It started with snow on Valentine's Day. Despite the decent accumulation of snow on the roadways, I made the drive to Hannah's for planned brunch with my friend Lindsey. We both made it safely an
That night, Sunday, was cold. Monday morning came with fresh snow and lots of people didn't have power. I thankfully did, though. I logged into work but it was hard to concentrate as it was clear a lot was going on. Throughout the day I kept checking Facebook to get updates on my friends. I texted with close friends to check in on them. Turned my thermostat down to 65 to conserve energy and do my part.
Evening came and I still had power, which I was feeling very lucky about. I couldn't believe that I'd get to watch The Bachelor, a piece of joy during this cold, crazy time.
Then the power went out at 6:30 p.m. I was a bit lost on what to do, as I was feeling confident I wouldn't lose power. I found two good-smelling candles I had from Target, and also some tealight candles from Ikea, lit them and placed them on my nightstand. I brushed my teeth, opened up my faucets to dripping to prevent frozen pipes, gathered blankets and my cats on my bed and settled in.
Power came on about an hour after going off. I was giddy, and turned on The Bachelor. Sadly, power went out again at about 8:30, around an hour after being on. So I relit my candles and got back into my bed, cuddled with my cats and just laid there.
I finally fell asleep, and the power went off and on in approximately one-hour increments until about three a.m. It woke me up sometimes, as my heater is kind of loud. Overall though, I was basically warm with all my blankets and layers of clothing (I slept with socks on and I never sleep with socks on). The power went off around 8 a.m., just in time for work to start. It came on an hour later and stayed on for the rest of the day.
At this point, even though I was cold and mentally exhausted, I was still feeling lucky that I had power ALL DAY. I was, however, feeling concerned that I didn't have enough food to get me through the upcoming snow and cold that was coming Tuesday night; it seemed that Friday would be the next time that it'd be okay to leave (I went grocery shopping Saturday but I didn't get enough to make it through that long). My friend Steph came to my rescue, picking me up in her 4-wheel drive vehicle to get groceries.
Getting groceries was an adventure. We bypassed Murder Kroger because the parking lot was jam packed. We decided to go to Albertsons farther down on University since its' generally, in normal times, not busy. It was closed. So we headed back towards down and stopped at Aldi's. It was moderately busy, but not overwhelmingly so. They still had a decent amount packaged food, but meat and other deli items were pretty much gone. This surprised me, as my goal was to get items that didn't need refrigeration. Before dropping me off, Steph stopped by her home to give me one of her flashlights.
With a new food supply, I was feeling ready for whatever came. My power went off around 9 p.m. and was off/on all night in one hour increments until 9 a.m. The temp dropped to below zero over night. Despite that, and the heater being set to 63 and going off every hour, I kept warm in my bed. Power was on all day, except for a random half hour at 2 p.m. I also still had water as my pipes hadn't froze or burst.
At this point it was just looking forward to Friday, when temps would finally rise above freezing. Friday has come and things are feeeling normal again. The sun came and the rising temp meant the ice and snow melted. Water boil order is still in place, but that's no so bad considering what we've all been through.
I never lost water, my power only went out at night/overnight and the lowest the temp got in my home was 58. I had food and was checked in on by friends and family. I didn't have medical issues that required power. It was a trying week, though, and I was luckier than most.
