SNOW!!!

Well, it finally happened. It finally snowed last night. I was sure glad that I had all of the kids' winter things for them to wear to school today. That stressful day of shopping for everything sure paid off!!!
I guess that some would consider it snow while others of us would call it flying ice. It was REALLY painful to be out in the storm last night! The wind and the ice felt as though it was snowing glass. I was surprised that I didn't have any cuts on me when I got inside. . . but being pregnant, I did still send Otto out for my evening slurpee. . . .for some reason he got himself a hot chocolate. . . .wuss!!
As I was sitting in my Bonus Room watching the ice fly at my windows, I was mentally going through a checklist to make sure I had all of the candles and flashlights where I needed them and to make sure we had lots of extra blankets in case the power went out. I was glad that the kids were asleep because they would have been really freaking out. . . especially if the power went out. You see, last year on the night before Halloween we were supposed to have a couple of families over for a Halloween party. I was also supposed to cater the next day. Well, as luck would have it our power got cut at about 4 pm. Our house went dark and the kids started freaking out. Otto was at work and I couldn't get ahold of him and so I started to freak out myself. I called the power company and they informed me that it had been several months since I had paid my bill and so they had to cut off my power. I then (ummm we'll say politely) told them that I had, in fact, been paying my bill and that I had record of it coming out of my bank account. They said great! Fax it over to them. I then (again we will say politely) informed that that would be quite difficult since the confirmation was on my computer and the fax machine and computer both do not work without power. They said that I would have to figure it out. So I did!! I called my parents (who were also having my grandparents stay with them for a few days), quickly explained the situation and asked them if I could bring the kids over for a sleepover because I didn't have any power and the kids were quite unsettled. My parents said yes (of course) and then I started to leave for their house when Otto showed up. I told him to get into the car and when he protested I just yelled, "GET IN!!" As we drove, I informed Otto about what was happening and then he proceeded to question me about how the electric company wouldn't have received our payments if I had made them. I informed him (ummm. . . politely) that I couldn't really figure it out in the car so it would have to wait until we got to my parent's house. He then asked about the Halloween party and I informed him that I had already called all of the families and canceled the party. . . . I'll bet that you can imagine how well that went over with the kids. They did eventually get excited about sleeping over at Nana's house. They didn't think it was very fun to sit in the dark and be quiet while Mommy made a whole bunch of phone calls and packed up all of their stuff. By the time I got to my parents' house, I was a wreck.
Well, I eventually got everything sorted out with the electric company and my Grandma Bennion helped me cook all of the food for the event that I had to cater for the next day. I had to pull and all-nighter and my sweet grandma stayed up with me until 2 am and then did the dishes for me the next morning (she is a saint!!! What can I say?) and it all got done with 10 minutes to spare. So we got to go home for Halloween and everything turned out fine.
The only problem now is that whenever there is a power outage (it has happened about 2 or 3 times) the kids always freak out and ask me why I didn't pay the electric bill. As much as I love them, I always tell them (well. . . politely) that I had paid the electric bill last time and it wasn't my fault that the electric company cut the power. I sure do love the kids, and I do feel bad that they got so scared, and every time there is bad weather or a power outage, I always think back to that day before Halloween 2006 and think about how grateful I am that we made it through that mess!!