It could have been worse

Our power has gone off 3 times in the last week. The longest stretch of no power lasted 10 hours. The shortest lasted 3. Apparently our transformer is held together with duct tape. I have informed my husband that I cannot be held responsible for anything I might say or do if the power goes out again. Three is my limit per week. I was alone at home with a three year old and a one year old. Do you have any idea what it’s like trying to entertain a three year old and a one year old by candlelight? And when was the last time you did a diaper check by aiming a flashlight down the back of your baby’s diaper? Big fun. The first night was pandemonium. We cover the windows in the kids’ rooms really well so the night lights going out left them in endless darkness screaming wildly to be saved. It took an hour to get everyone back to bed and I spilled hot wax everywhere. Except on my children. Although it was close because one year olds find candles very intriguing and they know how to climb. When we lost power early the second night I served cold hot dogs for dinner and announced bath time at 5:30. Then wet headed children ran around tearing up our house while I laid on the floor contemplating the injustice of only one side of the street losing power. I also thought of a lot of mean things to say to the power company if I ever got a live human being on the phone instead of voice response system that swears my power will be on very soon because the voice response system is a BIG FAT LIAR. The third night, the lights went off in the middle of the night. The under 4 crowd noticed immediately and promptly notified us. But I wasn’t even annoyed. Not even a little bit. Our three year old had thrown up in her bed two hours earlier. It was a horrific scene. I almost gagged at one point. As I stumbled around in the dark delivering flashlights, all I could think was thank goodness the lights weren’t out for the puke. How exactly does one even go about identifying all the puke in the dark. By feel? By smell? Please stand by while I gag. No really. I remember the smell. I may very well gag.