June 12, 2009

That's the last time I compare myself to the Amish

Yesterday afternoon Jay called around 3 o’clock to tell me that the power had went out at the house. My first thoughts were, of course, to dinner. No power = Taco Bell run!

I called him back at 4:45 to confirm it was still off, then made a run for the border. He wanted his usual of 3 bean burritos. I still had the calories for two soft tacos and an order of triple layer nachos. I need to learn that just because I can eat something doesn’t mean that I should.

When I got home, I hit the garage door opener and wondered why nothing was happening. I punched in the code again – and again nothing. When I finally realized what an idiot I was (you need power to raise the garage door), Jay was manually opening the door for me to pull in.

After dinner, I had work to do. My garage sale is tomorrow and I needed to get everything priced last night. Also, since my mom is helping with the sale, she’s spending the night. I needed to change the sheets in the guest bedroom and clean the guest bath.

Power outages are the one and only time I’m thankful to have city water. Growing up in the country means in a power outage you have no electricity to run the pump from your well. You get one flush – that’s it.

Since we’ve been doing without the a/c all summer, we were use to opening the windows for the breeze. Without power I couldn’t wash the guest bedroom sheets, but I have two sets so I just threw the dirties in the laundry room to be washed later.

I tackled the coupons that I hadn’t cut from Sunday’s paper, and then filed them in my coupon box. By 8:30 the power was still out. Sure the storm that came through was pretty bad, but it was just wind and rain. Why should it take that long to get the power back on?

I gathered up candles and flashlights just in case it was still off when the sun went down. I also started to worry about the stuff in my fridge. The freezer stuff was so well frozen that I didn’t worry about it. Most of that stuff is hard to thaw (it takes a couple days) so I knew it was okay. Most of my stuff in the fridge isn’t that big of a deal, but I had just bought about 10 packs of lunch meat and I was worried about it going bad.

I did my “read the Bible through in a year” for two days. By then it was 9 o’clock, not a respectable bedtime ordinarily but understandable given the circumstance. I washed my face, brushed my teeth, and was just about to crawl into bed when the power came back on.
9:15 – seriously? If they would have waited just 10 more minutes I would have been in bed and not gotten back up. As it was I watched the results to So You Think You Can Dance and found my way to be at 10.

Hopefully the storms will hold off for the sale this weekend.

12 comments:

  1. I don't do well with no power. Glad yours came back!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ah yes, I'm well familiar with how little one can do without power! Fun times, fun times.

    Hope you have a great weekend with your mom and that your garage sale is a success!

    ReplyDelete
  3. We've had bad storms come through here the past few days also, but luckily our power has stayed on. It's amazing how much you take for granite until you don't have it!

    I grew up around the Amish, and still can't get over how they live...although they have ways around a lot of the rules...like generators!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm so LOST without the power on!! Good luck on your garage sale! They are so much work, but usually worth it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Stopping in from SITS. Hope your garage sale goes well, and that the weather cooperates:D

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hope everything goes well for your sale -- and that you make lots of $$$$!!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Good luck with garage sale tomorrow. Our power went out the other night and it's kind of scary that there's not much to do without electricity. Perhaps a day/night like the amish will do us good. All I can say is thank goodness my kids were already asleep - they freak when the power goes out at night.

    ReplyDelete
  8. *good luck @ your sale
    *WTG being busy even w/o the power!! I would have read :)
    *have a GREAT WEEKEND!!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'll keep my fingers crossed that the weather holds off for you!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. We're having a garage sale Saturday too. Good luck! I am expecting big bucks! hehehe!

    Oh and thanks for the birthday wishes. You are such a sweetheart!! I hope you had a great birthday earlier this month!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I actually half liked it when home alone during a power outage..

    Sort of like 'time to reflect' kind of thing..

    Yeah.. Weird.. I know... :D

    ReplyDelete
  12. At least the power came back on before all the food spoiled!

    I used to live in a town where the power would go out all the time during the winter... all over town. We would have to drive to another city to eat (and possibly to sleep if it was too cold to stay home).

    ReplyDelete

what up yo?