I didn't take a single photo on Sutton's first 4th of July (the photo above is courtesy of Walker's iPhone). In fact we did nothing particularly celebratory or exciting. We actually went to the.... (gasp)....... mall! You see we have been out of power since a wind storm struck VA and WV last Friday. They clocked 80 mph winds in the valley. Coincidentally we are also experiencing a heat wave. I've seen the thermometer on my car climb over 100 degrees three times since Friday. We have lovely friends who have offered us shelter. But alas, it is very difficult to pick up a dog and a baby and move yourself into another family's home. So we have been making the best of it. Walker cooked as much of our frozen meat on the grille over the weekend so we could limit our spoilage. And he is a master on the camp stove as well. We had pancakes and bacon Sunday morning, delish! That same husband and camp stove combination has provided me with hot water each day so I can wash dishes and bottles. But at this point I've issued a complete moratorium on the use of all dishes and brought out the paper plates in order to maintain some sense of sanity. This pains my normally green sense of ethics. I've not been the most pleasant mother or wife. The heat just makes you cranky and then after a while it makes you downright angry! The boys have been total troopers, both have had a virus that carried with it some very unpleasant side effects. So again, it feels as though the timing of this outage couldn't have been worse. But I know we are lucky. We have running water, Sutton's school is open and has AC. We both have jobs with AC and a great gym where we have utilized the pool and the shower facilities. We have a cool basement where we can sleep. And speaking of which, we have been in the house for a month and I've tried to avoid the basement like the plague. You see, when I wasn't paying attention, the movers shoved every last "miscellaneous" box down there and stacked them as high as the walls. There isn't much room to move around. And the floor is ummm....gross. I don't know that anyone has actually been in the basement of this house for years and therefore the bugs and spiders have taken residence big time. On top of that, we may have let the dehumidifiers spill over and add to the lovely floor mixture. Ooops! I'm in need of some serious motivation to get us through. The power company doesn't estimate our service returning until Saturday night. And on top of that, little man turns 1 one week from today. I need all my energy to get the house cleaned up and in shape for a PARTY!
