Hi! My day job is a CMA in the Precertificiation Department (I work with insurance companies). I'm a mom to two young men. I've been married to the same man for 34 years. I have a lot to say about nothing. Lucky you.
It’s not the I’m-so-happy-I-can’t-help-but-cry sort of crying, either.
My eyes constantly water. Well, not constantly, but they do water for days at a time. I think it’s the cold weather. Perhaps it’s the wind. Whatever it is, I wish it would stop because wow, I’m so sick of reaching up and dabbing at the corners of my eyes to soak up the moisture.
It’s annoying and people look at me strange.
It’s not my makeup. My makeup hasn’t changed for years. And like I said, it only happens occasionally.
It’s happening today, right this very minute.
I have to wear water-proof mascara or it’ll smear and I end up giving little kids nightmares. When I turn my head a certain way, the light captures the moisture and people ask me if I’m crying.
“No. My eyes are watering,” I reply.
They look at me like they don’t believe me.
I don’t cry. I hate crying.
“It’s a waste of energy,” I say.
But my eyes, they won’t stop watering.
Perhaps I’m crying and don’t know it?
It seems to get worse the older I get.
If this keeps up, I’ll be dehydrated before I’m 45.
I was emptying my purse and transferring items to my satchel so I could go to the library to write when MK approached me.
I looked at him.
He looked at me.
I smiled at him.
He smiled back.
I arched my brows waiting for … something.
“Can I have a hug?” MK said.
I blinked. Since when did the boy have to ask for a hug?
Since he became a teenager, that’s when.
“MK,” I said, “you never have to ask for a hug. I will always give you hugs, no matter how old you are.”
He smiled and I opened my arms to him.
He eagerly walked into them.
I could feel a lump in my throat at his uncertainty. Was it normal for a 13-year old boy to ask his mother for a hug? Was I not giving him enough attention? Was I not giving him what he needed? Am I failing as his mother?
These questions ran through my mind as I hugged him. And I hugged him close to my side. Though MK has grown, he still fits perfectly under my arm.
I hugged him for long seconds. And because it’s part of who I am and how I react whenever I get emotional, I joked around with him.
“Is this becoming awkward?” I asked as I hugged him tighter to me. “Is this hug lasting too long?”
He chuckled and said, “Yeah.”
I reluctantly released him.
I used to hug and kiss on the boys all the time when they were little. They were so cute and oh so huggable – they liked the attention, it made them feel secure. And it felt good for me to have them so close.
But then they started school and the hugging stopped. Not entirely, but it was definitely less often. They were getting older and they no longer desired mom to do that “mom” stuff. They were spreading their wings, they wanted independence and I stepped back and gave it to them.
But then, not hugging them became a habit and I could probably count the number of times I’ve hugged my boys this past year on one hand.
Part of the problem lies with me. I’m not a physical person. It has taken me a long time to get used to and welcome physical contact with my husband. I couldn’t really tell you the reason I’m like this, I just am. This is just one aspect of my personality that I’ve had to work on over the years. It’s hard to explain – my personal space is my own, back off.
Part of the problem lies with them. They are teenagers now and they desire personal space. Whenever I’ve tried to touch them, I’ve been rejected, pushed away and I suppose after so many tries, I have given up. I was hurt by their rejection, but certainly not surprised. I remember rejecting my mother at this age – having mom so close felt suffocating; I’m sure they feel the same way.
But there have been times GD has needed a hug. I could just tell by his facial expression, the way he stood very close to me or by something he said, he’s needed me – I’ve gotten quite good at reading between the lines with him. And when those precious moments occur, I step in and initiate contact because I know in my heart he wants reassurance from me. GD has never asked for attention, but he hasn’t needed to. I’m sure there have been moments he wanted something from me and I wasn’t paying attention – I just hope those times have been few and far between the times he has needed me.
MK is a bit more forthright with his needs. He will flat out ask, like asking for a hug. And I can tell when he’s feeling neglected by the way he behaves at school. The only times we’ve ever had problems with MK’s attitude at school was when he felt like he was being ignored at home.
