The Queen's Rambles

What a rotten weekend. I learned something very important about myself: I suck at disasters. I suck at being hot. I suck at not having what I want, when I want it. I’m cranky, snipey, stinky and smelly. If the zombie apocolpyse/alien takeover/WWIII happens in my lifetime please just shoot me in the head and get it over with. Otherwise I’ll be bitching the whole time I’m being chased around by baddies.

Friday night we had a storm roll in out of nowhere. It was seriously insane. I went out in it to save our blow-up swimming pool, which was a huge mistake. We had no power, so I put on the first shoes I could lay my hands on in the dark: Birkenstocks. They have no traction. As soon as I stepped outside I slipped in the mud. I was rolling all around in the ivy and hoping like hell my neighbor was wrong and it was NOT a snake pit. Every time I tried to stand up, I fell down again. I eventually sprained my thumb, which still hurts. I have up on walking back to the house, and crawled instead.

That was just the start of the weekend of fun.

We didn’t have power for almost 48 hours. Temperatures were in excess of 100, so it was no fun without AC. I just looked up the storm and found out that it was not just us. Apparently this was a hugely widespread event. Yikes! How is that even possible?

Anyway, we were refugees for the weekend. I’ve never seen so many DC area women with ponytails and frizzy hair (myself included). I think if I could have just blown my hair dry and styled it, I would have handled the disaster a lot better.

We spent some time in B&N on Saturday. Everyone had the same idea, so it was a pain finding a power outlet. People literally brought in their power strips and you could hardly walk through the aisles b/c people were laying in them, using their laptops and phones. We waited our turn and eventually got an outlet in the children’s section, so we at least had a phone.

We moved Erik’s mattress to the basement on Saturday evening and all slept down there. It was pretty horrible and hot and uncomfortable. Eventually I ended up in the recliner and got some sleep, but not much.

Sunday was another crazy day. We went into Mike’s work to charge things, but they didn’t have AC turned on, so we went to IKEA. It was hotter than hell in there, but we did manage to buy a cabinet for our dining room. We need to move all our crafting supplies up and away from Elsa’s reach. She likes to pour paint and cotton balls on the floor. Also, we have plans to move the hermit crabs down to the main level, so we have to clear off a space for them. I am tired of living in Erik’s room. I have to supervise the kids and the crabs pretty carefully when they are together and it will be easier to do so in the dining room.

Our life is so crab focused that I had a big nightmare about them last night. I dreamed that their cage was full of holes and I was trying to patch it up, but the crabs kept escaping.

Anyway, we had word that our power would be out until Friday. I was ready to crawl in a hole and cry. I had friends call and offer up their homes as laundry facilities/cooling off places, so I went and did a load of laundry and got a friend’s spare key (she’s out of town, but her husband is still here and works during the week).

By the time I got home we had power!!!!! A miracle!!!!

So we spent the evening throwing away hundreds of dollars worth of groceries from the fridge and freezer. It took forever for the house to cool down, so Mike and the kids decided to sleep in the basement again. I didn’t care how hot it was in my room, there was no way I was spending another night in the basement. I took a cold shower and turned the fan on me and slept like a baby.

This morning Elsa has a weird looking eye with goop coming out of it. It’s not pink, just droopy. Plus she has a big cough. No gym for me, which sucks b/c I’ve been doing Body Pump for two weeks now! It is hard to stop and start that class since it is a muscle building endurance class. Now I have to decide if I should take her to the doctor ornot.

Erik needs to go to camp, but he doesn’t want to. He used his allowance to order a new video game, so he wants to sit here and harass me about it until it arrives. We ordered it ten minutes ago. It’s coming from NJ. I’m trying to explain that it won’t be here for several days, but he doesn’t believe me. Life is confusing when you’re six.

Ok, gotta go finish cooking up Erik’s lunch and get this boy out of here. He is very active and social and NEEDS camp more than I can possibly explain (unless you’ve met him. If you’ve met him, you know).

I guess if I can’t go to the gym, I can do some deep cleaning today. We desperately need it. And I have to sign up for WW. Ugh. So don’t want to, but I must. I bought a person scale and food scale on Friday, so I guess I’m ready. I think I’ve already gotten the money out of the food scale. Erik has weighed every small thing in our house, including the crabs.