Lights Out

It has been a very interesting week, starting back with last Saturday. It is only Wednesday and I feel like I have had a years worth of stress etc., just since last Saturday.

I went out campaigning last Saturday with the Steve Stivers/Jim Hughes teams. We ended up walking about 3 miles going door to door. It was cloudy that morning, but that was just a tease. We met up about 930am and got going about 10am. By then, the humidity was sweltering, soup-like. We were only about 10 minutes into our first street of door to door, and we were both sweating like crazy. By the time we got done with the first half, we were both covered in sweat, soaking! I had it running down my legs, I was sweating so much! We took a break and got some cold water and sat in the air conditioned car for a few minutes. Then we were back at it. We got done with all of our addresses a little after noon, and by then I had given up trying to keep the sweat at bay. I just let it roll. I hung out for a few minutes when we got back, resting a bit, then said my goodbyes and headed home.

Once I got home, I changed out of my soaking clothes. Then I did my usual Saturday housework, sweating more. After I got all of that done, I took another shower, some Motrin, and laid on the bed to ice both knees which were thoroughly swollen. Nice.

Sunday morning I woke up so sore, it hurt to just get out of bed. I padded to the bathroom, painfully, and realized I was not going to make it anywhere that day. My feet hurt so badly, I could hardly stand to walk on them. I haven't had them hurt like that for quite some time. They were still swollen on Sunday morning. I iced them a few times on Sunday during the day, trying to help the swelling to go down.

As many of you know, we got the remnants of hurricane Ike on Sunday afternoon. It just kept getting more and more windy. The trees twisting in the breeze like crazy; stuff banging up against the back and side of the house. The electricity flickered a number of times, but always came right back on. I just kept praying that it would hold. It did not.

About 4pm, my electricity went out again and this time did not come back on. I waited a half-hour before I called the electric company, to see if it would come back on its own. Finally at 430pm, I called the electric company and reported the outage. They told me at that time that they estimated my power would be back on by 6pm Sunday evening. It was not. The dog and I had one flashlight and the batteries in my radio still worked, that was it. She spent most of the day in the closet, scared from all the wind and banging.

About 6pm, the tree in my front yard fell over, roots sticking out from underneath, nothing but dirt left in the ground. It made a loud racket when it fell, but thankfully fell into the front yard, missing the house, and not the other way into the driveway. The neighbors and I were outside numerous times, checking on things, making sure that the roof wasn't coming off, things like that. About 7pm, it started to get dark and I came to the slow realization that we were not going to get our power back Sunday night before bedtime. I left the bathroom light switch on, fully expecting the power to come back on sometime during the night.

The dog and I slept fitfully, waking at every little sound and not being able to see a thing in the pitch black. We managed to get some sleep, however, for which I was thankful. We woke up Monday morning and waited a bit. I went down into the dark basement and did my workout for that day. Waited til about noon and just about went crazy. My mother in law invited me over to get out of the house and be around others, even though they didn't have electric either. I readily accepted the invitation. What normally takes about 20 minutes on surface streets, turned into a 1 hour trip trying to get over here. Trees and branches down everywhere, no traffic lights, no power.

As we were preparing to make supper on the grill Monday night, the power came back on here at their house. We were all so glad. We grilled out anyways, but were glad to have lights and TV. I stayed til about 8pm then headed back to my house in the pitch black. The whole neighborhood was encased in the darkest black. I didn't like it. Made it through another night, sleeping fitfully again, but God kept us safe.

Yesterday I woke up and still no power. By now, everything in my fridge and freezer is warm and thawed. Yuk. All of it into the trash; about $40 worth of meat, milk, etc. That was painful. My mother in law had taken yesterday off, so she called me and told me to come over again. I did, thankful for being able to go someplace that had power and all. I ended up staying here last night, it's just too hard being over at home without power. I have done all that I can without lights. I went home for a bit this morning and did a few things; lifted weights; got the trash all ready and out to the curb for tomorrow's pickup; got some clothes and other things. Took a shower in the dark.

In today's paper, they had a color coded map of our city. I found my neighborhood and according to the color, they don't anticipate having the power back on there until Friday at the earliest. What a thrill. My system is all out of whack; the dogs system and nerves are a mess. She did sleep well here last night and is sleeping again now. I am thankful for that.

So, I am temporarily without a place to live that has modern day conveniences. I appreciate the fact that my in laws have provided shelter and warm food for the dog and I. Makes things interesting for me and the hubby, since we are separated. But, I am thankful to have a roof over my head that has electricity!

I have been busy today trying to get things situated for school that starts next week. There was some confusion about my financial aid and I have spent the afternoon and half the morning trying to straighten that out. I will have to go down to the campus tomorrow and do some things to get it all situated in time for classes next week. Need to get my parking sticker and school ID anyways. I will probably be there all day tomorrow, whoopee! But, at least we did get it all straightened out and I do have money for school and books! God does provide! There were many prayers that went up last night when we realized there was some hang up; but God worked it out, hearing those prayers! Thanks God!

Election Day is approaching fast and furiously. I have not found a steady, regular job yet, but do have a job working at the polls on Election day, which will bring in decent money. Better than nothing. I keep hoping that maybe all my campaign work will pay off in some manner in the way of a part-time job. That was just be awesome if that's the case. A job in the political world while still in school would be a tremendous opportunity!

Time is moving faster and faster. I am up to 2 miles in my walk and 10lb weights(starting today) for the weight-lifting portion. My muscles are sure building up well, and I like to see them, shows my hard work. My cousin should be home from overseas in November, and I am so looking forward to seeing him and hugging him. He's a good kid and I am so proud of him.

So, that's been my life the past 5 days, although it seems like it has been a year. Everything is just upturned and upside down right now and I am more than ready for it to be settled back to normal, in my house, with my electricity!

I thank God that no family or friends were injured (that I know of as of now) during the wind storm on Sunday. I am thankful to God that the tree fell the way it did, missing the house. That He kept the dog and I safe the 2 nights we did spend over there in complete darkness. And I thank Him for family who shelters and opens their arms when your world is upside down like this! Thanks family! Thanks to God!

May the Lord Bless You and Keep You til next time.