December 29, 2009

In the Light, In the Dark.

in the light.






Christmas was fabulous!

But the drive there and back almost did me right in.

We drove twenty hours there and twenty hours back home again, and it would have been rather enjoyable if not for the small humans in the back seat. They sure do know how to make things... challenging... what with all their chattering and crying and fussing and carsickness and 'Is that mountain utah? Is THAT one utah? Whaddabout that one?'

(For every single mountain! Or hill! Or speed bump!)

It was really rough, but I would do it all over again to be able to spend that much time with my family. We don't get to be together like that very often, and it really is worth whatever it takes to get out there.

near the end. when the desperation was setting in.
"here! just gut a box of kleenex, son!"


I keep catching myself glaring out the window at my car.

Because I am MAD AT IT and don't want to talk to it for a good long while.




in the dark.

Tonight, around 4:00, it started to snow. Moments later, a transformer blew down the street (KABLAM!) and we lost power for four and a half hours.

Our house was cold as all heck dang.

But we made the most of it and read books on a pile of blankets in the living room and figured out how to pop popcorn and brew tea using only these little camp stoves Chris had made out of soda cans years and years ago- back in the days when he was in my same College english course at UNR and he only showed up to class 30% of the time, yet somehow managed to get a better grade than me at the end of the semester. (Oooh I was AM STILL miffed about that.) I kept thinking as I watched him light these little aluminum contraptions how we'd never have dreamed we'd be using them almost a decade later to make yummy treats for our family on a dark, snowy night in the plains of middle america.






It was brilliant fun.

I have the fondest childhood memories of when the power would go out when we were growing up. We always lit the fire and piled in the living room and had a grand ol' time reading books and making forts.

What about you? What did your family do when the power was MIA?

It's Ice Storm season, and I need to gather some ideas.....

:)

9 comments:

http://semipseudo.blogspot.com/ said...

The power never went out when I was young but it did go out last year in the middle of a big snow storm just a few weeks after my husband and I had our first baby. What did we do? Cards and board games, but mostly called up our family and panicked that we would be freezing forever. I wish we had camp stoves! Anyway, good luck - hope you keep your power the rest of the winter!

Mama said...

My dad would make macaroni and cheese (this was the ONLY time he cooked) and hot dogs on the bbq outside. We would light every candle in the house (our emergency candles) and play games and make forts...oh, and not flush the toilet (since we were on a well, we had to use power to flush so you got one good flush)...If the power came on in the middle, we would keep all the lights off and keep pretending. Oh how I have fond memories of power outages.
Angel

Anonymous said...

Love love love when the power goes out...we are fortunate enough to have a wood burning stove which of course gets used...the candles get lit and we usually end up down stair, by the stove, telling stories or playing a board game. sometimes we will sleep down there too....depending on the weather...cold yes....warm no.
Not really any great idea there for you...just a story

(came by from My guide to surviving and enjoying lifes mundane)

Happy New year and Happy Ice Storm Season..sounds like it could be an adventure!

PaisleyJade said...

Wow - what a long time to drive with kiddies - but I bet it was so worth it!

We usually just got excited when the power went out and ran around the house with torches or sat around candles and chatted excitedly... usually the power wasn't out for long.

Widge said...

We had the power out for almost a week once when I was young in a big snow dump. We cooked on the wood fire and I pretended I was in the olden days taking my candle to bed with me. I even put on a really old long night dress to really "get in the part".
Now when it happens we play a board game and like Paisley jade said it doesn't last long here.

Emery Jo said...

ooooh yes! I need to stock up on board games and playing cards! great tips! :)

MoMar said...

On several occasions our power went out for days at a time in Callahan Ranch. We had a freestanding wood stove. We could heat pans of water on the top for washing our face or making cocoa or top ramen. We were on a well, so we got the water by melting snow. We could lay bread on it and make toast and keep warm. We also melted snow in the bathtubs so we could pour buckets of water down the toilets. I seriously considered a wood stove for those very reasons for this new house but didn't do it. I hope I don't have to regret that.

Just Jiff said...

ahhh... power outages in the middle of a very cold winter. I feel your pain. That happened to us before. We all snuggled up together too. :)

misguided mommy said...

legos yay LEGOS The boys finally got some this year and i'm thrilled because honestly i was dying to play legos. in fact i'm pretty sure that was mostly a present for mom and not them