Power Outage

We had a rain storm yesterday (Saturday) afternoon that brought some pretty strong winds. Around 5:00, I was sitting next to Reagan while she was watching "Little Bear" and I was talking to my mom on the phone. Suddenly, the power went out and I had to hang up on my mother because I was having a hard time explaining to my hysterical 2-year-old that I couldn't turn "Little Bear" back on (I guess she's a little too attached to her TV shows!). So, we just patiently waited for the power to come back on ...

... and waited

... and waited

... and waited some more.

About an hour later, our next-door neighbor Lizzie came over ... she was in need of her spare key, since they were locked out! They had just come home, but couldn't get their garage door to go up, due to the power outage. Thank goodness we keep their spare key at our house :) When it was dinner time, I was very thankful to have a gas stove on which to cook! It wasn't exactly easy to cook by candle light and flashlights, but I managed to made it work. I strategically made a list in my head of everything I needed to get out of the fridge, so I could open it as few times as possible, just in case the power was off a long time.

When John and I tried to put the kids to bed, that was a little challenging too ... Avery is in this very difficult stage where it's nearly impossible to get her to stay still while changing her diaper. Poopy diapers are a challenge under the best of circumstances, but when there's no light and you're trying to hold a flashlight, it gets pretty tricky! I think it's pretty funny that it took two of us to pin her down and get her diaper changed last night before bed! Once I went into Avery's room to put her to sleep, I realized how quiet it was. Because of our 3 noisy dogs, we have sound machines (we prefer the sound of rain) in the bedrooms to drown out any noise from the house that could wake up the girls. But since there was no power, there were no sound machines. Luckily, everyone adjusted to the silence okay and there were only a few wake-ups.

Reagan, John and I watched Shrek 2 on the portable battery-powered DVD player before bed although John fell asleep halfway through. I think we were all asleep by 9:30 ~ pretty early for our house! But what else were we going to do? I wanted to read, but lighting was an issue.

Avery woke up rather early for her (6:30 AM), and I was pretty annoyed to discover that we were still without power! At least the sun was coming up and providing some light! Around 8 AM, Avery realized she woke up way too early and was ready for her morning nap. I put her down, then hopped in the shower, only to be frustrated with the realization that I couldn't blow-dry my hair. That's about the same time my iPhone died and I became completely detached from the outside world. I got dressed and came downstairs to do my menu-planning and grocery list for the week ... suddenly, our alarm went off (a malfunction, due to the power outage), waking up Avery prematurely from her nap. By this point, I just had to get out! John and Reagan were still asleep, so I threw Avery in the car (luckily, John's car was parked out front, since I couldn't open the garage to get mine out!) and went to Starbucks. I ordered my Chai Latte and a pumpkin scone, my favorite seasonal item, then found a table where there was a power outlet. I sat down with Avery, plugged in my iPhone, then enjoyed my treats while my phone charged and life felt a little more normal.

Not exactly sure where I'm going with this post ... part of it was therapeutic for me - a place to vent my frustrations about the fact that we live in the year 2008, yet it took 17+ hours for power to be restored. And the other part is to admit how guilty I felt that I really struggled without all of my modern-day conveniences for those 17+ hours! I missed the computer, the lights, the sound machines, the video monitor to watch Avery in her crib, the freedom to open the refrigerator to browse the contents for something to eat, the electric can opener, the hairdryer, the garage door, etc., etc. When I was young, I thought it was so much fun when the power went out. I guess it was fun because it was always a short adventure. A power outage in Utah was never longer than an hour. 17+ hours without power when you have 2 small kids isn't exactly an adventure, but more of an annoying pain in the butt!

So there you go ... I'm addicted to electricity and all the joy and simplicity it brings to my life!