Or:
You Don’t Know What You Got, ‘Til it’s gone…..

Two days without power and it’s hard not to wax poetic about the subject:

O heat-
how you deliver,
my gooseflesh from shiver,

O light-
how you vanquish,
the demons of night…….

A storm of fantastic proportions whipped through our county Sunday and Monday with sustained winds of over 50 mph and gusts upwards of 80 mph (you can read more about it here). We rarely lose power at our house for more than a couple hours at a time, but we’ve been without since around 8:30 AM yesterday. Luckily, our only household casualty was a couple of fence panels which will be a royal pain in the ass to fix, but overall isn’t really so bad considering our neighbors have lost big panels from each of their roofs.

So yesterday was spent curled up on the couch reading with the poopies to keep me company. Not so bad until the sun winks out at 4PM. Then you realize just how cold and dark a November night can be and those creepy stories you read all day conspire to create monsters out of the flickering shadows.

But I have our recent power outage to thank for some highly under appreciated experiences I had yesterday…….

  • Showering by candlelight. Nothing takes the edge off of your jiggly bits like good old fashioned candlelight. Definitely try this one at home kids.
  • No TV, computer or electrical whatnot. Just good old-fashioned brainpower to entertain you. I read 2.5 books in the space of probably 18 hours. Nothing beats a brain binge!
  • Guilt free relaxation. I am pretty much never without anxiety over something I did or did not do. But without appliances, you can’t exactly feel guilty for not doing housework. Or exercising.
  • Curling up with your pets. Our Jack Russell, Nelson, rarely sits still long enough for you to trick him into cuddling. But yesterday he was as content as could be to lay by my side and steal some of my warmth. Kinda makes up for the trouble he causes the rest of the 99.9% of the time.
  • Cooking a grilled cheese sandwich while wearing a head lamp. Accident waiting to happen? Maybe. Fun? Definitely!
  • Not looking in the mirror for an entire day. No criticism, no makeup, no judgment. Everyone needs a day like this.
  • Going to bed early with your husband curled up under a down comforter. ‘Nuff said ;)

As I’m blogging this from work, I’m wondering if I’ll have power when I get home. Maybe, maybe not. But I do know one thing. I’ve missed all of you and hope that you’ve all been well. Though I’m MIA now, I’ll catch up with all of you soon I hope. Until then, give the showering by candlelight a try. You may never go back.