Last week's snow storm was pretty ridiculous. Gavin didn't have to go to school all week! I can't believe how much snow we got, but the powerful wind and ice was what made everything come to a halt. Washington state has so many beautiful trees, everywhere. All different kinds, but of course tons of huge evergreens.
My neighborhood is covered in them. Very pretty, but not very safe when there's a storm. All over this area when the ice and wind came, trees came crashing down all over, and most destructively into power lines. Last time I called Puget Sound Energy they said over 260,000 customers were without power. Thursday morning before 7 am our power went out.
Sophie started crying and I thought she might be scared, because it was still dark outside we it was black in the house. Why was she crying? She wanted to watch tv. Silly girl. At least we know what her priorities are. After about an hour without any power coming back, we woke Ernie up to let him know. We decided to call his parents, and they still had power. So, we packed up a few things and went over there, because it was really cold and snowy and we didn't want to be stuck here with no idea when we'd get power/heat back on. By the time we got there, their power had gone out, too. Luckily they have a generator and a propane fireplace so we were living pretty good in the storm! Sophie was even able to watch a movie (important, you know)! We had buckets under the downspouts so we'd have water to flush the toilets, and that was a pretty big pain. I'm glad I had Ernie around to lug the water back and forth...if you know me at all, you know I have a well -- relatively small bladder. :) ANYWAY, we just assumed the power would be on the next day. Not so! Tree limbs kept breaking and there were downed power lines everywhere.
So we stayed. Sophie of course had a ball. She had things to play with, she had grandma and papa Steve's undivided attention, and she's not an adult so she's not so concerned with showering. I think she probably thought it was a pretty fun adventure.
I am very thankful that I was able to keep my family fed and warm...however, the biggest bummer to me: we fell off our Whole30 wagon. :( We were about what..18 days into it? And doing awesome. However, when the power went out, I had ingredients, but nothing made. The biggest thing we had in mind when we started this was NO CHEATING no matter what! No way did I think there would be this big power outage and storm, so we were not prepared. I felt sad about it, but now that the power is back on we can get right back on the horse! (Oh wait, I said it was a wagon...) One good thing to come out of that though, was I realized how freaking SICK gluten, grains, processed sugar and dairy and any other processed food is. I ate whatever we could make and my guts were torn up inside! I got headaches and stomach aches and felt really bloated...whereas, I haven't had ANY of those things all month before we 'cheated'. So that's kind of neat/interesting to know.
Ernie and I had plans for several weeks to go to the ocean Friday. We don't like to miss a clam tide and we already had it planned out, and Sophie was going to stay with grandma. Well, since we were already there, Sophie stayed and Ernie and bundled up and made our way to Westport. Several people thought we were cuckoo because of the snow and the storm and everything, but it was pretty nice! The closer you get to the ocean, the less snow there is, and so everyone there had electricity. It was frigid, yeah, but that was tolerable. We got to go around to gift shops which were lit and nice and warm. We even got some warm food, and brought jugs of water back home from their non-depleted grocery store. PLUS, we got 2 crabs and 12 clams, and Saturday night we were able to make a nice big batch of clam chowder on the butane camping stove. Can't get much better than that!
However, that many days without showers is pretty disgusting. The only blessing was that EVERYONE was in the same situation, so no one could really tell how bad you stunk, because everyone stunk. I don't remember ever going 4 days without a shower, not even after my appendectomy or my c-section. I just felt sick. Last night when we got home after the power was finally restored, I got to take a shower. Seriously the best thing EVER. I wanted to stay in the shower for as long as possible, it was just so delightful.
We were so excited to be clean, and have on clean clothes, and have lights. Ernie and I cooked some actual FOOD on the real stove, and turned on netflix to find something to watch. Then I realized it was pretty cold. Lo and behold...our heater won't come on. I checked the fuse box and everything was okay. We checked the switches on the furnace, and they're okay too. So we got out portable heaters (good thing we procrastinate, we still have our neighbors' heater from a while ago, even though I've been meaning to take it back.) and sat down to watch a movie. Then CLICK, the tv, ps3, and living room lights went out. Everything else was still on...so I checked the fuse box AGAIN. Now something was flipped off. So we fixed it, and then it happened AGAIN. Annoying, but we have just decided to go try and watch something in our room. We got in there, and then the tv in THERE and the heater we had plugged in switched off. And I think all this upset me more than the major power outage!! Maybe I was at the end of my rope and I didn't know it. But having the power come back and thinking all the problems were over and now having our furnace not working sort of sent me over the edge. Then we got up this morning and I realized it kept switching our dryer off too, so all our clothes I was so happy to wash last night are STILL soaking wet. Argh!
This whole long drawn out story to say...not much. But it was a big deal to us so I wanted to at least record it! Now I'm just sitting here waiting on the electrician, bundled up in my only clean clothes: pink striped pj pants, a tie dyed shirt, and a blue zip up hoody. I look gooood.
But at least I don't stink!
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