Quick Takes Friday - April Snowstorm Edition

Well, it is 7 am, and we've had power for about 30 minutes, so here's to hoping the power doesn't go out again before I finish my quick takes. I've decided to do a themed quick takes today, because basically everything quick take-able happened in the last 13 hours!


1- Yesterday morning it was drizzling and overcast. I had plans to take Eva into her Girl Scouts meeting, go to the bank, and go to the grocery store. At lunch time there were a few flakes of snow. By two fifteen, hubby called to tell me not to take the girls into town (we were planning on leaving at 2:30) because the show has heavy and very wet, not to mention that there was almost no visibility. Since the girls were disappointed about not getting to go to town, we drove over to grandma's house (a little over a mile away) and stayed there most of the afternoon and evening.

2- Our poor exchange students were on a school bus that slid off the road into the ditch for two hours. We thought most of the time that they would be home any minute (seriously, they both have cell phones, but neither one called - we heard all the details from a cousin who's kids ride the same bus!) Finally, we got a call from the same cousin telling us that our students were waiting at a farm site in some random guy's pickup (I guess he might have been in hubby's class in school, but still...you'd think the exchange students or the bus driver would have called us to come get them!) So, after FIL picked them up, I got a call from the guy with the pickup to tell me that our student left her Trig book in his vehicle. So, he said he'd have it taken into the school office.

3- They finally got into the house, where MIL and I were trying to get dinner made before the power went off (it was flickering) and we got the noodles boiling and a package of hamburger defrosted before it went out. Then I had the fun experience of learning how to brown a pan of hamburger on the grill out in the garage. We also thought about taking the show on the road to our house (we have a gas stove), but we hadn't filled the bathtub with water for toilet flushing purposes, and since MIL had a full bathtub and a big pitcher of water (for drinking) we figured we might as well stay there.

4- After dinner, we came home. It took me 8 minutes to drive about 1 1/2 miles - the roads were not fun (my BIL tried to put us in a ditch when we came over earlier to put my 1/3 beef in my freezer), when we got home and found candles and flashlights, we all sat around the kitchen table and told "popcorn" stories (I guess in Eva's Religious Ed class they do "popcorn" reading, where when one kid wants to stop they say "popcorn *another kid's name*" and that kid has to take over where they left off.) Charlotte mostly had the princess marrying the prince and living happily ever after, I had to keep coming up with trouble for the princess. Then the girls went to bed a little bit early.

5- I spent the evening playing solitaire - it's been long enough since I've played it with real cards that it took me a long time to remember the rules. For quite a while I was using the layout for one type of solitaire, but using the rules for another - that didn't got very well. Then, after I finally won a round, I got out my kindle, changed the type to much larger and read by candlelight for a while.

6- It was very cold by the time we went to bed (no power, no heat! No fireplace!) so I ended up wearing slipper socks and gloves to bed. Even hubby broke down and got out extra blankets.

7- I discovered that hubby's alarm goes off even with no power - it started beeping, and for a minute I was so excited that we had power, but no power, I guess the battery backup that allows it to set itself also allows it to keep track of an alarm and beep a little bit. Hubby called around trying to find out about school, and right about the time he called the dispatch office (who said that school was still on to the best of her knowledge, but that both highways out of town were closed, so she didn't know how the buses were going to pick people up!) our power came back on. Our living room thermostat said it was 52 degrees when the power came on. Then, shortly after that, we got a reverse 911 (that's what the school calls it, but then they use it for things like "Remember the Partners in Education Carnival tonight!" At least this was a legitimate use!) that school is on a two hour delay. So, our exchange student was happy to have power and two extra hours to take a shower and get ready, and the little girls are still sleeping (not that they aren't usually still sleeping at 7:30 in the morning!) I am just happy to have heat, and Internet and a cup of hot tea!

More quick takes at Conversion Diary!