I know this because he has told me that was the reason for his strange behavior.
I’ve since made it my mission to carefully watch him for signs that he needs me.
It’s becoming harder to read the signs as he gets older.
I felt guilty when he asked me for a hug. Should a child ever have to ask for affection from his parents? The boys get hugs from their father on occasion, but it’s rare. Instead, they are more apt to slap each other on the shoulder or shake hands with their dad. I suppose it’s a man thing. But shouldn’t a mother freely give out hugs without being prompted?
I feel like I have failed them in some way.
It’s so hard to describe how your role as parent changes when your children hit the teenage years. The change is so subtle and happens so slowly that it’s nearly impossible to pinpoint exactly when it happens or even what happens. Though I know that children growing away from their parents is a natural process, it’s still really, really hard to allow it to happen.
Letting go of my sons is by far one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. And I still haven’t fully released them yet. I suppose that’s a good thing in many ways. Though they crave to be adults and to have more freedom, there is still a big part of them that needs our guidance and expertise, and yes, even a hug from mom once in a while.
I saw this over at Momma Blogs A Lot and I thought I would give it a go. Sleeping is a huge issue at our house – not for me, per se, but for my husband.
In fact, it’s safe to say, the man DOESN’T sleep much at all. There is nary a night that goes by that he doesn’t wake up for some internal reason, but I think the main reason he doesn’t sleep very well is because he doesn’t know how to shut his brain off. He’s always thinking.
ALWAYS.
However, he slept through the night last night and didn’t wake up once – not once. And THAT is a reason to celebrate because it truly is a rarity.
I used to be a night owl. I used to stay up until about 2ish in the morning and then sleep in until 9 / 10 every morning. This worked fine for me, until I married an early bird and he used to get SO irritated with me for sleeping in, so much so, that he was a grouch nearly the entire weekend, so I retrained myself and now I’m up at the crack of dawn – even on weekends.
In some ways, I like this new routine – I’m up, I’m alert and I’m most productive in the mornings. But since I get up around five every morning, I usually start getting drowsy around noon because I’ve been up for seven hours.
I usually get my second wind around two in the afternoon and I’m simply functioning the rest of the day, don’t ask me to be creative, it won’t happen in that time period, all of my brain activity is on autopilot.
Then I usually crash around nine / ten at night and the whole process starts again.
I have occasional cat naps, usually about 20 minutes, during the afternoon and that really helps me to stay up a little later. My sleeping pattern has completely reversed itself, thanks to my husband. 🙂
1. How long do you sleep each night?
I usually get about 7 hours of sleep. I’d like more, but it doesn’t usually happen. Ideally, I think I need about nine hours of sleep to really feel awake.
2. Do you fall asleep easily?
Yes. I can pretty much fall asleep anywhere, anytime. However, I’m a very light sleeper and everything wakes me up. However, I can usually get back to sleep fairly quickly.
3. Do you fall asleep at times not in your bed?
I didn’t use to. But I’ve been finding myself nodding off a lot when I watch TV. I REALLY don’t like doing that though, because then I have to force myself to wake up, do my nightly ritual (brush teeth, remove makeup, etc) and then try and get back to sleep after I’ve been moving around and have woken myself up.
4. Do you listen to music or use “white noise” to sleep?
I have to have white noise. It’s essential for me. Because I’m such a light sleeper, every little freaking noise wakes me up so I need something to mask those noises so I won’t wake up. I currently sleep to the sound of a fan, only pointed away from me because it’s so cold right now I’d wake up encased in an ice cube if I had it blowing on me.
4a. Do you have to have it a certain temperature when you sleep?
I just threw this question in because temperature is a huge factor for me when I sleep. It has to be cold. I can not sleep when it’s too hot. As a result, we crank our air conditioner whenever we go camping and turn our heat down at home during the night so it’s cold enough to snuggle under the covers. Our house usually drops to the mid, to lower 60’s at night – we all prefer to sleep when it’s cold.
