Thursday Thirteen Ed. #101!!! Thirteen Things We Did When the Lights Went OUT!
People, it is no fun to have no electricity when the temperature has soared to 102. We had no power from 4:30-9:30 p.m. yesterday. For the Thursday Thirteen, here is what we did:
13) Ate the popsicles we had left in the freezer.
12) Made a pitcher of icy lemonade before the ice melted.
11) I took a shower before daylight faded. I laughed at the neighbors with air-conditioning (we do not have central air) because, ha HA! Welcome to my life, suckas.
10) Folded the laundry that was drying on the clothesline.
9) Went out for dinner at our neighborhood pub where luckily for us and them, THEY HAD THE POWER!
8) Let the kids watch “Lemony Snickets” on the laptop in the yard while they played in the wading pool. (Dive-in movies are back.)
7) Talked with the neighbors. Speculated about when the lights were going to come on. Listened to the good reggae the neighbor was playing on his car stereo. (It gets so quiet when the electricity goes out — makes you realize how much background noise we deal with daily. Supposedly 700+ houses lost power in our neighborhood, and 2,500 across town.)
6) Called the Pink-Haired Housewife and the Barkeep and sobbed. (“It’s hot. My life sucks.” Etc. I’m like a bratty two-year-old who hasn’t taken a nap when it gets too hot. I weep inconsolably and sit there with a spray bottle, trying to cool down.) They brought over chocolate milk for the kids and a huge bag of hand-me-down kid clothes (I am sucker for hand-me-downs. Especially red, high-topped little kid Converse. Cute!). For me, a water jug full of cherry-infused vodka over ice with a half-wedge of lime squeezed in. Oh, my God. What did I do to deserve friends like that? Of course, I thought the jug was filled with water. No, fruit juice! No… (trying to place it, after I’d already guzzled half of it) — vodka. Yep, vodka.
Called the Barkeep and the Housewife: “You thought we brought you ice water?”
Me: “I thought that was so nice of you!” (Drunk hiccups into phone.)
Barkeep and the Housewife: “Freak.”
5) Also I’d had a double shot vodka strawberry-lemonade at dinner. So I became schnockered. What with the heat and no lights and all.
4) Called my sister and told her she’d have to be responsible In Case of Emergency. She is my ICE girl. Because I would have looked like a bad drunk monkey mommy had the kids needed a trip to the ER or something. (They didn’t.) Back-up ICE: Pink-Haired Housewife and Barkeep, since it was mainly their doing.
3) My husband? Playing hockey, of course. I’m all, “I’m abandoned here. In the frickin’ dark!” He’s all, calmly, “There are flashlights on the counter, and candles in the drawer.” Me: “It’s dark! What if I have to pee?”
2) Every five minutes, asked each other, “You think the lights are coming on soon? Do ya? How about now?” OK, that was mainly me pestering the children. The lights came back on, we watched the “Singing Bee” on NBC! God Bless America and our ample power supply. What would I do with no “Singing Bee”? No “America’s Got No Talent”? No “General Hospital” on TIVO? (Rick Springfield/Noah Drake is totally going to give a concert, I can feel it in my bones.)
1) I wondered, wouldn’t we sometimes be better off with no electricity? No laptops? No television? No video games. It was quiet. I liked that. It may have just been the vodka talking.
, 
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Thanks for stopping by. Glad the power came back on! It’s freakin’ hot over here too.
July 11th, 2007 | #
I bet our grandparents would consider us to be wimps but I’d be right there with you if I was stuck in the dark in the middle of a heat wave!
July 11th, 2007 | #
Wow. I’m so happy to know that there’s someone else who still watches GH. Really, that tiny little tidbit made my day. I bet you’re right – I smell a concert too.
July 12th, 2007 | #
Hope your lights came back on!
Happy TT.
July 12th, 2007 | #
Great list, very funny! I hate the heat and not having power as well, but on the other hand the almost eerie silence is nice as well. Happy TT.
July 12th, 2007 | #
You had me there for a second.
July 12th, 2007 | #
I hate blackouts. I used to kind of enjoy them, until we had that monster blackout in 2003. My neighbourhood has always had power problems, and we were one of the last in Toronto to get our power back on. Just a few blocks over, it was on after less than 12 hours; our house didn’t have power for four days.
My roommate and I quickly got sick of huddling around our one battery-powered radio, walking to the grocery store for ice cream which would be melted within an hour or two, and straining to read by the light of dozens of (heat-producing) candles. Now when the lights go out, I tend to get a little…concerned.
(My Thursday Thirteen is Thirteen Books Poodlerat Bought.)
July 12th, 2007 | #
LOL on #6. Love me some vodka. Now those are good friends. We will be sitting in the 30’s here in Edmonton, Alberta and you wanna talk about whining. We are used to cooler temps so I fear there will be a lot of cranky people walking around. Great TT list!
July 12th, 2007 | #
hate when electricity goes out. Kids would’ve been dashing for those popsicles too. lol. Drinking sounds like the best thing on a day like that. Hope ya can take that shower tomorrow whenever ya feel…not just during daylight.
July 12th, 2007 | #
You sure found ways to stay busy! When lights go out at my house, I’m like… “Uh,,, well I guess I could… knit???”
July 12th, 2007 | #
Dive-in movies… this sounds like a great idea… might have to investigate this as a possible commercial venture!
July 12th, 2007 | #
Ugh, I think I would die without a/c. I’d have to go shopping.
Happy Thursday.
July 12th, 2007 | #
Argh, our lights went out on a HOT HOT HOT day too and we are one of the ones with the air conditioning who wilted in 15 minutes, screaming and wailing and making it even HOTTER in the house. So we all piled into the car and went to a diner where the power was on. By the time we got back everything was back on, thank heavens! Great list!
July 13th, 2007 | #
Fun! So very creative :)
July 13th, 2007 | #
We had a ball when we had a power outage a couple years ago. Our neighbours came over to our terrace and we BBQed. Some of our neighbours played frisbee on the street with flashlights taped to their heads! Ha!
Thanks for stopping by mine!
July 13th, 2007 | #
Seriously, I saw Rick in concert 25 years ago and it was awesome (I even made my husband go). We recently moved and it is near a casino so we headed over to try the buffet. And the sign that lists upcoming concerts? Yep Rick Springfield. You should have heard the groan from hubs. Wish I didn’t have to work so I could still watch GH. I miss those SAHM days. Darn those kids for growing up.
July 18th, 2007 | #
Vixen, TIVO!
July 18th, 2007 | #