Electricity, how do I love thee, let me count the ways...

29 hours without power is apparently 28.5 more hours than I can handle. We had some wicked storms come through on Wednesday. Bob Kierein of NBC4 pointed to our area and said, "If I lived in this area, I'd head to the basement soon." Bob didn't have to ask me twice. I snatched a sleeping Charlotte out of her crib and hauled Elisabeth to the basement. Three minutes or so of horizontal rains and winds, then 10 minutes of your run of the mill thunderstorm. The result was so many trees down in the Washington area that 233,000 Virginia residents lost power.

At first, the novelty of the situation entertained us. And then it got hot. And we couldn't get food out of the fridge. And let's just say, I am meant for the modern age. We made it through Wednesday night without melting, but by Thursday afternoon the temperature in our bedroom was 89.3 (I'm not exaggerating). So, Doug piled the girls into the minivan on Thursday morning while I went to work. They went to the store and bought ice and iced down the fridge. Then they went for an exciting day at Daddy's office. I met them there around 12:30 and we all had lunch. Then, the roving family climbed into the minivan and drove (well all of us but Doug). I wanted Charlotte to nap and Elisabeth to have some quiet time. So thank God for DVD players in minivans. We drove for about an hour and a half in the nice air conditioned van. Then I parked the van in the shade outside of my favorite cafe where I puttered around on their free wireless from the comforts of our new four wheeled home. Finally Charlotte had had enough so we went home for a little while. We stayed home for about an hour before it was time to go back to my favorite cafe for dinner.

Thankfully at 8pm last night the lights came back on. if I see any workers from Dominion power today, they might just get an unexpected big fat kiss.

On Wednesday night, probably dazed from the idea that we might not get power back until Saturday night (what they were telling us), Charlotte walked by. You read that right. I was staring into space and my baby walked by. Pushing a shopping cart. And it took me a few seconds to register that this was not normal. Ah, second children. I remember with Elisabeth I spent hours trying to get her to push this damn push toy walker thing that I bought for her. I'd set it up for her at one end of the room, set her up, and she'd look at me and sit down. She hated that thing. But I persevered. I should have realized then - Elisabeth is pretty stubborn. But Charlotte just saw an opportunity and seized it. She was happy as a lark. I managed to catch it on video yesterday for those of you with small children who enjoy watching such things.

And now for a brief Elisabeth funny. I took her with me to the endocrinologist on Wednesday. On the way there we discussed bones (which is better than whether or not I'm speeding). How many bones do I have, mommy? I have no idea kid - somewhere around 200. BUT if you ask the doctor, I bet he'll know! She was pretty excited to ask the doctor. He, predictably, did not know but thought it was 208. He claims he is a hormone doctor, whatever - I'm reconsidering my choices!!! Anyway, she said she had bones in her arms, legs, hands, head, feet, chest and knees. "But I don't have bones in my nose mommy. Only boogers."