5. Do you sleep through the night or get up a couple of times?
Once I’m asleep, and providing no one gets up during the night, I can, and often do, sleep through the night without waking up once. The only times I wake up are:
A. When I’m not physically tired. Yet another reason I work out, to make myself physically tired to sleep.
B. My sinuses thicken and I wake up with a raging headache about four in the morning and I’m forced to get up and take some Aleve and put in some nose spray to clear my passages (like this morning, actually).
6. Do you have trouble sleeping away from your own bed?
Yes, yes, and definitely yes. Any change in my routine and I can’t sleep, period. Whenever we go on vacation, camping, or even if the boys have friends stay the night, I don’t sleep worth a crap. I usually jerk myself awake about once every two hours – no reason really, just instinct, I guess. I wake up to make sure everyone is still okay.
It was ESPECIALLY bad when the boys were babies. But I’m sure I don’t have to tell you parents that – I think we all do that when our children are little.
7. Do you need an alarm clock to get you up?
No. The coffee maker usually wakes me up when it goes off at 5:20 in the morning. A lot of times, I just instinctively wake up before it even goes off.
A lot of times, during the school week, I jerk awake about 4:00 and then doze off and on until it’s time to get up. I think I’m afraid of over sleeping and not getting the kids up in time for school.
I’M their alarm clock. MK will wake up on his own, he’s an early bird, so I don’t worry too much about him. But GD would sleep until noon every day, if given the chance. He’s definitely a night owl.
8. Do you ever take medication to help you sleep?
Never. I’ve never had to. Exercising is my sleep aid and works for me every time. Now the husband has to take Tylenol PM occasionally to help him relax enough to go sleep. Again, his brain never shuts off – he simply doesn’t know, or understand, how to relax enough on his own to go to sleep. It drives me nuts, quite frankly.
9. Do you/have you slept with pets?
We don’t have any pets, nor have I ever had a pet that I slept with. I’m not a big animal person so the thought of sharing my bed with an animal sort of grosses me out. (Sorry animal lovers, but I’m being honest).
I sleep best when I’m by myself, no distractions, no one smothering me, no one snoring in my ear. My family knows to leave me alone when it’s time for me to get some sleep – I’m extremely cranky when I’m sleep-deprived and EVERYONE is happier when I’m rested. 🙂
Christmas song #7 A Christmas to Remember by Amy Grant
Every Sunday I provide videos and valuable links to the Truth or Tradition teachings. We’ve been following the Truth or Tradition teachings for many years now and they have truly blessed our family. We have found peace and happiness through our beliefs and we walk confidently for God. My hope, by passing on this information to you, is that what you find here, or on the Truth or Tradition website, will guide you to a better, more blessed and abundant life.
If you would like to read my views on religion and how we got started with the ministry, you can read this.
Let’s get started:
The Sword of the Spirit: the Word of God
The sword of the spirit, the Word of God, is the only offensive weapon the believer has as he wrestles with evil. This is simple, but often forgotten. Sometimes we try to reason with evil so it will change, or be so loving and kind that evil will relent from doing harm, or we simply try to avoid it and not enter the fight. The Devil is real, his nature is evil, and he has enlisted the help of many demons and humans to carry out his evil plans, so the fight is real and cannot be avoided. If we ignore the Word of God we not only disarm ourselves, but we also put ourselves in the position of not being able to effectively help others. [11] No wonder the psalmist says, “I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word” (Ps. 119:16). No wonder Jesus reminded us of the words of Deuteronomy, that people do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God (Matt. 4:4; Deut. 8:3).
It is important to remember that the sword is the “sword of the Spirit.” [12] When we think about it, that makes sense. As humans, can we stand against the Devil in our own strength? No. Are there any earthly weapons that can defeat him? No. The only weapon that is effective against the Enemy is the Word of God. Even with that, we do not defeat him in a permanent way; we simply cut off his attacks and protect ourselves.
