I know it's Thursday, but I didn't have time to write much yesterday.
I am pouring sweat as I write this. I wish it was because I just got done working out or something, but no--it's 90 degrees with a dew point of 72(!), and we have no air conditioning because the power is still out. (I know, first world problems.)
I want to see the upside of this (like our insurance possibly paying for a new roof!) but I've been super stressed and anxious about it. Yesterday, I made the most perfect-looking enchiladas, and I was so excited to have them for dinner. Jerry was feeding the squirrels on the back deck. It was sunny, but there was no breeze, so it was super humid.
This is when the craziest thing happened. As I was preheating the oven and watching Jerry feed a squirrel, the sky went from sunny to extremely dark and rain just dumped on us--within no more than five-seconds. Jerry ran inside and then the wind went from 0 to 60 in about 2 seconds flat. The power went out immediately. As we stood there gaping, branches started falling off of trees and the trees were bending so much I thought they would fall over. I heard and felt a huge boom--something had hit the house.
Noah and Eli came in and we were all running around looking through the windows to see what was going on. I was sure that we were having a tornado. The last time we had a wind storm like this, we actually had a tornado come through (this was in 2010, I think).
The whole storm lasted about 15 minutes. I heard several things hit the roof and I watched in horror as a branch fell on my car (thankfully, it didn't cause damage). When the branches had stopped falling, we went outside to check everything out. There were huge branches blocking the road, there were branches caught in electrical wires, branches in our yard and several on our house. The biggest damage was on our roof--lots of shingles came off and a branch hit the side hard enough to break the gutter and damage the roof. There were several spots where things had punched holes or made cracks in the siding.
I went around taking pictures of the damage (knowing we would want them for the insurance company). Jerry called and they are coming out next Thursday to report everything. Our roof and siding are 18 years old and we've been talking about how we need to get them replaced in the next year or two. So I am REALLY hopeful that the insurance will pay for a new roof (and if I'm really dreaming big, new siding!).
My anxiety hit me like a ton of bricks. I obviously wasn't able to bake the enchiladas without power, so that was a bummer. Jerry had to leave for work an hour after the storm started, so he wasn't able to help me (with what, I don't know--I just felt like I needed him).
Here is a map of people without electricity as of this afternoon; the storm left 700,000 customers without power. The circled spot is where I am.
I hadn't eaten more than a few hundred calories up to that point, but I couldn't even think about food. I told Noah and Eli they could go out to eat and I'd pay for it. I told them to bring their phones and charge them (they went to Panera). I stayed home and cleaned up the house so that I'd know where everything was when it got dark and I couldn't see anything.
After that, I was bored. I didn't know what to do! My phone and computer were nearly dead. I obviously couldn't watch TV. I had cleaned what I was able to (I couldn't do laundry). I just laid on the couch in my bedroom and fell asleep at 7:30! The kids brought me a bagel from Panera, but I just wasn't in the mood to eat--my anxiety was so bad that I couldn't focus on anything--so I just went to bed. I couldn't sleep because it was SO HOT without the air conditioning. I was sweating all night and just couldn't get comfortable.
This morning, Jerry brought home a generator from his parents' house. I hadn't even been interested in using one because I was imagining that they would use a ton of gas--like a gallon an hour or something. It turns out that a gallon lasts about six hours--so even with our high gas prices right now, it would only cost about 50 cents per hour to get (some) electricity. The most important one was the refrigerator/freezer; I didn't want our food to spoil. We couldn't use the generator for things like the air conditioning, water heater, oven (thankfully we have a gas stove, so I can still use that), and a couple of other things.
We were able to plug in our refrigerator, internet/TV, a large lamp, charge our electronics, and right now, I am running a floor fan aimed directly at me.
Having the generator relieves a little of the anxiety because the most important stuff (refrigerator and, yes, internet) is available. But I still feel super overwhelmed--the feeling of needing to do something but not being able to think of exactly what that is. (Maybe it's laundry...? haha)
Anyways, aside from that whole story, I did do a Wednesday Weigh-In, so here is that:
I was at 170.8, which is down from 172.6 last week--a loss of 1.8 pounds. I'll take it!
I had two (very) high calorie days a few days ago. I felt like my stomach was a bottomless pit. I was starving! Then I noticed my skin was feeling oily, and I thought--oh, crap, I'm about to start my period. And sure enough, I started yesterday. I think that must have been why I was so hungry for the few days prior. (Unlike a lot of women, I don't tend to gain weight before/during my period--I just feel ravenous, I get extremely moody, I feel bloated, and my skin breaks out. So much fun, right?!)
It's interesting, though--I haven't had much of an appetite at all yesterday or today, so maybe it's my body's way of balancing out the ravenous appetite I had before.
Anyway, I really hope to see the 160's next week. The last time I saw the 160's was in late 2019!
