It's cloudy again and my laundry has already been on the line for 2 days. Perhaps I should just give up and throw it in the dryer, surely it won't add THAT much to the power bill. I am grateful that a dryer is even an option, as most folks here just have to live with this fickle weather.
We've spent 2 days this week without power. Last Saturday night we heard a large BOOM just as it was getting dark. I knew that wasn't a good sign. "It's the transformer, it will be out a while, find the flashlights," I told the kids, and I wondered how in the world I was going to cook 2 chickens for the anniversary celebration at church tomorrow. Ended up we boiled them over an open fire in our barbeque pit outside and they tasted pretty good I guess because someone asked if they could have the gravey to take home (this is a country where nothing is wasted).
Our second power outage started as I was coming home from my PreK pickup at noon. Some guys in a red truck kind of slowed down as I was going into my gate and I hurried to get inside (still just a little uncertain with crime being more frequent these days). They began ringing the bell and asking for a Laura somebody, then talking in Spanish that was too fast and far above my vocabulary limits. After a few attempts to explain that Laura didn't live here, I watched them stand up in the pickup bed and CUT MY POWER LINE. "Now what do I do?" I thought. I walked back to school and told Harold, then called the Superintendent. Ends up it was a mixup with the bill and the maintenance guys from school repaired the line. Had power for about an hour so I made some calls quick, then it went off again-and stayed off. So we roasted hotdogs in the fireplace for dinner and made hot cocoa in our enameled pot. And since it's dark here by 6pm it was an early -to- bed night after one episode of "The Flying Nun" on Harold's computer.
Our attitudes effect how the kids view these challenges. I can either complain, or look at it as an adventure. And perspective is definately called for. This morning as we hopefully flicked the lightswitch at 5am I said, "Power's on...and we ate last night....and we have a new President here...and there wasn't an earthquake that caused chaos.....and my kids are all safe" Yep, it's all about perspective. I can choose to give thanks, or I can complain and start that downward spiral into self-pity.
As a PS, please pray for the Matute family (family of 3rd grade student) They lost their 3-year-old yesterday in a house fire. He had hidden and Mom couldn't find him in time.
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