In the Greek text, the verb telling us to take the helmet and the sword is in the imperative mood. That means that God is not just stating that we should take these pieces of armor, or asking us if we would like to, He is commanding us to take them and put them on. If we do not put on the helmet and take up and use the sword, we are in effect telling God that we will not enter into His service in our fullest capacity. One important reason why God commands us to take the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, is that if we do not really understand the Word, we can unknowing be used by the Devil against the purposes of God, and hurt other people. For example, the Christians who tortured other Christians during the Inquisition thought they were doing Christ’s work. Although that is an extreme example, the same kind of thing, people working against God when they think they are working for Him, happens on a much smaller scale every day. Christians are called to stand for God, and the sword of the Spirit is an essential part of our armor if we are going to be successful in doing that throughout our lifetime.
God has called us to stand for Him, stand in the evil day, and, “having done all,” to stand. It is not easy, and sometimes seems more of a burden than a blessing, but our labor in the Lord is not in vain (1 Cor. 15:58). Let us each do what it takes to stand for God and His Son as long as we live. They deserve that from us, and we will be blessed for doing it.
If you have any questions, or would like to learn more about God’s wonderful message, please visit the Truth or Tradition website. You can also keep track of the ministry through their Facebook page.
This was originally published on my self-hosted blog January 23, 2007.
*WARNING: Rant ahead.
(Day 11 has ended – still NO power!!)
(I was exhausted in this picture).
The kids went back to school today. (They had been out of school for nearly two weeks when this happened).
I’m relieved. Okay actually, no, I’m not. I’m jealous. They get to go to a warm building, WITH lights. And I’m stuck at home, cold and in the dark.
I shouldn’t complain. The hubs hot-wired the house heater into the generator so its now possible to walk through the entire house without a coat on. And it’s daytime, and the sun is shining, sort of. But I’m alone for the first time in eleven days and I miss the rug rats.
I have a meeting with a prospective client at 10:15. After that I plan on heading out to the library because the thought of going back home, back to the cave, just doesn’t appeal to me.
I know I shouldn’t complain, we’ve had it so much better than most people. And I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said that, but dang it. Just HOW LONG does it take to restore power, anyway?
I’m tired of being teased. I’m tired of having my hopes raised and then smashed into a thousand shards of sharp disappointment. The utility company has called, twice. The first time was several days ago. This gal asked if we had power, we told her no, and she very cheerfully said, “Okay. Well, you should have power by this afternoon. I’ll call back.”
We all got very excited. Yay! This torture is almost over! We can get back to normal! We’ve survived bitter cold temperatures and pitch-black rooms and cooking on our propane BBQ grill inside the house!
That was four or five days. Then last night, another gal called and asked if we had power, “Uh, no.” My husband said firmly. “We haven’t had power since the 12th at 10:15 p.m.”
She hem-hawed around for a bit and when my husband asked her if she had any idea when we WOULD get power, she gave us the standby answer, “We can’t really say but crews are close.”
Riiiiiiiiight. How many times have we heard that crock of crap? I’m beginning to think the utility company doesn’t know their head from their arse. Yes, I’m bitter. I’ve had it up to my eyeballs with this camping in our own home deal. It’s time to move on and get back to normal, for cripes sake!!
Our trash hasn’t been picked up in two weeks. I called last week. I got a recorded message about how they were trying to keep out of the utility trucks way, yaddayaddayadda. Funny how the other trash companies made their regular rounds.
Okay, so we’ll put two weeks worth of trash at the curb. And two weeks worth of trash is STILL sitting out by the curb. Our trash guys were supposed to be here today. They weren’t. Why do I feel like we’ve been forgotten? I have to tell you, it’s really hard to stay positive right now. I’m sick to death of all of this incompetence. Yes, I KNOW it was the worst storm we’ve had in 20 years. Yes I KNOW 75,000 people lost their electricity. But why did we have to be the first to lose it and why the hell are we the last to get it back?
Yes, I’m cranky. It really irritates me when people don’t do their jobs, or don’t do them efficiently. I know those utility guys are out there working 15-hour days. But dang it, I can’t help but wonder if they are chasing their tails. Why else would the utility company call to see if we had power – twice?? Am I missing something here?
And what is up with people stealing generators? And robbing power-less houses? What is WRONG with people? We have a minor catastrophe and people go nuts. Perhaps this guy stole a generator to keep his family warm. Perhaps he couldn’t afford to buy a generator. I can kind of understand the need to do whatever it takes to protect your family, but what about the family you took the generator from??
