Lights Out

So weirdest thing ever happened. Friday night we went out to eat with 3 other couples. We got to the restaurant and were having a great time. It sounded like it was raining but no big deal. We asked for boxes and checks and the lights go out. Uh-oh. So miraculously the restaurant let us all just go and dinner was on them! I feel bad for them but evidently they had no way of handwriting out a check???

So on our way home we noticed that things didn't look so good. Trees were down everywhere. There were trees on houses. It was scary. My mom was watching our kids so we were anxious to get home. There was an art fair going on in our neighborhood park and some of those poor people's tents and art were completely destroyed. Thank the Lord our home was okay. We had some very sizeable branches fall and the electricity was out but other than that no damage.

We were having everyone over for dessert (I made creme brulee and chocolate cake) so everyone was awesome and came and hung out in the dark. It was fun.

What was not so fun was the fact that our power was out...really, really out. The days were the thing we worried about as it was supposed to be 90 degrees every day so we stayed out of the house during the day. The nights were fine with the windows open and the candles going.

Everyone kept offering for us to stay with them and while we really, really appreciated it, we didn't need it. I am not a wuss. :) We had hot/cold water and a stove (thank the Lord for gas powered appliances).

It sounds really stupid but I liked having the power out. During the day we made sure to stay busy and we were all together. It brought our family together. At night after we got the kids to bed Nick and I sat on the couch and had nothing to do but talk. It was amazing. We talked and laughed so much and I just really relished it. We fell asleep on that couch every night and every night he would wake me up at about 2 in the morning and we would go upstairs to bed. It was just fun and simple.

The night we got power on (late, late Sunday night) we kept seeing the electric company trucks drive by so we knew it was coming soon! They cut everyone's power and it was so, so dark! Please let me explain that up to this point everyone on our street on the OTHER side of the street had power, snickering at us with their airconditioning and working washing machines! So when they cut their power too it was super, super dark which is pretty creepy when your houses are so close together. We could hear people everywhere but couldn't see them.

Half an hour into not having power a guy across the street was out on his porch singing the "ain't got no power blues" to which I wanted to throw something at him (especially as he wouldn't have been able to see it was me!). The people across the street were without power for about an hour while we were without power for 3 days!

In that time I need to thank our inlaws who were rockstars offering their house to us and allowing our food to stay with them for a while. We would have been out hundreds of dollars of food if we couldn't have taken everything down there.

I'd also like to thank my Grandma who had us over and entertained the kids while we were trying to find fun things to do.

It amazes me how spoiled we are with power...my Aunt Jan is definitely right! I love air conditioning and my dishwasher and my washing machine. Ah, and not reading by candle light. Yikes that hurts my eyes.

Hooray for God and for power!