When The Lights Go Out

A few months ago I watched that much hyped documentary-style movie on National Geographic channel about a nationwide power grid failure.  I guess it had its intended effect... parts of it made me laugh and parts of it got me thinking about how well prepared my own home and life is should there be a power outage.

NASA Light Image courtesy of howequipmentworks.com

It got me thinking, but not acting.

So Karma, the Universe, perhaps God Himself... took the next step to get my attention.  We had a sudden partial outage in the house.  Derek was downstairs playing one of those fantasy football games and I'd just taken a shower and was getting some pajamas on upstairs when it went black.  Well, it went totally black for me.  I had a sudden thought flash of "did I pay the bill?"  I did.  And the next one isn't due until the 18th.  So it wasn't a matter of getting cut off by Greystone.  I didn't realize there was still some power in the house until I'd carefully felt my way along the wall, out the door, down the hall, into the guest bedroom, opened the closet and found the big flashlight/camp lantern to make my way downstairs.  And yes, by then I was sort of patting myself on the back for not getting hurt or letting dogs out of the bedroom in the pitch black of late evening!

We lost power for what we figured to be half of the house.

I did not know that could even happen.  I thought if the power was out, it was out.

We made some calls looking for help and were asked if we'd had Greystone come look at the line yet.  I hadn't so the gentleman on the phone explained that there are 3 wires in the supply line.  A neutral, or ground wire, and what they call an A and B phase that are both live and supplying electricity to the house.  A and B each carry 120 volts and connect to different sides (or trees - it seems electricians have their own language, too) of the breaker box.  Appliances like your range and dryer that have the higher voltage outlets draw power from both A and B while your other outlets and switches are tied to just one of them.

I wasn't thinking much about getting educated right in the minute, but I do like learning new stuff so this is kind of cool for me to know!

Greystone came and it wasn't their problem.  Darn!

Feeling super burdened from the financial strain it was going to cause we resigned ourselves to calling an electrician in the morning to come replace the whole electrical panel.  The anticipation was that half it had burned out/gone bad/whatever you call it when it no longer works.  The first place said someone would call us back within 30 minutes to schedule.  They never did.  So after my doctor's appointment I stopped at Home Depot and talked to a very nice, very knowledgeable electrical isle associate who not only pulled out a business card for an electrician but went the extra mile and called him to help get things moving.  The first available time was the next morning.

So going into night 2 of our weird power outage... It was a little inconvenient but doable.  One of the dogs followed me into the bathroom (I totally understand where young moms are coming from on the luxury of peeing by yourself!) and tripped over an extension cord Derek had rigged up so I could have a fan at night in the strangely always warm master bedroom.  What's weird isn't that he got a foot caught in the cord, but that when he did the lights flickered back on!  A little more fiddling around and we figured out that something was wrong with the outlet in the master bathroom and that was what was causing the rest of the outage.

I even understand how and why that happens and can briefly explain.  The inside wiring for the house's electric system begins at the breaker box and each light fixture and outlet is part of a "run" of wire from a breaker.  Multiple lights and outlets, frequently in more than one room, are included on a single run.  If one of them develops an issue, everything between the 'issue' and the breaker will still function normally but everything beyond it on that run will be powerless.  The runs in our house, while not technically wrong, are neither what I find logical nor how someone doing it new today would lay things out.

When the electrician, who is completely wonderful and I would highly recommend to anyone in the Atlanta area, came he confirmed that the outlet was bad.  Something with the wiring had come loose, got ungrounded and made the box itself live (1970's house - metal outlet boxes, not the plastic ones they use now and again not technically wrong just different than newly installed products).  He changed the guts out and we had power again.  Until... we didn't.  The suddenly working correctly outlet burned out the breaker.  And then, blam!  Back to no power.  So we called the electrician back and he fixed that, too, at no extra charge.

Anyway, that's the highlights of that little adventure.  And what have I learned?

• Problems are not always what they seem at first so keep exploring until you get to the source.
• Fresh batteries in the flashlights is always a good idea!
• Knowing where they are is also a good idea - that I'd just unpacked the one big one and knew where I'd set it on the closet shelf saved me from feeling my way down the stairs in total blackness.
• A correctly labeled breaker box is not just aesthetically pleasing.
• The electrical system to the house is amazingly interesting and I actually want to know more.