I’m ranting. I know. I’m sorry. I’m frustrated, tired, and coming down with a cold. I just want things to get back to normal. We’re becoming “those poor people who still don’t have power.” We’ve become those people that other people shake their heads at and thank God aren’t in our situation.
I’m sick of being stuck out in the cold. Literally. I’m tired of trying to keep a positive attitude. I’m sick of trying to clamp down on my frustration and pretend everything is all right in front of the kids so they don’t freak out.
I’m tired of being strong.
I’m sick to death of being the worse case scenario!
Ed. note: The day after this entry posted, we finally got our power back. I was driving back into our driveway and prepared to get out of my car to manually open the garage door when I saw it – the light above the garage door was on. I remember both laughing and crying in relief. I was never so happy to see lights in my life.
We had been out of power for 11 1/2 days. A lot of people couldn’t hack it and moved into hotels during that time period until their power came back on. We opted to stay and protect our house because thieves were rampant during that time period. It was one of the strangest experiences of my entire life. I pray we never have another ice storm like that for many, many, MANY years.
I found a great video of the damage we sustained during that ice storm of ’07 on YouTube.
This was originally published on my self-hosted blog January 17, 2007.
Well, we’re still without power.
Tomorrow will be one week. I can’t believe we’ve endured bitterly cold weather without power for one week. It doesn’t seem possible.
The boys and I went to lunch with hubby today. While out, we came across some guys selling wood. So now we have wood to burn. It’s wet, but we’re hoping we can keep our fire hot enough that it’s still usable.
When we came home, I tackled the generator by myself. I’m pleased to report that I got that thing up and running all by myself! It’s tougher to crank than I thought it would be. I then put a firelog in the fireplace and turned on the insert. We have heat! I’m pretty proud of myself for taking care of this by myself. The hubs was usually the person to do all of that. I guess I need to start learning, eh?
We’ve seen a ton of CU trucks all over town, just none of them in our neighborhood. We still have no idea when we’ll get power but we’re adapting. I hate to say this but I think we’re getting used to not having electricity. You don’t really know what you’re made of until times like these come along. I’m pleased to report, I’m tougher than I thought. 😀
I know ya’ll are probably sick to death of hearing about this right about now, but I now have a deeper appreciation for earlier generations. It truly takes all of your time and energy just figuring out how to survive something like this. We spent the entire day just thinking about how we’re going to survive the night. At least the artic front has moved past. It’s supposed to start warming up beginning tomorrow, thank God. We got through a zero degree night last night (two in a roll), we could sure use some warmth.
Our yard has been cleaned up. I still can’t believe we were one of the first people on the block to have our debris taken away. In some ways, it feels like this whole thing never affected us, though we all know differently. 🙂 It’s nice to look outside and see our neighbors again, as opposed to seeing a bunch of icy branches. I took pictures before the crew cleaned up and I’ll post some of those later.
There are so many things I want to tell you! All throughout this experience I’ve been thinking, “I need to blog about this!” But of course, finding a pen and then paper to write it down in the dark seemed like too much effort so I’ve forgotten half of what I wanted to tell you guys. However, I’ll summarize it for you. Bare with me.
January 12, 10:30 p.m.
We lost power. I’ve already talked about what that was like. If I had known we would still be without power one week later, I would have had a nervous breakdown.
January 13
We spent the entire day walking around in a daze. We couldn’t believe this was happening, let alone what to do about it. We frantically drove around and gathered resources – firelogs, candles. We couldn’t find either. Saturday was the second wave of the storm. We had already received one inch of ice, we were in the throes of getting another inch. We stopped at a Sonic for lunch (we haven’t been able to eat anything at the house. First, we can’t cook [this was before our generator] and we didn’t have anything to eat. We usually go grocery shopping over the weekend and our food supply was pretty low to begin with). They had their music up so loud, it was hard to order. I felt the first wave of hysteria at that point. Hello?? Can we get rid of the musak so folks like us can simply SURVIVE? If the kids hadn’t been with us, I probably would have lost it.
