out there...
out there...
out there....
Are you all still there or have you written me off as a blogger delinquent?
I'm
There have been several factors to my stress level. But one of the main sources of my stress (and inability to post) was a long power outage at my house. And when I say long I mean about 24 hours. I know this is only the equivalent to one day (part of which I was asleep - sort of) but it felt like FOREVER.
Here's the thing about Mississippi. Not only is it filled with a plethora of disgusting bugs and creatures, but it has a lot of trees. And these trees have a lot of branches (as trees usually do). When the wind blows a little and the rain falls, it causes all of these tree limbs to fall and then power chaos ensues. Sometimes the limbs fall without wind or rain. In fact, just yesterday I was sitting in the driveway watching the kids play in the driveway and a GIANT limb fell from a tree across the street. For no reason...it just cracked and fell.
Anyways, back to my power outage story.....
As usually is the case, the power went out as I was MAKING DINNER for the girls. I was making pizza dough and had it all done and then ... flicker...flicker...BAM! Power out.
I was hoping and praying that the power would come back on after the dough had risen and we could just cook and go on about our evening.
This prayer did not get answered.
One hour turned into two and the girls were hungry so we braved the rain, climbed into the truck (because my car was locked in the garage) and drove to our local, below average Pizza Hut. As we entered into the restaurant, I was hopeful that someone had managed to fix the tables that were not securely attached to the wall or anything else and speed up the really slow service. I was also hopeful that the family that was screaming and yelling at each other in the parking lot was leaving and not just getting there. No such luck. They headed in as we did and continued to try and quiet down a screaming toddler by shouting threats. Because everyone knows that toddlers who are upset respond really well to being yelled at. I feel that it is important to include that the "Dad" of this family was decked out in his very best "wife-beater" tank top. I think that pretty much sums it up....
We stayed in Pizza Hut for awhile because the alternative was hanging around in a dark house and answering for the 452nd time in two hours why didn't have power.
The power company told me the power could be back on by 1:00 a.m. and I was hopeful this was the case.
Again...another unanswered prayer.
When I woke up the following morning, the house was still silent and without power. No air-conditioning, no computer, nothing. I realized that this also meant that I would be going without my coffee. It was at this point that I had pretty much had my fill of not having access to power.
It also meant that my only source of communication with the outside world, my phone, was pretty much DOA, since I had not been able to plug it in and charge it. I attempted charging it in my car for a bit but the fear of draining my battery kept me from doing that to much. Not that my phone really did me much good because without power, I didn't have my nifty Airwave or my modem that allowed my phone to work out here in the middle of "Sticksburg".
The Toddler got so bored of not having her computer or television that she literally fell asleep and slept for part of the afternoon.
As we walked into the house after picking up The Seven Year Old, we were greeted with lights and air conditioning. Both children did happy jigs of joy. I was doing the same happy jig on the inside.
There were other stressors during my week that contributed to my total lack of blogging last week but I won't bore you with all those details.
Now...if you will excuse me, we are under yet another thunderstorm warning and I'm feeling compelled to get dinner going before we lose power...