A few weeks later another breaker burned out and I was complaining to some friends about how much it was going to hurt to spend another $100 on the electrician and they told me it was an easy DIY to change a breaker.  I went to Youtube and found the tutorial and it is easy!  So we got an $11 breaker.   Yet doing it, we somehow managed to have problems.  From my "research" I knew exactly what to do, but rather than let me, Derek pushed me out of the way and took things a few steps further than was necessary and then touched a needlessly exposed wire while turning the power back on and took a jolt of electricity.  We weren't sure how big of a jolt and since he was feeling strangely in more than just his finger that got zapped he got a quick trip to the Emergency Room to be sure he was ok.  He was.  We over-reacted.

How it should look!  Photo courtesy of wickedhowtos.com.

So what did round two of the great power outage teach me?  Apparently not a whole lot since two of the flashlights had dead batteries and I had no idea where Derek had laid down the third one and that after I did find it an hour later and opened the box we still did not have anything labeled so it was hunt and peck to figure out which one had gone bad (it didn't flip to the off position when it burned out so a label for what part of the house each controls would have been a helpful clue!).  I'm making that one of my upcoming "household organization projects" and I think I'll get another flashlight and attach it to the same wall as the breaker box with just enough cord or small chain so that it's useful there but can't be carried off and laid down elsewhere in the house!  I hope Derek has learned that sometimes I know what I'm doing when it comes to household repairs and that he needs to trust me to do it.  And that going above and beyond, while good for your career, can be detrimental at home and needs to be balanced with knowing when doing just barely enough is plenty.

A couple of months out now... have we acted on any of this new found how-to knowledge?  Nope.  Still tempting fate.

Please, God, don't smite me!

Chocolate Molten Cake

Usually I can hold my own in the kitchen... but tonight's baking was rather much of a FAIL.  And yet, I don't know if I'm willing to accept all the responsibility for it being one of those "less than" kind of desserts.  I think the directions left a bit of key information out.

Last time we went grocery shopping, Derek picked up this cake mix declaring that the cupcakes "looked delicious" and they do!  And this time, unlike a previous incident with baking mixes, the frosting was included.  And it's the old-school frosting mix you beat with butter and a little bit of water not the pre-mixed canned stuff like you can buy now.

Do you remember when frosting came as a boxed mix?

Or does that just make me seem really old?

After we got home I was reading the instructions and happened to notice the recipe on the side of the box.  You know the suggestion they always include for something else you can make with the mix.

Uh huh... Chocolate Molten Cake.  Derek's favorite thing.  Favorite!  Like in the history of EVER.

And it didn't sound so hard to make.

So I opened my big mouth and said, "Look, we could do Molten Cake."  Well his face lit up and I knew my task was set.

According to the box, you mix up the frosting just like it tells you to on the back.  Easy peasy, no problem.  Then using the included pastry bag, you pipe out 24 quarter-sized disks onto a baking sheet and freeze them for at least 30 minutes.  What they don't tell you is that using their frosting you can easily do the 24 disks about the diameter of a quarter but they are each at least as thick as if you stacked enough quarters to have a couple of bucks.  I froze them for an hour and I really kind of think it should have been longer.

And since a baking sheet won't fit inside the freezer part of my smallish side-by-side I used one of those plastic mini-quiche trays that I kept to freeze yogurt treats (Peanut Butter Banana Pupsicles) for the dogs last summer.  Perfect shape and size!

And then this is where things went awry...

The directions simply say to mix up the cake batter, again just as directed on the box, and divide amongst 12 papered cups in a muffin pan.  They REALLY NEED TO SPECIFY that you should use a large-size muffin pan not the standard cupcake size.  By the time you put 2 frosting disks on top of each little pot of batter, the cups are too full and it overflows during the baking process.  And the 'lava' escapes so there's no squishy, liquidy, flowing yumminess just a sort of pile of gooey fudge/cake chunks.  They are a mess!

A tasty mess, for sure.  But a huge horrible mess!!  A mess on the scale that leaves me  really dreading clean up tomorrow...