We pulled the air mattresses and sleeping bags out of the camper. We pulled my oldest son’s mattress off his bed and I’ve been sleeping in a recliner. The hubs stapled sheets over the doorways and we’ve been living in three rooms ever since (family room, office and kitchen).
We cleaned up our BBQ grill and put it in the kitchen. We turned the propane on from time to time to get warm. When night came, we lit the camp lantern and played a thousand games of Uno.
January 14
We felt a little more upbeat by this time. We were convinced we would get our power back. When we went out for supplies and saw just how much damage had been done to our immediate neighborhood, I cried. There is an entire row of trees on our power lines. I don’t know how the CU guys are going to get through that mess. I suppose they will have to pull the wire out and simply restring it over the fallen trees because I’m sure they don’t have time to clear those things out. Again, I have a picture of that.
We’re starting to develop a routine by this time. We have all of our supplies within easy reach. My folks lent us a kerosene heater (which was a God send) and we started using that at night (I clipped the sheet back so we could get fresh air). The boys are going nuts by this time. They are scared, worried and bored out of their minds. Thank goodness I had bought them a car charger for their Gameboy DS’s because I think they would have gone insane otherwise. The hubs has done a wonderful job of taking care of us, too good, as a matter of fact. Because the thought of him going to work on Monday and leaving me and the kids alone in a dark, cold house makes me cry. (I’ve cried more in these past days than I have in years.)
Our phone rang off the hook that day. Thankfully, we had an old fashion phone ( you know, the one that actually plugs in and has a cord? lol) so everyone was checking up on everyone else. My in-laws came over to check up on us. They were impressed with our survival techniques. They were on their way to buy a generator. All of the stores were sold out of them, of course, but he knew of some people that were selling them off a semi-truck in a parking lot somewhere. So they went and called back to say they bought one. We hurried over there but they were sold out by that time. Well, not exactly sold out, they had some industrial sized ones left (it even came with an automatic remote starter!) for $1,800. Let me repeat that, EIGHTEEN HUNDRED DOLLARS!! Um, no. We’ll freeze to death.
So, we went driving and found another semi-truck in another parking lot, but they had sold out. They were getting another shipment in from Tennessee that night. By the time that time came, we were all too bushed to check it out. So, we didn’t get one.
January 15
The hubs goes to work and I’m not sure what to do with myself. I clean up as best as I can (I had to wash dishes by HAND folks! Talk about torture! lol). We listened to the radio and since there were quite a few gas stations closed due to no power, gas was in short supply. This of course, freaked people out and the stations that were open not only had lines but had to close because they sold out.
The boys and I head to Wal-Mart to see if we can pick up some more firelogs. We had been pretty conservative with our supply by this time but we were running low. We happened to arrive at about the same time they received a shipment. We bought two boxes of firelogs, a couple more candles as well as batteries. I came home feeling triumphant because I had gotten more supplies.
Throughout this entire mess, our cell phones have been out. We couldn’t get a signal so getting hold of the hubs was difficult. I tried calling him several times at work, but he never answered and I was starting to get worried. The roads never really got slick, but considering gas was hard to come by I could imagine him stuck on the side of the road somewhere.
D., my sons’ friend, called and wanted to know if he could stay with us. His mom works nights and they had run out of wood, so he would have been by himself in a dark, cold house. Of course I allowed him to come over – I wasn’t going to let the poor boy freeze to death!
Right after he arrived, the hubs came home. It was about 4:00 by this time. He had gotten off work early and stood in line, in frigid single-digit weather for over an hour and bought us a generator (5500 watts). He came across it by accident, he was driving home when he saw yet another semi-truck (this one was from Nebraska) with a truckload of generators. He came home, we put in some oil and hooked it up. We had lights for the first time in three days. I can’t tell you how thankful we were when those lights came on! So,we hooked up the fireplace blower, turned on the Wi-Fi and I checked my email and the boys played their games. Our spirits were high.
We all slept pretty good that night because we all felt a little more secure in the knowledge that we were “handling” this.
