Catch-Up

Where do I even start?

Our power is back, thankfully. There are still a lot of people without power, so I am very grateful ours was restored.

On Thursday, after Jerry got in the accident with the Jeep, we were at a loss for what to do next. Going from three cars to one car in a matter of three months is a big challenge! We're still dealing with the insurance company. Because of the water damage, we can't keep (or buy back) the car with a salvage title--a Michigan law--so I'm assuming that we'll get a check from the insurance company.

Jerry had made plans a long time ago for a "guys' weekend" with friends that he went to high school with. He hadn't seen them in YEARS (at least a decade, probably more) and he was really looking forward to it. It wasn't just the weekend--it was actually Thursday through Monday--and after the accident, he said he wasn't going to go.

I really wanted him to go, because he's been wanting to catch up with these guys for a long time. And since the power was out, all he'd be doing here is twiddling his thumbs all weekend anyway. He was super worried about the car situation, but I said that his going on the guys' trip (they rented a cabin and played disc golf mostly) wouldn't change the fact that we need to get a car. Anyway, after I kept pushing him to go, he did.

At the time, I assumed the power would come back on the next day at the latest. As horrible as it sounds, after a couple of days with no power--sweating from not having air conditioning, living on watermelon, grapes, and toast that I made on the gas stove top(!), only being able to do anything during light hours when we could see, listening to the loud generators from our neighbors, and not having any form of entertainment--I started to feel resentful. I was miserable and I wanted everyone to be miserable with me! ;)

Jerry rode with his friends to the cabin, so we did have a car--however, Eli needed it for work. After a couple of days, it started to hit me that not having power wasn't just boredom from no internet, making sure to keep the refrigerator and freezer closed, and having to use flashlights.

The dishes and laundry started piling up; the rug definitely needed to be vacuumed, and I had already used up the battery in the cordless one; we had to take cold showers because we have a tankless water heater that runs on electricity; and other things that we don't think about when the power is only out for a matter of hours.

On the second night, I was lying in bed at 9:00 (much earlier than I usually go to bed). I checked my sunrise/sunset app to see what time sunrise was, so I could get up. I thought it was hilarious that they have a countdown until night was over. I figured I'd just be refreshing it all night, watching it get closer to morning. And even funnier that it was only 1% complete when I happened to check, haha. 

Being vegan was convenient, because I didn't have to worry about meat and dairy spoiling. I had blocks of tofu in the freezer, which I knew would stay frozen solid (they are basically a big chunk of ice). I ended up having to throw away only a few things--soy milk, tofu that was marinating in the fridge, and couple of days' worth of leftovers from dinner.

I didn't want our fruit to go bad, so Noah and I ate an entire watermelon in probably 24 hours and a ton of green and red grapes. I've been really into eating sourdough toast with coconut oil for the last month or so, and I was bummed I couldn't make it in the toaster oven. Since all we could cook with was the gas stove, I lit the burner as low as I could and then sat the bread on there to toast. 

I wish I could say it was delicious, but it was very unevenly toasted. I could have cooked other things on the stove top, but I didn't want to keep opening the fridge, so I made do with what I had. It actually wasn't that bad, though--I was so full of fruit that it didn't matter much, hahaha.

I definitely don't recommend

The house was pitch-black at night, especially in my bedroom with the blackout curtains--I bumped into things so many times. I discovered a really large, nasty bruise on my arm a couple of days ago and for the life of me, I cannot remember how I got it!

A bruise that big, you'd think I would remember how I got it.

During the day, I spent a lot of time hand-sewing while listening to podcasts on my phone. I had one portable battery (which I hid from the kids, haha) to charge my phone, so I used that in order to listen to podcasts--the battery went a long way, actually. When it was too dark, I used my Kindle Paperwhite to read (with the backlight).

Meanwhile, Jerry was having a blast with his friends. He sent me a selfie of him playing disc golf; and I sent him this, claiming it was a selfie of me--hahaha.

After a few days, I finally decided that I really needed to charge our stuff, get a good night's sleep in the air conditioning, and just watch TV or play around on my phone or something to keep from losing my mind; so, I booked a hotel room for the kids and I to stay the following night. I thought it would actually be really fun to hang out with them (bribing them with air conditioning and hot showers and TV and charging ports, it was no question whether they wanted to, haha). 

The following morning, the power came back on! I immediately called the hotel to cancel, hoping they would waive their 24 hours cancellation rule--which they did--and then I took a relaxing shower. It was so funny--each time one of the kids or I would step in the shower while the power was out, you could hear a big gasp follow by a few expletives all through the house. I actually prefer showers on the lukewarm side rather than hot most of the time, because I don't like sweating right when I get out of the shower; but stepping into an ice cold shower will definitely take your breath away!

Jerry came home when the power was already back, so he was lucky. (And I really am glad that he went.) Then last night, we were making dinner and talking about his trip--food in the oven--and suddenly the power went out. Again.

I nearly lost it just then. I was stunned. About five minutes later, however, it came back on--a big relief. Yesterday was super busy--I cleaned the house, caught up on laundry, cleaned out the fridge to get rid of whatever may have spoiled (leftovers, mostly), and I just didn't want to write a blog post after that. But now I'm all caught up on housework, and we're dealing with the car insurance. I just want it to be done!

Anyway, after the very long five days I've had--they felt extra long because I was always either waiting for it to be bedtime or waiting for sunrise in order to get up--I am eternally grateful to Benjamin Franklin for discovering electricity ;)