It was so overflowed I struggled to get the pan out of the oven without wrecking my pretty granny square potholders.  (At least I was smart enough to put a baking sheet underneath and all those drips aren't coating the bottom of my oven!!)  Then I struggled again getting a cooled cake onto a plate and the paper cup removed.   The flavor is good.  And I really think the larger muffin tin will help keep things contained so the cakes bake right and the lava stays inside.  After I can purchase one of those pans I'll try it again, but for now I am terribly disappointed.

And shame on you Duncan Hines!!  The mess could have all been averted if you would have just told me I needed a piece of equipment I don't have.  Then I wouldn't have mentioned the molten cake being a possibility...  And I wouldn't have chocolate baked on like concrete to pry off the muffin tin and baking sheet that caught drips tomorrow.  Nor would I have a disappointed man who's looked forward all day to a Chocolate Molten Cake and all he gets is a messy pile of fudgy glop.

It's a Good Day

Today has been filled so many good little things!  I just feel the need to share my gratitude for these tiny blessings...

Derek's mom loaned me her car for the weekend while she's out of town attending JazzFest in New Orleans.  Freedom.  Independence.  IT. NEVER. FELT. SO. GOOD.  Plus it's a pretty cool car!  She drives a 2011 (I think) black Chevy Cruze.  I like the way it handles.  I like it a lot.  I actually told Derek I could get used to having a little sedan like this instead of another SUV... which has been my stated preference for ease in hauling dogs around when we can get stable enough to replace my vehicle.  But now I'm thinking I can crowd them into the backseat and they'll be just fine.

I went to pay the note on his car earlier in the afternoon.  The nearest branch of the bank that holds the note is inside a Kroger not terribly far from the house.  They were doing Customer Appreciation Day so I got hor d'oeuvres (aka over-cooked chicken nuggets from the store's deli and nibbles from a fresh veggie tray) and a bright blue frosted cupcake.  Hey!  That's meat, vegetables and dessert... that counts as a FREE lunch!!

And while I was inside Kroger I remembered to pick up the garlic that I forgot when we grocery shopped earlier in the week and need because it is one of the absolute necessary and key ingredients in the marinade for the Cambodian Chicken Skewers I'm planning on making for dinner tomorrow.  And it was on sale so I got 2 with the thought I'll have at least one full head to break apart and plant in the garden and then hopefully we can be "garlic self-sufficient" starting this fall.

When I came out of the store, I found $1 in the parking lot.  Woohoo!  Mad money!!

Thinking they're crappy but will do the job I need it to I stopped at the Dollar General by my house and got a broom.  Last time I noticed they were $2.  But now the same brooms cost even less... today it was priced at $1.75.

Ace Hardware shares their parking lot (for now, but they're moving when the new building is finished) so I walked over there to look at their plants and picked out a 4-pack of really good looking 'Beefsteak' tomatoes.  When I got home I noticed there's 5 plants in the plastic tray.  Score!!  Now I just need to get me outside and get a spot to plant them prepared.  I think I'm already just a little on the late side for getting a garden in but it should be ok since the growing season is quite long.

A nice man at Church has offered me strawberry starts from his garden.  I'm hoping to go get them Monday afternoon... but while I was looking at plants I noticed the strawberries there.  Holy moly!  6 scraggly little plants are priced at $3.99.  Getting pretty much all I can use for FREE... major SCORE!!

Considering all the doom and gloom of my recent past, I think today isn't just good, "IT'S GGGRRREEEAAATTTTTT!!"  (I bet you thought that in the voice of Tony Tiger... of Frosted Flakes fame.  Yes, I blatantly and unashamedly stole that quote... sorry Kellogg's.)

Not What But How

My Mom never actually said those words.  Lots of moms do... and I've heard the phrase, or something similar expressing the same sentiment, most of my life... but I never heard it come from my Mom's lips.  I did see it in her actions though.

