Test Failed.

Sort of anyway.  Our power went out today at 3pm.  No big deal, right?  Well, we're in the middle of a blizzard and it is FREEZ. ING.  COLD.  Again, we're indoors so how much could it matter, right?  Right.  Well, I discovered when our family room went down two degrees in one hour that it might be a bad thing if it continued going down and we continued having negative degree windchills, IF our power stayed out for any length of time.  Hmm.  I started to think.  What would Adam do?

Nothing.  He'd do nothing really.

Today marks 4 months.  What exactly WOULD WE have been doing today had he been here?  The same things we did, really.  As my calendar in my kitchen says, this weekend he would've been moonlighting at Fremont--all weekend.  He would've been GONE for this whole blizzardly power outage anyway!!!  Pulling in a very nice check (I'm remembering now...).  48 hours of work equalled more than 1/2 a month's salary.  It was a good gig.  Anyway.  So, I thought to myself, "Self.  What would we have done had Adam been up at Fremont and the power went out?"  I would've texted my friends and told them. And that's what I did.  I told our home teacher.  Nothing really all that different.  I wouldn't have jumped in the car and driven up to Fremont in this weather and Adam couldn't have done anything to help this situation really!  I would've done just what we did.

So it was only 3 1/2 hours that the power was out.  We've had (I think) power out a total of like 3 times since we've lived in this house--it just doesn't ever go out like it did all the time for no good reason in CA.  So on to what I learned today about preparedness...

1.  It was nice to have bread and peanut butter and bananas available and ready to eat for dinner--for a no-cook dinner.  No need to open the fridge (which was great, I think I was able to save everything in there since we didn't open the fridge and freezer).
2.  Candles and flashlights with new batteries were perfectly ready to go.  I had my parents get a lot of this stuff handy for me, it was on their to-do lists when they've been here to help.
3.  When a baby poops head to toe (literally) during a blackout, it's impossible to give said baby a bath without an extra hand--that is, when bathing a baby in total pitch-black darkness.  Thank heavens for Justin who held a flashlight.  Sheesh.  Good timing Carson.  You poop in a blackout, you poop at the worst possible times at church, you poop RIGHT when I got up to say a few words at your daddy's burial.  What is WITH you child and your poop?  Let's agree to stop this really bad timing stuff, ok?
4.  My new phone has to be charged about every 12 hours.  So while it's great to be able to notify the power company that my power was out, it was cutting it close to text/call people who were going to turn into my needed rescuers if we needed somewhere else to sleep for the night.

In conclusion, I learned one important word:  GENERATOR.  I think that having a generator and water storage would basically complete my "preparedness" for such similar situations.  I mean, really electricity and water are quite important--VERY.  I know how to store water, I guess I should get on that a bit better than the several gallons (plus my water heater) that we have stored in our basement.  Oh yeah, and of course fuel (gas) for a generator would be helpful.  Hmm.  Interesting concepts for my next learning phase of preparedness.  I'll keep stocking up on the peanut butter...always a crowd favorite over here.  And we'll keep those flashlights handy.  You just never know when you'll be giving a baby a required bath in the dark.  Pleasant.