January 16
Someone knocks on our door at about 10:00 in the morning. It’s some guys roaming our neighborhoods wanting to know if we want our debris cleared out. Um, yes! I still can’t believe how little they charged and they did such a great job! So, while the guys were out doing that, the boys and I bundled up our laundry and went to the laundry mat. Geez louise, talk about a nightmare! It was packed (of course), and there was one lady manning the shop. She took our names down and when the number of washing machines became available, she let us have them.
Then, it came time to dry. Getting a dryer was a free-for-all. I literally had to stand by a few to stake my claim and when they became available, I swooped in. Each cycle took 45 minutes (45 minutes!!) and even then, the clothes did get dry. I had to run the jeans and towels through twice (and still had to lay them out to dry when I got home). To top it off, I had stuffed so many clothes in the washer and put too much soap in. By the time I pulled them out of the dryer, I had clothes spotted with dried detergent. I’ll have to run them through yet another rinse cycle and dry them before we can wear them.
But for as busy as the laundry mat was, I was impressed with people’s attitudes. Everyone was as upbeat as could be expected and it was interesting to hear their survival stories. I spent nearly the entire time talking to this one lady, we just hit it off at once, and not only was it nice to talk about what happened, she made me laugh and gave me some tips. Even though we spent a long, gruelling four hours at the laundry mat that day, I left feeling just a bit better about what was happening to all of us.
We then prepared for a zero degree night. Between blankets and sleeping bags, we have more than enough to keep us warm. But the air gets so frigid that you wake up with throbbing nasal passages. The rest of the house (outside our sheet-blocked rooms) is 42 degrees. You can walk through the house and breathe smoke. It’s really a bizarre feeling.
We have hot water, thank God. Taking showers in 40 degrees is not as miserable as you might think. There’s so much steam built up by the time you’re done that it’s actually pretty comfortable, providing you dress fast. It’s strange though to breathe smoke while you’re naked. It’s quite a juxtaposition to be warm in such cold temperatures.
January 17
That brings us to today. I’ve already mentioned we found some wood. I’m sitting here now on pins and needles wondering when the gas in our generator is going to run out and plunge us into darkness once again. It’s a little after 4:00 and I can’t wait for the hubs to come home. It’s creepy being here after dark without my man around. Don’t I sound like an insipid female? lol
So, we’re doing okay. We’re hanging in there. Still no sign of the CU guys. Still no idea when we might get our power back – but we’ll endure the wait. We’ve already been through so much, what’s a few more days? *sigh*
People have been simply wonderful. Even though we’re all uncomfortable and miserable, there’s still room for a quick conversation and time for a smile. We’re all in this together and we’ll survive. This may all sound pretty trivial, especially to Katrina and hurricane survivors, but we have the bitter cold to contend with. It’s pretty scary when you can’t find the warmth you need to survive. There are shelters all over town, but they can only house about 200 people – you can imagine how many people that leaves out in the cold, literally.
We’ve had all sorts of help from all sorts of places come in. I’ve been seeing utility trucks with different license plates all day. It’s comforting to know that people haven’t forgotten about us. A lot of people have been pitching in whenever they can. The guys that cleaned up our yards weren’t actually tree guys but tile guys. I suspect that was one reason they charged so little for such a major cleanup – they were donating their time and resources to help us.
Times like these … I don’t know. It tests people. And I can safely say that the people in the Ozarks have come through with flying colors. We’ve always been so generous with our time and money to help others in need across the country; it really is a comfort when others return the favor.
Thanks again for all the comments and well wishes. You guys are so awesome and it really does help to know that when I get online, I can always count on a chuckle and a smile.
I had had enough and was getting depressed about not having any power. We were one of the last ones to get our power back in the city. Stay tuned …
“Can I have a hug?” MK said.
But then, not hugging them became a habit and I could probably count the number of times I’ve hugged my boys this past year on one hand. 
I usually get my second wind around two in the afternoon and I’m simply functioning the rest of the day, don’t ask me to be creative, it won’t happen in that time period, all of my brain activity is on autopilot. 
