I know, I said I was going to be more consistent with my blogging, and that ended after, what, a couple of posts? I have thought over and over about things I want to share on my blog, but then I get so busy doing, well, life, and before I know it I'm heading off to bed thinking, "Tomorrow is another day." So I decided that this month, December, I would do a daily journal to get my blog caught up on everything that's been happening and what my days look like. This should be interesting.
I should mention now, before I go any further, that this year I began homeschooling my youngest son E. It has been an enormous blessing to be able to spend this time with him and watch him learn and prosper. His grades have improved tremendously; he currently has a B+ in Algebra and straight A's in all his other classes. We are doing Florida Virtual School which is free for Florida residents. The curriculum is better than what he was learning in class in my opinion, and he can go as fast or as slow as he wants. He has a schedule of course, but the teachers are much more flexible which is great when dealing with a kid who has mild to moderate dyslexia. It means more work for me, obviously, but it is so worth it to see him become more confident in himself and actually enjoy learning for a change.
So, my day began like most Mondays. E was off all last week; it was a catch-up week for virtual school, so if your assignments were up-to-date (which his were), it was a full vacation week (which we both loved). School started up again this morning, and I got up early to make breakfast and see what his schedule looked like. I knew he had one online class to attend which was algebra, but I hadn't looked at anything else all week. We were busy with Thanksgiving, then decorating for Christmas, so school landed on the back burner. I'd put some sausages to fry on the stove, and biscuits and a hash brown in the toaster oven. It was 8:30, and my oldest son R had just left for work. I was tidying up in the living room, when I heard a loud crashing sound. It sounded like someone's garage door slamming onto the ground. I looked out the window but saw nothing; then I walked into the kitchen and noticed the stove and microwave were turned off. So were the Christmas tree lights. That's when it hit me: the sound I heard was a transformer. I immediately called the power company to report it. They said they'd call back, and they did. Said it was a transformer (ha! I was right) and that a repair crew was being dispatched to repair it. We should have power back by 12:30. Great. School for us typically starts at 9 am. That wasn't happening. But it wasn't too bad; he would just start school a little later. We could handle that.
I was a bit bummed, though, because I knew today was Beauty Rush day. I've begun wearing Bare Minerals makeup because as I've gotten older I've noticed changes in my skin, such as more redness and oily/dry spots. My daughter also has skin issues (roseacea and such), so I wanted makeup that is as natural as possible. We both fell in love with Bare Minerals and have been using it for the past month or so. Beauty Rush is Bare Escentuals big online sale that lasts 12 hours (for those who don't know, Bare Escentuals is the company that makes Bare Minerals). It was starting at noon, which meant I'd be late getting to the sale, but only by a half hour. I should be good, right?
At about 10:30 we heard truck sounds outside, and sure enough it was the power company. Awesome! They were already at work and we would be up and running before the 12:30 deadline we'd been given. About a half hour later we heard the trucks drive away, but we had no power. Then I got a call from the power company; it was going to take longer than we'd originally been told. We'd have power back on around 1:45 pm. Okay, I figured, a little later than anticipated but hey, we'd already waited this long. I texted my daughter at work and asked her to bring home some pizzas, as it looked like I wouldn't be making lunch anytime soon.
It was 1:15 pm and we were still in the dark. Praise God it was a nice day, low 70's and breezy, otherwise we would have baked in the heat. I called the power company again. This time I was told the damage was more severe than they'd thought, and a special crew needed to be sent out to make the repairs. Now we were looking at 5 pm before power would come back. I was so frustrated! At 2:30 I watched out the window as the power company came with a crane to remove the burned out transformer and install the new one. It took 3 hours to get all the work done, so basically we were without power for 9 hours. Let me just say, I have a new appreciation for electricity. We had no way to cook; we couldn't open the fridge very often because we didn't want all the cold air to escape; no electricity meant no router and no internet; no television, radio, DVD's, video games... yeah, we depend on electricity a lot.
As soon as the power came back on, I jumped on my phone to see if there was anything good left on the Beauty Rush sale. Of course, there wasn't. All the good stuff got snatched up. I guess God didn't want me spending money on more makeup this month. I was kind of bummed, but not overly upset. Which is a big improvement for me.
E got to do a couple of hours of schoolwork once the power came back on. He completed his music and PE class and, because his live lessons are recorded, was able to watch his algebra class. Tomorrow will be a busy day of catching up for him.
So that was my Monday. What started out as a regular day turned into somewhat of an adventure. God does that to us sometimes. He changes things around to teach us valuable lessons. Today's lesson was on patience, and being thankful for the blessing of electricity. Wonder what He plans to teach me tomorrow? Can't wait to find out!
