Time Travel

Welcome to our home on the evening of July 25th, at 8PM:

At approximately 3PM on this particular Sunday afternoon, our family was transported back to the 19th century.  A very strong thunderstorm knocked out power for most of Montgomery County, MD, and the result was no power until Tuesday evening.

Not knowing how long our power outage would last, Joe promptly taped the fridge and freezer doors shut to save anyone from allowing the cool air within the appliances out.  We decided a trip to a nearby grocery store to buy a 1/2 gallon of milk was in order.  We would have cold cereal for dinner and wait for the power to come back on.  Upon arriving home, I poured the first bowl of cereal for Theia and topped it with our newly bought milk.  Only after I put the milk on the cereal did I realize that the milk was spoiled. 

The girls and Joe chose to have water on their cereal and I ate mine dry.  It was certainly an adventurous meal.  When dinner time was over, I decided that it might be good to clean the heaping mound of dishes on the counter that I had neglected to put in the dishwasher earlier in the day.  Oh what a good example of the negative consequences of procrastination. 

I proceeded to clean the dishes in the twilight.  Fortunately, for us, we do NOT actually live in the 19th century and my husband has these cool LED glasses with lights on the rims.  They're perfect for washing dishes in the dark.  How nerdy, yet wonderful.

The fun continued in the summer heat for two more days.  We had early bedtimes, no internet, no refrigerated or cooked food unless we bought it somewhere else, no dishwasher, no washing machine or dryer, and a very strong awareness of how dependent our lives are on electricity.  With no sign of power returning and our plans to leave on vacation early Wednesday morning, we were forced to maka a Tuesday morning trip to the laundromat with dirty, stinky cloth diapers and mildewed clothing that had been in the washer when the power went out.  While it was nice to have all the laundry clean and folded in a few hours, the cost at $26.00 for 5 loads of laundry was a bit tough to swallow.

Thankfully, after a dinner out on Tuesday evening, we came home to the 21st century.  Lights, spoiled milk in the fridge, and AIR CONDITIONING! 

Unfortunately, only part of our life has returned fully to the the 21st century.  Someone has been stealing bikes from the metro station where Joe parks his scooter everyday and while we were without power, they made two attempts to steal his scooter from the bike racks at the station.  He has yet to ride his scooter back to the station and has relied on his lovely ladies for a ride in the van to and from the metro station most days since.  We'd really like a return the to the 21st century where a man can ride his scooter, which he purchased with the sole intent of helping him easily complete part of his daily work commute, again without fear of someone disabling it or stealing it all together.  It would also be nice to not have to answer questions about the "bad man," as Xandra likes to call him, who is trying to steal daddy's scooter on our daily trips to and from the metro station.  Her most recent suggestion is that we buy the "bad man" his own bike then he won't have to steal daddy's.  We're certainly open to suggestions regarding our scooter dilemma, but only ones that cost less than giving away scooters.

Until the scooter delimma is solved, I'll just be grateful to enjoy our cool, air conditioned, lighted living room by which to write blog posts, while the dishwasher washes the dishes, the washing machine washes the clothes, and my husband plays a computer game nearby.