An update... For any of our family and friends out of state

We are on day 9... NO POWER STILL!!! Can you believe in our age of technology we could go even a week with no power nevermind 9 days? I can't! We are still hanging in there in the house. On night 5 my Mom was able to find us a generator. Only 1000 watts but it is enough to keep us sane in the house. We now have tv, cable, phone and Internet. Thank you Mom for selflessly giving it to us when you too were out of power. There is no way to express to you how much it meant to me. Thank you AnneMarie and Dave for entrusting your generator in our care so that we may have something to keep our restless 3 year old busy. There are not words to describe how thankful we are.

It was a good thing we got the generator because our cell tower in our area went down and we were going days with no cell service in the house. It would get fixed and then down it went again. That made me very nervous, no phone at all, a pregnant mom, a 3 year old and a Daddy at work. Cable keeps coming in and out. Carter and I do a dance when it comes back on because that means Carter has something to provide background noise and I have the phone back. No cable, no power = no phone.

2 nights ago I spent about an hour and a half washing every dish in the dishwasher. I NEVER thought this power outage would last this long so in the beginning we put the dishes in the dishwasher and tried to use paper plates at times. When the dishwasher was clearly reaching it's capacity we stuck to only paper plates, plastic cups and plasticware. We washed the pans we used in the sink with ice cold water. 2 nights ago Carter was out of sippy cups. Sure I could have given him a regular cup but spilled milk was something I would have cried over at this point. He also needs his sippy cup to fall asleep... not to drink from it but to hug it. It has become somewhat of a security blanket for him, along with Teddy, spidey blankie and Me. So it was clear to me that I was going to have to wash all of his cups, covers and valves... I boiled water and added it to the sink. When I added some cold water from the faucet it quickly turned luke warm and then too cold to wash in. I decided I may as well just do every dirty dish in the dishwasher too since I was already at it. After having to boil pot after pot after pot after pot just to wash the dishes and the 2 more pots to rinse the dishes I was exhausted but happy to have it all done.

Some have asked if the house is warm enough and up until yesterday the house has been warm enough to tolerate especially in the living room where the gas fireplace is. The thermostats were reading in the low to mid 60s this whole time. On the one warm day we had the thermostat read 70. Now with the dropping temps outside and the storms that have been coming through, the house is a lot less tolerable and colder than I would ever choose to have the house be. We are now in the uppper 50's and I think watching the snow fall makes it feel even colder psychologically. Last night we had to abandon the upstairs because it was just getting too cold so we had to camp out on the floor. We are in front of the fireplace but that is just not enough. It must be 59-60 degrees in the living room. Outside in the sun 50 can feel nice but inside your home, where it is suppose to be snug and warm, even 59 is too cold. We have considered going to a hotel despite all the wonderful family and friends that have offered us a warm place to stay. Thing is, we just want to stay in our home. Where we are most comfortable and the things we need are. We want to be able to sit and look at our tree even if it can't be lit right now and we want to make sure the house is safe from the hoodlum out there that seem to have no respect for what others work hard for. Hitting you when you are down is the easiest time for them to target you.

Power was suppose to be restored in 1-3 days from the storm... then last Thursday... then Friday... now this weekend... whomever is not restored by this weekend will be restored by Christmas, or so the power company says. We shall see. Don't get me wrong, I am very very grateful to all the crews that have come from many different states to restore our electricity. I am just finding that the projected times seem to be too generous considering the damage. I try not to get my hopes up when I hear updates but how can you not feel a glimmer of hope because afterall it has to be fixed eventually. That glimmer of hope has been shot down everytime so far... 9 times in fact. Every day I wake up to find I am disappointed again and I can't help but feel like crying, like yelling, like climbing under the covers and waking up from this nightmare. I know there are many many others going through the same thing we are and for a lot of people, whether it be in our country or less fortunate countries, this can be the norm for them, I just can't help feeling sad and let down by this whole situation. I feel for everyone out there that is experiencing this, it makes for a tough time and we do have it better than others. We are in our home with some power thanks to the generator... I am very thankful that nothing has happened to my family and friends during this storm. I don't mean to be so negative but I am hormonal and don't handle stress very well on a good day and this really stinks.

Most of our families have been restored and I am very thankful for that, Mom, Tiffiny, Pattie, Dad, Grammy Dino and Granpa David, Alisha and Scott, Lexie; others have not, Janice and Shane, Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Dennis, Aunt Debbie, Grandma Anita, and even my Uncle Peter and Aunt Lynne. My thoughts are with them as they wait too to have their Christmas wish come true... Power.