We are now 6 days into this power outage and STILL no power. The temperature at our house has been about an average whopping 30 degrees. So obviously we cannot stay there with our babies. I am so grateful to have someplace to stay. I have discovered just how nice it is to be warm.



Our power went out at 10:00 Sunday night. Asher and I were attempting to watch a movie when all of a sudden the house went dark. Our power goes off every summer and winter. It goes off anywhere from a couple of minutes to a few hours. We have never gotten to the point where we felt like we had to leave the house. We have contemplated it a few times, but it seems like when we have just decided that the temperature is getting too much for our kiddos to handle it comes back on. One summer the power went off about 11:30 p.m. and a bunch of our neighbors all came out to see if there was anything to see. So we just stood there and chatted in the humid night air. We agreed that we need to find other reasons to all together than a power outage.

So when the power went off Sunday night I was not too particularly worried. I figured that we would wait a couple of hours and if it did not come on we would leave. After waiting awhile Asher and I decided to go to bed. I was awoken sometime about 4 or 5 o'clock. I am not sure because the digitals were not working and it was too dark to see the analog. It was becoming quite chilly in our house. I knew if I awoke the children at that point they probably would have not gone back to sleep so I made sure all of them were well covered. In the morning I called my mom to let her know that we were all coming over for a short visit, but she informed me that she did not have power either and she was wondering where she was going to go. So, I called Tegan. Tegan had previously offered to let us stay with her if we needed, which I thought would be fun, but much too crowded. So we all got our stuff together, enough for a least a couple of days, which I thought would be more than enough. Then we trooped on over to Tegan's house. We were joined by Joe and Michelle who were staying at Thomas's apartment because not only did their power go out, but a tree had fallen and ripped out their power box and it took siding with it.

Tegan was really great to let us stay with her at her house. I know that it was hard for her because she has lots of breakables in her apartment. She has quite a few bookshelves with knickknacks all over them. Not only that but the apartment has only two bedrooms. Bethany kept getting into everything because she is just at the age where she likes to explore and find out how everything works. But that is why Tegan was so great. I knew she was having a hard time but she was so gracious and kept giving and giving. She hardly sat down. She was always right on top of it if she felt like we had a need. I think that Tegan will make an excellent nurse because she is so kind.

After the second day staying at Tegan's I started to have an allergic reaction to her two cats. I have never had any sort of reaction to cats but I have also never had that much exposure at one time to them. I slept on a mattress on the living room floor where the cats spend much of their time. (They spend time on the floor not the mattress.) Tegan had vacuumed before we went bed but it was too no avail.


That second day I was attempting to do school with my older girls, but it was proving to be difficult because I felt so overwhelmingly tired. I was ignoring it and pushing through when all of a sudden I noticed that I throat was closing up and it was getting difficult to breath. I took a decongestant/antihistamine hoping it would go away, but it did not. By that time my parent's power had come back on and so Asher and I made the decision to move our family.

I am actually glad that I had that reaction to Tegan's cats. I started getting a tightness in my chest when I was pregnant with Serenity. I talked to my doctor about it and she sent me to a cardiologist. I got to wear a heart monitor and I had an ultrasound. The heart monitor did not find anything, but the ultrasound found that I had a minor leakage. Apparently this is not uncommon for pregnant women and not really a big deal. Since I did not know what was going on with my heart I felt that maybe the occasional tightness I was feeling was caused by some issue my heart was having.

When I was at Tegan's I realized that the tightness is actually allergy-induced asthma. So that means if I keep exercising than it will go away. This is a big relief to me because I was a bit concerned about having a heart condition later on in my life. There are no heart problems in my family but heart failure is the leading cause of death for women in this country.

Yesterday I went to see Grandma Ann with my girls. I have been checking up on her to see if she has been alright. Yesterday she did not answer the door so I went to the neighbor's house to inform her that I could raise Grandma Ann. The neighbor told me that Grandma Ann's son had visited the previous day and had probably taken her home. ( This neighbor just lives a few houses away from me but nobody can remember their names because they usually keep to themselves.) While I was over there Kevin, another neighbor who has a 4 year old girl that my children like to play with, came over and told us about how he had started a fire in his house. He has a wood stove that he has been using to keep warm. Well, I guess that he was pouring a can of kerosene on the wood and there was a little tea light candle next to the stove and he accidentally got some kerosene on it. The fire somehow got to the floor and he was surrounded by flames. He was trying to beat the flames out the whole time he was frenzied thinking of his family. He knew that if the can of kerosene caught on fire it would be worse so he threw it in the back yard and caught the back yard on fire. He said that he found a carpet and was beating the flames out when he realized that he himself was on fire. He was able to find a blanket and put himself out. The way he was describing it, it sounded like something in a movie. It was awful. I think he is going to be alright though. He said that his burns are mostly second degree with some first degree. I feel so bad for him. I wonder if there is a way my family can help them. Kevin said that they are staying with his wife's aunt now and she has her power on.

Besides Kevin and Grandma Ann there are at least three other neighbors that are living on our part of the street that I know about that are staying in their house with no power. The people on our street are a hardy bunch.

I will have more later. I have quite a few pictures on my camera but I can't download them until I get my power back on my computer.