Power Priorities

What a weekend! Friday evening we were hit with the craziest storm, which, thank goodness only resulted in a few downed limbs in our yard, but that we later learned was actually a microburst which caused severe damage to neighbors as close as a few hundred yards away. (The house in that picture is currently vacant, thank God!) Like most of the area we also lost power immediately following the storm.

While Nathaniel went to sleep and Abel and Lucas went for a walk to hunt for mud puddles and survey the damage, I enjoyed a quiet hour-or-so on sitting on our front stoop.

Then I got bored and hot and started wondering how long we'd be without power.

When Abel returned, I learned more about the many huge trees that had fallen and brought down power lines with them. And he announced that he'd better get out the generator.

I had COMPLETELY forgotten that we bought a generator after last year's hurricane!

Friday night it powered our sump pump (#1 priority!) and our refrigerator (#2 priority!). We spent a restless night trying to sleep in the heat and were all up very, very early Saturday morning.

And the question of the day was: would our party go on?

You see, we had planned a blowout summer bash for that afternoon, including rental of a bounce house from a mid-winter Groupon deal. But we still didn't have power. No worries, Abel was confident that since we didn't need the sump pump anymore, we'd have enough juice to run the refrigerator (new #1 priority!) and bounce house (new #2 priority!) via the generator.

And so by about 4pm we had loads of coolers full of ice and about 75 neighbors in our backyard enjoying plenty cold beverages, grilled and non-baked foods. Plus a bounce house full of joyous children.

And Karma rewarded us for forging on with the party anyway -- our power came back on about halfway through! Although some friends returned home to a lot of continued clean-up and hours (or days) more without power, we had a fabulous time with great near-by friends on Saturday. Proving once again, how grateful we are to live in such a wonderful neighborhood!


Original post by Smiling Mama. Thanks for reading!

A new end-of-the-year tradition

Several months ago I saw a pin on Pinterest with a really neat idea and we're actually making it happen! {I very much want to give credit where it is due and I think I've traced the original post back to here.}

You see, my darling husband loves Dr. Seuss. He loves reading Dr. Seuss books and one of his favorites is Oh, the Places You'll Go! I, on the other hand, very much dislike Dr. Seuss books. I very much dislike reading Dr. Seuss books and I'm not a fan of Oh, the Places You'll Go!


Lucas follows in his dad's footsteps: he loves Dr. Seuss books and loves being read Dr. Seuss books.

So. I saw this idea, mentioned it to Abel, and told him he should make it happen.

The idea is that you purchase a copy of this book (we already owned it!) and take it into your child's teacher each year and ask them to write a note in it. Then, you present it as a gift to the child at their high school graduation, they get to look back and reminisce about all their great teachers, yada yada.

At the very end of the school year, Abel did just that. He took the book into Ms. T., Lucas's kindergarten teacher, and not only did she write a note, she wrote a very sweet and personalized poem--kinda' in the style of Dr. Seuss!

We all adore this teacher and even if we totally drop the ball for the next 12 years, I know this particular book will always have a special place in all of our hearts, even mine, which apparently doubled in size and made room for a little love for Dr. Seuss.





Original post by Smiling Mama. Thanks for reading!

A Pinterest Birthday

 
I consider myself to have been an early adopter of Pinterest and, obviously, the first board I created was My Wish List board. To my delight, the few people who bought me birthday presents this year relied heavily on that board for their gift ideas.

I couldn't have been more thrilled!

My parents got me a Fitbit which I pinned after being convinced by this post by Jennifer over at Hip As I Wanna Be. I am pretty competitive by nature and since wearing the Fitbit I find myself going out of my way to walk more, take more stairs, etc. So far so good!

My fantabulous sis send me this beautiful plaque, which is even more lovely in person! I adore it and am still deciding on the perfect spot for it.

And darling Abel got me an amazing pair of designer sunglasses. When I pinned these, I will admit, I knew I'd never in a million years by them for myself. But I also knew that they were just the type of gift that Abel liked to buy for me. Even better, that particular pair was not to be found but I fell in love with another pair that was less than half the cost! And when I wear them I feel like a million bucks!

Thanks Pinterest and my wonderful family for a birthday filled with lovely material gifts -- on top, of course, of the best gifts of all: wishes and hugs from an abundance of family and friends!



Original post by Smiling Mama. Thanks for reading!