36 hours...Its all relative

36 hours is not a lot of time to...

Start from scratch to do all the normal things you do before company comes
Wait for the wonderful man that is coming to fix (hopefully) my broken dishwasher
Go buy a new dishwasher if said "not-so-wonderful" man can't fix dishwasher
Clean out and completely re-stock soon to be empty refrigerator
Wait for the carpet cleaners
Get the car washed
Get the alignment fixed on the car
Organize things that need to be organized so that our company thinks we are the organized people we have always appeared to be on their previous visits

36 hours is a lot of time to...
live in your sweet, wonderful, ever so gracious brother and sister-in-law's house while the power is out in your house less than 2 miles away!

the last 36 hours have been stressful to say the least!

On Wednesday, while we casually, ate dinner before heading to church, a storm rolled into town. Thanks to the customer's Iphone at the table next to us, we knew that a Tornado Warning had been issued (3 minutes prior) and that we should be seeking shelter. So, after Ryan got lids for his leftovers and a refill (he's not from around here) we started to make our way to the car (not necessarily the safest place I know, but safer than the restuarant with glass walls). After a concerned friend called alerting us that the sirens were going off at our house, she thought we should go to the nearest grocery store. We did. And the doors would not open. Finally, we were able to get inside and after Mason recovered from slipping on the floor, we were ushered to the storm "shelter" (aka "the produce freezer") Two words about that...safe and brrrrrrrrr. We were in there for about 30 minutes before the police department cleared us to go. Luckily, our town was not damaged too heavily...mostly trees down. However, our power was out...

Wednesday night...no big deal it is only our side of the street that is out...that should be easy to fix...
Thursday...no big deal...play date with the cousins...
Friday...bigger deal...they fix our side of the street...except for 3 houses...mine and the 2 houses next door...I have things to do. Plus it is hot. Plus it is irritating. Plus other things are getting to me...friends are announcing that they are moving...people are being rude(friends, nonetheless)...tires are going flat on my car and having to be replaced...my house(my dark house),gets toilet papered...
Saturday...definitely a big deal...my kids have prayed everytime we pull in the driveway to check for power "Please don't be on, Please don't be on" So that they can stay with the cousins. Apparently, God (or at least the power company) listens to them...we finally talk to a real live person, Adam, who becomes the "nicest man I've ever met" even though he informs me that I no longer have an account with that particular power company. When I start my nervous breakdown, he assures me that "I will be fine!" And I believe him. I was aware that Ryan was in the process of changing our power company...though I wasn't sure when it was to become effective...now I know...the day before the storm. Anyway, Adam, takes good care of me and gets me to the right people...but then I have to get off the phone and carry on with "life waiting for power" No better place to do that then the Beauty Shop, right? Wrong! I go in to the Beauty school for my eyebrow waxing appt. where after waiting 20 minutes they tell me they have messed up and booked me not for today, but for NEXT Saturday. UH-OH! I should have warned the sweet 20 something students, but the floodgates opened and even I was not prepared. I explained quickly, that this truly had little to do with the overgrowth of hair under my eyebrows and more with not having nightvision. When their eyes returned to normal size and their mouths closed, one sweet 20 something wrapped her arms around me and said, "Honey, you are just like me...one more drop in the bucket and it all overflows." Which forced me to then bawl like a baby. I did, however, get my eyebrows waxed.
And more importantly, finally by 6:30 on Saturday, almost exactly 36 hours after the storm hit our area, our lights came back on and my children's sadness at having to move away from their cousins began!!!

And blogging was not on my list of things to do before company comes...