Powerless

Well, we finally have heat and power after a bout with a hurricane...in Ohio! On Monday, we were hit by hurricane Sandy. Personally, the storm didn't seem nearly as bad as many others we have weathered. However, the rain saturated tree roots and combined with gusting winds to create a perfect storm (pun intended) to uproot many very large residential trees. So, Power went out Monday at dinner and stayed out until Friday afternoon. Mind you, many suffered much worse than we did. We had no loss of home, life or limb (human or arboreal, other than some easily moved branches). But, the effect of not knowing when it was coming back on was terrible. The house got down to 48 degrees by Friday. We had lost a full fridge and 2 freezers of food, despite much effort made to save it. Losing several hundred dollars worth of food just plain sucks! Especially food that was made from scratch and frozen to use over the winter. Here we are, getting by during the outage.

Hats at the table, no longer rude, but required! The ever-present crayons. I thank you Crayola, you saved some of my sanity.

I was 2 rows into a pattern for a barbie dress for Ollie's birthday when the power went out. I hadn't printed it :(  So, I winged it! My goal was a non-skanky style dress and I think I met that goal. Knitting with the smallest needles kept my frozen fingers nimble!

Halloween was postponed! Aunt Robyn visited with a ghoulish treat! Her treat? Power was on at her place when she got home!

Hats, many layers of clothes, more crayons...this is getting boring! and colder! The Poochies moved in with the generous Grand-Poochies for warmth and some Curious George episodes.

"In Case of Emergency" Hot chocolate

In a pan, mix 3/4 cup sugar, 1/3 cup cocoa powder, pinch o'salt and 1/3 cup boiling water.

Mix well and add 3 1/2 cups milk. heat until perfectly warm.

turn off heat and add 3/4 tsp. vanilla. Mix and pour.

Top with marshmallows and warm your insides!

Many candles!

Very important to keep the flashlights from wandering off! This was treated like a tabernacle of light!

Cold noses! Toast made on the stove top.

Hermes guards a pink bunny slipper while wearing a sock.


Some things I am glad about

• Gas stove! We couldn't run the oven, but we could hand-light the burners!
• Gas water tank meant hot water if it ran long enough!
• Having enough pantry items to make oatmeal, cocoa, homemade spaghetti sauce (?!?) and fresh squeezed lemonade.
• Postponed trick-or-treat meant we ate the candy we had for it.
• Having a really good children's library and art supplies. We read A TON!!!!!!!!!

I am so sorry that there are others that still don't have power. I hope that they are getting the help they need. I am so thankful for all the wonderful people that helped and offered us help. Times like this really lets you know who cares about you. Hugs, hugs, hugs to all of you!
I will end with Wolfie's exclamation as he realized that the power was on,
"I am drunk on electricity!"