Lights out
Last night right before our supper time the power went out. And it wasn't just us. The whole neighborhood. Which I later learned was the whole section of town. It was a blackout! My first ever! My girls freaked out. They were seated at the dining room table taking bites of leftover pizza when the lights darkened. The bummer for me was that I hadn't heated up my pizza before the darkness fell. I'll say that cold pizza was a whole lot better than leftover chicken and rice.
Our only source of light was the glow from my laptop. Thankfully that provided enough light for me to grab the 2 flashlights in the top drawer of our butler's pantry. I know, you're thinking why do you have flashlights in that drawer? Well last night was a good example of why I have flashlights in an easy to find place. I am that wacky. I gobbled up my pizza, grabbed a flashlight and went to the basement. The girls were at my heels asking a string of questions. None of which I answered. Instead I put them to work holding the flashlights as I dug through our camping gear to retrieve our lanterns and headlamps.
Ahh yeah! Headlamps. Those are the most awesomest flashlighty thing to ever be invented. Once I had my headlamp on all was good. We gathered our lanterns and some pillar candles and went upstairs. I gave us back some light and went on with my normal routine of after supper cleanup.
The girls were happy to have an excuse to run around with flashlights. They sat by the fire and told scary stories. I am so glad we have a gas fireplace since the furnace requires electricity to ignite there wouldn't have been heat otherwise. Watching the girls was fun. Sure they were really upset they couldn't watch a movie, one they had been waiting ALL day to see, but they were just as amused with the books and crayons. After they tired of story telling they took their lanterns and moved to the living room rug surrounding themselves with several books. Each read and chatted about their story. The excitement was relieving. They even began to journal (Yay!) coloring significant scenes from their stories in their entries. Very sweet. I gladly joined them with my own book.
Fortunately but really unfortunately the power returned nearly two hours later. Sure I was glad to have the power back, all that food in the fridge and freezer was a haunt I tried not to think about, but it was so nice to have a very quiet un-distracting evening. The girls were so much more creative and I felt a bigger sense of calm. The gentle flicker of candle and fire light made for a relaxing atmosphere. It gives me an idea about having "blackout night" once a week to step back from all the mindless TV and computer time.
Our only source of light was the glow from my laptop. Thankfully that provided enough light for me to grab the 2 flashlights in the top drawer of our butler's pantry. I know, you're thinking why do you have flashlights in that drawer? Well last night was a good example of why I have flashlights in an easy to find place. I am that wacky. I gobbled up my pizza, grabbed a flashlight and went to the basement. The girls were at my heels asking a string of questions. None of which I answered. Instead I put them to work holding the flashlights as I dug through our camping gear to retrieve our lanterns and headlamps.
Ahh yeah! Headlamps. Those are the most awesomest flashlighty thing to ever be invented. Once I had my headlamp on all was good. We gathered our lanterns and some pillar candles and went upstairs. I gave us back some light and went on with my normal routine of after supper cleanup.
The girls were happy to have an excuse to run around with flashlights. They sat by the fire and told scary stories. I am so glad we have a gas fireplace since the furnace requires electricity to ignite there wouldn't have been heat otherwise. Watching the girls was fun. Sure they were really upset they couldn't watch a movie, one they had been waiting ALL day to see, but they were just as amused with the books and crayons. After they tired of story telling they took their lanterns and moved to the living room rug surrounding themselves with several books. Each read and chatted about their story. The excitement was relieving. They even began to journal (Yay!) coloring significant scenes from their stories in their entries. Very sweet. I gladly joined them with my own book.
Fortunately but really unfortunately the power returned nearly two hours later. Sure I was glad to have the power back, all that food in the fridge and freezer was a haunt I tried not to think about, but it was so nice to have a very quiet un-distracting evening. The girls were so much more creative and I felt a bigger sense of calm. The gentle flicker of candle and fire light made for a relaxing atmosphere. It gives me an idea about having "blackout night" once a week to step back from all the mindless TV and computer time.
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