Grammy took the two older kids to the zoo. Kansas Dad headed to the office for a few hours, preparing for his first class tomorrow (yes, Saturday afternoons). I decided to try to get Second Daughter to nap in the swing so I could catch up on laundry and pack some boxes. About five minutes after everyone was out of the house, I had the dishwasher (loaded by Kansas Dad, to give credit where it's due), washing machine and dryer all running. (I like to run them separately, to decrease our electric load, but with a one month old, cleaning must happen when she's happy, so I've been loading and running whenever I get the chance.) Second Daughter started to cry and I picked her up. Just as I stepped into the living room, silence filled the house. We'd lost power. I gazed in dismay at the kitchen full of non-functioning appliances and did what any woman would do in my circumstances.
I ate a bowl of ice cream while I considered my options.
Packing boxes in the August heat without air conditioning with a baby strapped to me didn't seem like the most comfortable option, but I decided to try it out since it was still cooler in the house than outside and I'm not sure how often I'll have the opportunity to pack. (Luckily, the power was only out for about half an hour.)
I learned two important lessons:
1. Second Daughter does not like to be in the BabyBjorn while we pack boxes.
2. It took seven boxes and an entire day to pack most of our fiction.
