Everybody Nap Now

The alphabet brain has been thwarting me at seemingly every step for about two months now.  I'm to the point of "Hmm, should probably do something about it" but then the next day(s) is totally fine.  Sigh. (do not take advice from me, as wise as I am and as tempting as it may be)

Yesterday my brain woke up and I was zipping along, doing my work when two hours later: blink.

No, not my brain.  Although that is always possible. The electricity.  The power went out with no warning.  It wasn't weather, it hadn't flickered, nothing.

I waited three minutes for it to power back up to no avail.  Then I texted Kevin to let him know so we can coordinate caring for the parents.  Then I phoned the power company to report it.  They already had reports and the estimated restoration time was only three hours.  While still not fun, it wasn't a big deal.

Then after talking to Kevin and doing all the stuff that is required when your power goes out and it's TWENTY-SEVEN DEGREES outside with snow on the ground, I rechecked the repair status.

They added two more hours to the estimated repair time. Great.

Kevin was on his way home to get the generator running for me, the plan was he would just return to work.  By the time he got home, the plan changed and he decided to stay.  I will admit that I was a little relieved to not have complete responsibility for the parents but I was also looking longingly at my book on the couch with my blanket.  It was now rendered useless. 

Gratitude that I have a husband who comes to the rescue in situations like this.  Gratitude.

It took him about an hour to make sure that everyone was settled and generators running.  I will take a moment to say that the brother-in-law did manage to come home and help care for his parents.  Sometimes there are miracles.

Having the parents taken care of, then Kevin was here making sure that we had everything we needed.  Then the phone rang.

On the scale of everything, this is small.  Small but sigh...still.

"Our television doesn't work" says my father-in-law.  

Kevin, remarkably, replied "Neither does ours right now" which is not like him at all. He's usually always patient.  Then he explained for probably the tenth time that our system has to be powered on and running in order for their television to work. (it's a satellite system)

He dropped what he was doing and hooked up the television. But then, he waited like fifteen minutes to let them know, which made me giggle a little bit.

I decided that if I can't read my book in peace and quiet then I was going to binge watch television off the dvr.  I set Play All and settled into the couch.

Well, it appears that what the alphabet brain needed was an NCIS binge with liberal doses of naps All Day.  All. Day.

Every time we checked the status of power restoration, it was "To be determined", which is specifically frustrating.  To add to it, the nextdoor app, the local news on social media, or anything really, was not reporting what exactly had happened.  Just that 335 people from the  county line to the next town was out of power.  This seemed newsworthy to us but apparently not. 

Finally someone posted that a truck had slid in the ice, hit a power pole, and sheared it in half.  For some reason, just knowing what had happened was a little soothing. 

Still, thirteen hours later and a run into town for dinner, our power finally clicked back to life.  Just before bedtime, of course.  Out trudges Kevin to unhook everything for the parents (again with an assist from his brother) then returned home to unhook everything for ours.

Now he's wide awake and wants to shower.  30 minutes ago we were talking about bed.  But we were still feeling the adrenaline rush of having modern day luxuries like lights and running water. (generator powers heat, television, refrigerator)   I just took it as an opportunity to do the little chores that had stacked up during the day so the alphabet brain would allow me to sleep.

And then almost eight hours of sleep!  All through the night!  Even after napping all day.  Who knew that rest helps with the alphabet brain?  I do, I totally do.  The alphabet brain doesn't allow me to "know" know that though.

Sidenote: we bought a whole house generator in October.  Upon this writing, it was early December.  Was it ready to use?  No.  Was it ready to use the next weekend?  Yes.