She was soft-spoken, gentle, intelligent beyond her education, and patient about getting what she wanted in a life that was frequently difficult.  She grew up in a home where an alcoholic father spent money for beer rather than feeding the family and where his drunkenness could turn violent.  She had to quit school after the 8th grade to work and help support her mom and siblings and, while she always wanted more education, she never returned to school.  Being saddled with so much responsibility, she gave up a lot of personal goals and freedoms and married late in life.  I was a long sought conception, an easy pregnancy and a very difficult delivery... hence my only child status.  And then by the time I was 12, my Dad was disabled by a lung disease his doctors blamed on his younger years farming and breathing the grain dust thrown up by threshing wheat on his father's Wyoming ranch.  Because of her limited education, her employment opportunities were also limited but my Mom always worked.  She worked hard doing things like pressing clothes in a dry cleaner, waitressing, cooking and washing dishes in a cafe and sometimes being a cleaning lady in the homes of people who were financially better off.  There were slights and hurtful things said to her, and about her, by her family and my Dad's family and by members of the predominant Church in our community (which in a such small town is basically the lifeblood of the community) and yet, I'd say her life was quite successful.  She loved people.  And there were those around her who loved her.  And rather than hold a grudge, she was always willing to give people another chance.  I know there were disappointments that broke her heart many times in doing that... but I so admire that she was always willing.

And I hope that I am, too.

I hope that my words and actions can:

  * bring you moments of

   joy.
   * the feeling of being

   truly loved and

   supported.
   * peace in troubling

   times.
   * comfort in grief.
   * relief from weariness.
   * hope for a better

   tomorrow.

Yes, there are times when I feel very acutely the "lack of" in my life.  And yes, I've been known to complain about it.  Sometimes bitterly.  But what I'm finding is that I really want to use knowing how it feels to do my little part in making the world a better place.  And I want to share, hopefully not in a bragging sort of way, what I'm doing to get past the lack and into a place of abundance again.

If you feel so inclined, I invite you to comment about the things that would help me give these gifts of joy, love, peace, comfort, relief and hope to you.

Even the Laundry

Photo credit: Womanhood with Purpose Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/womanhoodwithpurpose/posts
/672428669502707

There's a Facebook group that I follow called A Farm Wife where the administrator posts each day something she calls "Celebrating the Daily Ordinary" where a little thing we may be taking for granted is called out with gratitude.  One day it might be indoor plumbing, or that we have vacuums (instead of having to tie straw to a stick to sweep out our kitchen) or readily available electricity coming into our homes to power lights, appliances and entertaining toys.  You know, the things it's easy to overlook because they are just part of the everyday ordinary stuff of life.

Laundry needs to be celebrated, too!  Did you know that taking care of the laundry is even something God asks of His people?  Take a look at Exodus 19:10-11.

"And the Lord said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes,

And be ready against the third day: for the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai."

I think it's interesting that Moses was asked to tell the people to sanctify themselves (cleanse the inner man) AND to wash their clothes (cleanse the outer man as well) in preparation for meeting the Lord.  In Church, and sometimes just in life generally, we spend a lot of time talking about the status of the inner man and about how concerned God is with the condition of our heart... as in how well we loved and cared for our fellow man... but we shy away from discussions about taking care of ourselves feeling like that is being selfish and unGodly.

But... if you take a literal look at the Lord's words in Mark 12:29-30 when He was asked about the greatest of all the commandments, He says:

"And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these."

Love thy neighbour AS THYSELF.

Part of loving yourself is taking care of your body, your home, your clothing... whatever your physical surroundings may be.  And God just told us that it's important to Him.  Very very important!

As a child I was taught a song to remind me not only about when to do them but that they were important details to take care of each week:

Saturday is a special day.

It's the day we get ready for Sunday:

We clean the house, and we shop at the store

So we won't have to work until Monday.

We brush our clothes and we shine our shoes

And we call it our get the work done day.

Then we trim our nails and we shampoo our hair

So we can be ready for Sunday.

(words and music by Rita Robinson, 1920-2011)

We always sang it 'wash our clothes' instead of brush them but the point is, we got things done during the week, and especially on Saturday, to be ready to spend Sunday - our Sabbath - with the Lord.  Isn't it wonderful to think about all our mundane daily tasks this way?  Doesn't it help to elevate them and give the things we do in the home a more proper importance?  We are doing them to prepare for our time communing with the Lord and being refreshed and re-energized by Him.

Something to think about... celebrate the ordinary daily things in life.  And do them, even the laundry, with enthusiasm!