive up there), and I even caught an hour long nap on their couch, which was nice. We came home, unloaded, and discovered our house was still below 59F. F*ucking cold. Phone the landlord to find out that because we have baseboard-copper-piping-hot-water heating, that it will take it a while to catch up in heating the house agian. It's been about 16 hours since the power had come back on and it's no warmer in there than it was when I woke up this morning, how long is it supposed to take? Oh, if it's not warmer by tomorrow, he says, then give me a call and I'll come look at it. In the meantime go buy some space heaters for $15 @ Lowe's.
Yeah...space heaters, with my kids...are you insane?!!
So, we surrendered, and vacated to my MIL's, and it's wonderfully warm in here. Will send Mr. home tomorrow to see if it's any warmer before I decide to venture home with the boys.
I'm tired, exhausted really, and will be happy if i never have to look at my stupid sewing machine again util the New Year. I want to sleep for a long time, but I'll be content if I just get one good night's sleep now.
Thank goodness we have relatives who live relatively close by.
Like I said, I'll catch up on GM5M tomorrow cause there's an air mattress that's got my name on it, and I'll be darned if it doesn't look like a 5* Hotel bed.

2 thoughtful remarks:

Janet said...

brrrrr, hope you're warm and things are working again!

Have you ever seen the movie Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee? I saw it last night...so sad, so amazing.

Nietha said...

that's crappy, glad you guys had Ronnie's to go to!