UGH

Friday night Chuck and I were awakened by all the clicking noises of things losing power. It was at that moment when we heard the storm for the first time. Let's just say it was a tiny bit scary. We went upstairs to check it out and sat by the big window for a bit. Then we realized that it probably wasn't the safest thing to sit in front of a window with a big tree right there when the wind looked like it was going as fast as it was during the hurricane. It was bad. The lightning was like nothing I'd seen before: nonstop. Then we started getting nervous for the boys. We took them downstairs to finish the night's sleep.

We woke up to a pretty torn-up neighborhood. Within our 1.33-mile walk, we saw four places where trees (BIG trees, mind you) had fallen on power lines. Big branches were down everywhere. Even a couple of houses had trees on them. It was then that I knew we were in trouble.

So here we are, two-and-a-half days later, still without power. And here we are, two-and-a-half days later, facing temperatures in the upper-90s with high humidity. Let' s just say we're not at all comfortable. Of course, I "get" to go to work where the indoor temps are nearly zero, and I feel guilty about it the whole time. (I wonder if my friends' husbands feel the same?) But here's a peek into our power-less reality:

1. We found a radio and thankfully had batteries. But all they do is keep repeating outage numbers. That's not helpful, radio people.
2. Our landline phones died pretty quickly. Cell phones had limited reception the first day, but now we have no way to charge them.
3. Our upstairs was nearly 90 degrees last night, but leaving windows open all night reduced it to about 80.
4. Our basement has provided some relief and all of us have slept down there (of course Chuck and I sleep down there permanently). But during the day, it's just too dark to really play down there, unless you're playing with shadow puppets. But even then, you're afraid to use too much battery.
5. I had to toss everything from our fridge yesterday. Everything. I cried on the way to work today thinking about the stuff in the freezer. But I can't bear to look there yet.
6. The kids just don't seem to notice the indoor heat. They just play as if their parents aren't melting into the furniture.
7. Cooking is nearly impossible. Any ideas on foods to eat that don't require things from a fridge, freezer, or cooking on a stove or oven? We've about exhausted the dry cereal and peanut butter sandwiches.
8. Nights are really boring. We don't want to hang out upstairs, and because the boys are sleeping downstairs, we have to hide out in the bedroom. We've been playing some scrabble on the iPad, but that gets old, especially when I keep losing.
9. I can't get used to no power. I keep flipping switches everywhere I go.
10. The first day we found one grocery store that was open and a Subway for dinner. That helped.
11. Entertaining kids in a dark, hot place is not easy. Shadow puppets only work for so long. And at least for the first two days, nothing was open. So we can't seek relief at a mall or a pool or someone else's place because everywhere was out of power.
12. The roads are a mess. An absolute mess. Driving around on Saturday and to church on Sunday was quite treacherous.
13. Somehow the church had power. It was cold there. We should have attended all four wards just to relish in the air conditioning.
14. We're all just ornery. And even though I get to spend 8.5 hours in air conditioning while at work, just knowing I have to return to a house with no power, high heat, and no food nor way to cook it, is so depressing. We're all lethargic and just blah.
15. The worst is the reality that we might not get power until Friday. FRIDAY. One full week with record-setting high temperatures outside and no way to cool the house. It's miserable. We're miserable. (I just checked Pepco's site and they haven't even assessed my neighborhood yet. No crews are assigned. Seriously. 2.5 days later and nothing? Nothing? Ridiculous.)

Sorry to be such a downer, but there's really very little good in this. Maybe the only good thing to come of it is the generosity of others that was extended to us yesterday at church when we had many invites for dinner and offers for cool places. So after naps, we invaded one house for play time and another for dinner. It could be worse. But only just barely.

Oooh, because I'm so focused on the negative, I did forget the positive! Saturday night, as we're getting the boys ready for bed, I hear it: the little tinkle of Christmas music. That's right: the ICE CREAM MAN! Through some miracle, I grab my wallet with actual cash (when does that happen?!) and we all run outside, some of us barefoot. It was the best $5.50 ever spent on ice cream. Boy did we need it.

And because I can't upload my pictures, and no post should be picture-less (although I do that all the time), here's a picture of the outage map as of this morning.


P.S. In response to Emily's comment: Yes, it's easier now because things are opening. But for the first two days nothing was open and no one else had power (well, at least we didn't think so, but how could we know with no internet?!). We couldn't go to a mall or the pool and we're not allowed to cook in our churhc building. All good ideas, though! Today, Chuck took the boys to the bounce place and we'll invade chilly friends for dinner. Don't worry.

P.P.S. And to those Marylanders reading this in coolness, beware: we may invade your house next! But don't worry, if you'll let us, we'll bring pizza.