How do you spell ICE STORM?

"Pain-in-the-butt." That's how. This is the 2nd major ice storm we've had in 2007, but this one was a doozy. Our power went out around 6:30 this morning. I knew school had been canceled so I was lazing in bed when James poked his head in our bedroom to tell me the power had gone off. Great. Last time (I think it was February) we were without power for 2-3 (I can't remember) days and it was so frustrating. (Good glory, I can't remember ANYTHING lately, lol.) So I was praying for the best but expecting the worst. Living out here in the country is not always a little slice of heaven. So, the kids got up around 8 (yay) and we got our glamorous breakfast of Pop-Tarts straight from the box (who am I trying to impress? That's every day's breakfast!) and started our day.

Avery wanted to watch Dora. "Dora's broken." Caden wanted the Christmas tree lights on. "Lights are broken little man." We hemmed and hawed about that for a while but then, much to my amazement, I watched my children play, not fight, not scream, not hit each other for the next 4 hours. Yes, I did type that correctly. 4 hours of that. So, I hoisted my pregnant self out of the chair and decided it was time to actually do something around here. I was not about to waste their good moods. I spend way too much time at the computer and that was simply not an option this morning (I have mentioned my lack of internal motivation which directly corresponds to my inability to tell myself no, right? Right). We traipsed downstairs and I tackled the kitchen. Cluttered counters, drywall dust on everything, just a mess. My dad brought over some of my mom's cute snowman stuff last night that she doesn't have room for anymore, so I set about putting that all up in the kitchen - stuff like cookie jars, mugs, salt and pepper shakers, very festive. I got the kitchen counters cleaned up, put up the snowman stuff, cleaned the top of the fridge (I know, nesting much?) - and the kids were still in great moods. Well, Caden had stripped himself down to just his diaper and tee shirt, but he was still in a great mood.

At this point, Avery proclaimed it was time for lunch with a can of ravioli in her hand from the pantry. Caden proclaimed it time for Dora yogurt with the grab of a spoon from the drawer and an emphatic "uh UH!" pointed toward the fridge door. So, I rummaged around for the hand-held can opener, all the while staring longingly at the electric one hanging idly from the upper cabinets and lunch commenced. Never mind the ravioli was cold - they like it that way. Plus I always rinse the ravioli with hot water to rinse all the sauce off so it's less messy - so that sorta warmed it up. James had called at this point to tell me he wasn't coming home "for lunch" as per usual but would be home early afternoon for the day.

We finished up lunch and they were back to the races with playing nicely with each other. BONUS! I sat at the table, willing the lights to come back on. Nuttin. I looked outside and noticed we had an actual power line down in the front yard/ice hole. So I called the power company right away - that should put us at top priority, right?

Next I decided to tackle the mound of medical paperwork waiting to be filed. Guess what? Didn't take me that long and it's done now!!! And THEN I got out the Avent bottles we have and sorted through those (long story short, I am bottle feeding this little boy because of the meds I am taking for my bipolar - really difficult for me, but I am happy with our decision and I know he'll be just fine. I'm just very used to breastfeeding and have no IDEA how to bottle feed!). Sooooooo much got accomplished today, and I'm really proud of that. Now, if I could only just force myself away from the computer at least 2 days a week think of all that I could get done! Nah, let's not think about that too hard.

Around 4:30 our house temp was getting chilly, so we decided to head in to James' parents to spend the night. We got there, had a wonderful supper, and around 7pm my phone rang - it was our neighbors with the good news of power back on!!! Plans changed, we came home, put the kids to bed and now here I am, James fast asleep on the couch. Some things never change.

We have possibly lost at least one really big shade tree. Many more of them aren't looking good - the ice is very thick on the branches and they are hanging down touching the ground. I hope we can save them, but we're thankful to be warm and safe here at home.