My weekend: batteries not included
I have lived through a very long weekend. And I have decided that I do not EVER want to be a single parent. So, heads up to the Webmaster: you are not allowed to leave me or die. I absolutely forbid it.
Friday had an inauspicious start to it. I drove the Webmaster and the kids to church, where he would be going with Auntie and the rest of our church’s youth group over to Leavenworth for winter camp. As he pulled his sleeping bag, sleeping mat and duffel bag from the trunk of the car, I looked at him and asked, “Um, did you bring a pillow?”
Cue dramatic music: dum-dah-DUMMM!
So, since my mother was there dropping off Auntie, I left the kids with her and the Webmaster and drove home for his pillow. And his water bottle, while I was there. I got stuck behind 3 schoolbuses dropping off kids going home and coming back.
I got there in the nick of time – they left about 10 minutes after I got back, pillow and water bottle securely tucked in a large plastic bag. “It’s a good thing you’re going to be gone, because after this, I would’ve made you sleep on the couch,” I told him, tongue firmly in cheek.
After the chartered bus pulled out of the parking lot, my cell phone rang. It was the Webmaster, thanking me again for making the mad rush back for his pillow. “Is your cell phone going to be on the whole time?” I asked.
“Oh, I brought my charger. Don’t worry,” he told me.
“Wait a minute. You remembered your cell phone charger but forgot your pillow??” I asked in disbelief.
“Look at it this way,” he said. “It’ll be a great thing to blog about.”
I finally got the kids home and the Munchkin down for a very late nap. My mother came over and we went out to dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory as a treat. Gotta love kid-friendly restaurants. The kids were well-behaved and it was a nice diversion for both my mother and myself.
With my mother’s help, I got the kids in bed. After she left, I got a phone call from the Webmaster, telling me that they had arrived safely. I was alone with Battlestar Galactica and a bad windstorm that was coming in from the coast.
Baby Boy woke up at 5 am, which was approximately the same time our power went out. I have a power-outage nightlight by my bed, so when it goes on, I know the power is out. I was able to get up and retrieve the baby from the nursery, and I took him back to bed with me and nursed him there. He went back to sleep, but I couldn’t. The wind was very strong and loud, and I was hoping that the power would come back on. It didn’t.
The Munchkin woke up at 8, and woke up her brother when she came into bed with me. While I began to think of how I would feed this kid today, I called my parents. Their power was out, too. We compared notes, and decided that I would bring the kids over there to stay, because at least they would have hot water and a propane-fueled barbeque grill. As I began to pack up enough diapers and spare clothes and a few DVDs and toys, my mom called to say that their power was back. I hustled over there, and there we stayed all day.
I was truly grateful that I had somewhere to go that was close by and that the kids were very familiar with. The Munchkin was a real trooper and took a nap in the twin bed in the guest room (a first – it has been a struggle to get her to nap anywhere but home or in the car), and I even snuck a nap with Baby Boy in Auntie’s full-sized bed.
I decided that I had better go home to check things out, and I did that after my grandparents dropped by and there were more hands to see to the kids. The power was on leading up to our street, but then stopped right near the entrance to our cul-de-sac. Except for a few people with generators, the power was out from our street all the way to the state highway several blocks away. I took my flashlight from my car and proceeded to get things ready in case I brought the kids home and the power still wasn’t on. I put our Coleman lantern/radio by the door, and votive candles in the bedrooms and bathrooms. I put a couple more flashlights out, and then locked everything up. I ate a warm dinner back at my parents’, and then got a phone call on my cell from Oddball, my brother-in-law. He was mad that he had been shopping around all day (including at 2 Wal-Marts) and was able to find only one Seahawks baseball cap. “Everything is Steelers around here!” he complained. We griped together about how the team was getting no respect nationally, and discussed the weather situation here at home. “I hope your power comes back on soon,” he said.
When my grandparents left, I began to get ready to take the kids home. I even took a Duraflame log from my parents’ garage, thinking that if push came to shove, we’d all sleep in front of our woodstove in the living room with lots of blankets. My step-grandfather called me while I was still packing, and told me, “Your Grandma wants you to stay at your folks’ place for the night if your power’s not back on.”
I promised them that I would take it under consideration, and even my Dad told me to come back if I thought it wasn’t going to work out. Nervous, I drove home, praying like mad that there would be lights on.
My faith was rewarded when I pulled up and my outside light was on. The house was ice-cold. Nevertheless, I hustled the Munchkin off to bed, then nursed Baby Boy back to sleep and turned up the heat in their rooms, and then went about resetting all the clocks. I was so grateful to get a hot shower and get to bed myself.
Sunday morning actually ran rather smoothly, even though I had to get the kids up and going and dressed by myself for church. I figured that if the power was on, I was in good shape. The Webmaster got home Sunday afternoon, and we went to Scrap Mom and Gaming Dad’s house to watch the Super Bowl. While Carter’s Mom and I did our best (she said, “They need to turn things around here!” and I said, “Maybe we should yell at them,” and then they got an interception that eventually turned into a touchdown), and we all were pulling for the Seahawks, it simply didn’t happen. They didn’t play their best game, and add to that some totally questionable calls from the refs, and a major Steeler bias on the media’s part, the Super Bowl turned out to be a disappointment. Even the commercials weren’t that good.
But here is the bright side of things:
1)The power is on
2)The Seahawks are still the NFC Champions
3)The power is on
4)The Webmaster and Auntie are back home safely
5)The power is on
6)Baby Boy cut another tooth
7)The power is on
8)Battlestar Galactica was really, really good
9)The power is on
10)I got to work a little on my cross-stitch, and…
11)The power is on
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