Who Turned Out the Lights

This week has been crazy! It all started last Sunday when we had the high wind storm hit our area. This was from hurricane Ike. I live in Ohio and we are so far away and yet winds were clocked around here at 72 miles per hour. It was an all day crazy wind storm. I couldn’t imagine what it was like for everyone in Texas.

We had a huge old tree in our yard split down the middle. It landed right on top of my husband’s car. Now most people would be upset by this event but I wasn’t. Wooh-hoo…I was celebrating because the car now has to go.

This is an old car that my husband can’t seem to part with. It sits in our driveway collecting dirt and dust and rarely gets driven. I hate this car sitting in the drive way, paying insurance on it and putting new tags on it each year. I probably should have showed more sympathy over the crushed car but I didn’t. He knows I am happy about it.

Power is now out all over the place and we are part of this outage. Of course Monday morning I get up for work not sure if we are going to have power in the office or not. Just my darn luck we do and my son’s daycare also with power so I couldn’t use him as an excuse to stay home. OK, maybe staying home wouldn’t have been fun with out all the creature comforts we are use to but I could have slept in and had a nap that day. That always sounds good to me….

Tuesday night they teased us with about 3 hours of power between 11:30 and 2:30 that night. This didn’t do much good since we were all sleeping. I almost took a shower at 2:30 when I woke up but didn’t and was so mad the next morning when the power was gone again.

Fast forward to Thursday and we still have no power. For us this is even worse because our house is on a well so when the power is out so is the water because the pump stops working. I can deal with no lights, TV, etc.. but not having water is horrible.

Finally Thursday night the power kicks on at 6:30. Time to celebrate…. Yeah right!

What do you think the first thing I did when the power came on? I grab my vacuum cleaner and start sweeping the house like a mad woman. I think I have a little OCD when it comes to vacuuming. I continue cleaning the evening away. I also bathed two kids and took a shower myself because I was not missing that opportunity again.

That night I think I ran every noisy thing I could from radios to TV’s and worked the lights a lot. I also turned the water on and ran it just to here it run.

I have a new appreciation for these things. When they are not there everything becomes twice as difficult. We went 5 days with out power and water. Have you ever gone for any stretch of time with out power or water? How long? What crazy things did you have to do to function normally?

His Naked Little Feet

Last weekend we visited a local amusement park for the day. We take the kids every year around this time and it is always really fun.

While at the park I encountered a situation over a park rule that really got me all worked up. Just thinking about it now gets me all worked up.

We stood in line for 30+ minutes to get on a kiddy ride. It was one where parents can take the kids on. I decided to take Thomas because he is 10 months old and he shouldn’t have to sit in the stroller all day especially if I can take him on something.

Anyway we get to where we are next to get on the ride and the girl working the ride looks at me and says “do you have shoes or socks for his feet” pointing at Thomas’s feet. I say no, he is a baby and he doesn’t walk. She says to me “it is park policy they must have something on their feet.” “But he is a baby and he doesn’t walk so what is the problem”. She continues…”these are the park rules and this is what distinguishes this side of the park from the water park side of the park”.

OK, I know I am arguing with an 18 or 19 year old girl that obviously doesn’t have a clue about babies but I was mad so I had to argue with her.

Now seriously, am I crazy here because he isn’t walking, he is going to sit on my lap and his feet aren’t going to touch anything?

His hands are bare and more likely to touch things before his little feet will. Does this mean he needs gloves on? I mean come on, it is summer time, hot outside, and he does not walk so why does he need shoes or socks on his feet. Seriously! His feet are not going to touch anything.

She finally let us on the ride but we had to put his feet in my husband’s hat. How stupid is that! Oh, and the minute we pulled away from the ride platform I took his feet out of the hat and made a point to not put them back in when I got off the ride. Sham one me I know but seriously….

Luckily I found a pair of socks in my diaper bag and put them on him after we got off the ride. It saved me the hassle of arguing with more teenagers.

I guess I am a redneck mom because I am one of those moms that doesn’t introduce shoes to my kids until they start walking. I don’t see the point especially when it is hot outside.

All day long I observed baby after baby with bare little feet and kept wondering if they were lectured like I was.

I respect rules and I understand this rule but in this case I would think the rules should not apply until he is walking. Do you think I am in the wrong for getting mad? What would you have done?