I’ve got the power!!

On Friday when I last posted, I had high expectations of the power being restored some time that day. As the temperature soared towards the 100 degree mark, our hopes faded just as quickly. By Friday night it was pure misery inside our home with temperatures in the mid-90s. Hubs and I took a hose shower outside in the driveway to cool off and get clean. I really didn’t even care, either. When the choice is modesty or heat exhaustion, I now know which one I will choose.

On Saturday morning, we were in for another scorcher and I woke up convinced that if we hadn’t seen workers on Friday, they were indeed waiting for a part and it would be Monday before our power was back on. It was 82 degrees by 8 a.m., and I was so thankful to get a call from Noah at scout camp that he’d be done early.

You would think that a 2 hour round trip drive to scout camp would not be that fun, especially since I’ve made the trip a dozen times this summer. You’d be wrong. A trip in the car was a welcomed break from the heat because my car has air conditioning.

Noah, our 16-year-old son is working at the aquatics program at the lake teaching the rowing merit badge to hundreds of scouts this summer.

Hubs and I headed up to the camp around 9:30 and then did some errands with the boy before coming home. Imagine our delight to find this as we came down our road.

I was so excited, I think I may have cried just a bit. It took them until about 3 p.m. to run the new line out to our pole, install the new transformer and get us running again. Our house was 88 degrees when the power came back on. Eight hours later it was all of 85 degrees. Cooling off a hot house when it is ridiculously hot outside is not an easy task.

When I woke up at 6 a.m. and needed a blanket, I really did cry. I was just so grateful. I was beyond exhausted and my body was not happy with me at that point. Dehydration, leg cramps, some heat exhaustion and nearly 9 days of constant sweat pouring from your body takes it toll.

I’m doing better now. Hubs was a bit bummed because he couldn’t use the outdoor shower he’d made for us now. He did create some videos for his readers (Hubs is a newspaper editor) to show how we were surviving during this time. Feel free to watch them if you are interested in how we got water. He made a video about the shower but hasn’t posted it yet. It’s basically a bucket with a valve out the bottom, hung from our garage frame.

In that second video, you get to see the chickens. I haven’t shared them with you yet, but we’ve had chickens since March when I went to Las Vegas with my sisters and Mom for Sister Palooza. Hubs finished the coop while I was away and filled it with six chicks. We bought six more chicks in May. I call the little ones the Girls and the big ones are the Ladies.

Last night, one of the ladies produced her first egg and this morning we found another one.

On Monday morning, I woke up feeling a bit overwhelmed. If you missed my news, I was told my services were no longer needed with my job. My thoughts have been racing now that I have all this time to do things I have wanted to do.

Should I finish up this project?

Or perhaps I should finish up the trim in my master bedroom? Repot the plants? Rearrange my craft room now that I no longer need it as an office? Do the dishes – wait, why do chores when there are so many projects I can immerse myself in? Maybe it’s time to start the ol’ diet and exercise routine.

Obviously, I have some choices to make. I need to sort it out. Right now I’m doing a bit of everything. I’m taking some time for me to focus on improving my health. I’m doing some projects and I’m cleaning my house. Those are my priorities right now. That and finishing the master bedroom. That project has dragged on long enough and I did get the trimmed finished yesterday. I need to do a few more things and I’ll be ready for the big reveal.

Also, since I had to send back my work computer to my boss, I need to find a new one to replace it. The boys are sharing their computer with me while I look around. I have to rebuild the church bulletin that I do every week. It’s going to take me several hours to rebuild it in a new program since Microsoft Publisher is only compatible with itself and I can’t afford the $350 price tag for the professional version of Office that includes Publisher. I’m teaching myself how to use OpenOffice for now.

I will be growing my blog. It’s something I have wanted to do for a long time but simply never had the time to do before now. I’ll let you know as things progress but I’m looking forward to pursuing this adventure.

Life changes. Whenever you think you’ve got it figured out, sure enough, it will change on you. I’ve lived long enough to see it happen more times than not. I plan to embrace this new path I’m on. It feels like a good one and one that will help me pursue some personal goals and not be constantly torn between competing responsibilities.

Thanks, again for all your love and support and comments. I am truly blessed and grateful for all that I have.

Suesan