Blackout Lessons Learned

So our city went black on Thursday at 3:40pm.  At least that was what time it was on my computer when it happened.  It was out for 11 hours.  It wasn't that big of a deal, but I can say that because we were prepared for something like that.  We were caught off guard by a few things though and these are the lessons we want to share.

#1- when you have a feeling to do something, just do it, even if it doesn't make to much since.  Example, charging your cell phone even though it is mostly at full power.  I didn't realize how much I would be using it during the late afternoon as we tried to figure out what was going on.  Also get gas and go to the bank even if it is an out of the way errand that day.

#2- even if your house is full of candles make sure there is something to hold them.  We only have 2 candle stick holders. 

#3-always stay calm.  We were all separated right when the blackout happened.  I was just leaving for ballet with Lily, the boys were across the street at a friend's house and Damon was at work.  No on knew how wide spread it was when it first happened or I think I would have stayed home that afternoon.  Trying to get home was a nightmare and the boys got scared after they came back and no one was here.  We were able to all keep in contact with each other and set a plan in motion so there wasn't anything to panic about.  We also had ice cream before dinner which is always great!

#4- this is going to seem a little outdated, but you should always have 1 corded phone in the house.  Most of our neighbors couldn't make calls because none of their cordless phones were working and a lot of their cells were out of service or wouldn't get through.  I was able to talk to the boys when they were freaked out and had them go over to our next door neighbor's house because we do have a corded phone in the house.  They still work in power outages.

#5- it was only 11 hours.  Not that big of a deal, but we should all have an emergency plan that has power outages going for a few days/ a few weeks, just in case.

We enjoyed our extra day off from school even if it did come at a bad time.  The first week of school was tough enough trying to get the routines down and then having a day off.