Roughin' it

I will say up front that I am a girl who likes her modern conveniences. Take electricity, for instance. Very convenient to have. Very inconvenient to not have.

I am convinced that our particular house is located on the weakest power grid in the city, or at least the neighborhood. I have lost count how many power outages we've had in the five years we've lived here. Heavy rains and strong winds are two weather conditions that are pretty much guaranteed to knock our power out, but there have been plenty of instances when it went out and the cause was a mystery. And often when our power goes out, we can see that the houses across the street from us are nonetheless enjoying their lights and televisions and whatnot.

This afternoon our power went out, and was out for five (freakin') hours. I heard through the grapevine that there was a car accident several blocks away which resulted in a downed power line. And of course, OUR house was affected. The neighbors across the street? They had power. They were virtually flaunting their power! Some of my Facebook friends who are also neighbors informed me that their power was out for a few minutes - one said an hour. Ours, though? FIVE hours. Try occupying six kids with no television lights by which to do educational flashcards.

The first couple of hours weren't too bad, since it was still light out. But as it grew increasingly darker, the beasts grew increasingly more whiney and bickerish (like that? I just made up that word on the spot). So I turned it into an adventure.

Bath by lantern light was a big hit (but rather in pain in the rear).

I couldn't cook dinner due to the power outage, so I ran out and brought takeout home and we ate by lantern. This was also a big hit, and declared by the girls as "THE BEST DINNER EVER!!"

And Finn had ambience for his dinner.

Fortunately, the power finally came back on as bedtime was quickly approaching. I can guarantee that we never would have gotten these scaredy cats into bed without their trusty nightlights.