Can't Sleep? Daily chat for the night birds

[faerywings]

Lou- that is so frustrating! After Hurricane Sandy, we asked for a generator for Christmas. Of course, ever since then, we only had to use it once and that was just for a few hours when DD Caitlyn had her first day of college and was in the middle of putting on make-up. she is a make-up diva LOL
I hope that the power comes on soon and that you have a friend who has power if you need it.
Oh, and check your homeowners policy. My parents were able to get some money back for the food they had to throw out after Sandy. It was only ~$100 but every little bit helps!

 

[felis]

This is too bad, Lou! Especially with the children. I know that have some streets where neighbours are good friends and can share food and exchange it for bath use, but personally in my area we are on frostily attitude and from your story looks like you are too. So do the electricity is back to normal now?!

 

[01lousmith]

Thanks for your kind words of encouragement and advice Faerywings, I will look into it.
The power has been back on for a bit more than 1 hour now and hopefully will stay on this time (yesterday it lasted less than 1 hour).
I'd like to say that we are on good terms with our neighbours across the streets who have small kids like us but no one offered any help whatsoever when it was really obvious half of the street was in complete dark. And I'm not one to force people to help me if they don't want to so we didn't ask. It's really each to their own. Our friends who live further away offered help but then they lost power too.
I better catch up with the rest of chores to do around the house now that I have power. Thank you again.

 

[felis]

And, yes, Felis, the time change definitely affects me. I actually like this one better. I need that sunshine time

Vicki I hope to have it on your wedding anniversary travel!

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[felis]

Thanks for your kind words of encouragement and advice Faerywings, I will look into it.
The power has been back on for a bit more than 1 hour now and hopefully will stay on this time (yesterday it lasted less than 1 hour).
I'd like to say that we are on good terms with our neighbours across the streets who have small kids like us but no one offered any help whatsoever when it was really obvious half of the street was in complete dark. And I'm not one to force people to help me if they don't want to so we didn't ask. It's really each to their own. Our friends who live further away offered help but then they lost power too.
I better catch up with the rest of chores to do around the house now that I have power. Thank you again.

I'm agree, it will be very embarrassing to ask others, because you can't be sure do they help you because they really want or because your request is forced them. These who still have electricity have to propose to others, that is how I understand it. So they know you have little children but just left you, so unpleasantly!

 

[easyeyes4you]

Thanks for your kind words of encouragement and advice Faerywings, I will look into it.
The power has been back on for a bit more than 1 hour now and hopefully will stay on this time (yesterday it lasted less than 1 hour).
I'd like to say that we are on good terms with our neighbours across the streets who have small kids like us but no one offered any help whatsoever when it was really obvious half of the street was in complete dark. And I'm not one to force people to help me if they don't want to so we didn't ask. It's really each to their own. Our friends who live further away offered help but then they lost power too.
I better catch up with the rest of chores to do around the house now that I have power. Thank you again.

I have lived so many places that electrical outages were the norm... won't go into the stories... then there was the Thanksgiving weekend that the toilet literally broke... the only one... I had young kids that time...

Interestingly we had a gas outage last week... was off for over 24 hours... Not the warmest day for sure... house got down to the low 60's, and only the hot water in the tank... Then they brought in over a hundred workers from elsewhere to come around and re start everyone's pilot lights... It was an impressive sight seeing them all roll onto the street.. sadly my hot water heater has not worked correctly since... they are coming back tomorrow to take a look at it... I'm just thankful that I don't live where the houses were all blown apart! Glad they got you back up and running....

 

[01lousmith]

I have lived so many places that electrical outages were the norm... won't go into the stories... then there was the Thanksgiving weekend that the toilet literally broke... the only one... I had young kids that time...

Interestingly we had a gas outage last week... was off for over 24 hours... Not the warmest day for sure... house got down to the low 60's, and only the hot water in the tank... Then they brought in over a hundred workers from elsewhere to come around and re start everyone's pilot lights... It was an impressive sight seeing them all roll onto the street.. sadly my hot water heater has not worked correctly since... they are coming back tomorrow to take a look at it... I'm just thankful that I don't live where the houses were all blown apart! Glad they got you back up and running....

Hope your hot water heater gets fixed before the week-end. That was my fear last night that we would not have enough hot water to all rinse off before bed.
Once in Egypt we came home to no water at all. We had a very minimal shower using a bottle of water each (bottled water was cheap).
In Malaysia we got the no water for a day also, with no warning either, I was in the middle of a wash of dirty diapers, only had one kid back then but he would have been a baby. Nice stinky house! Ha, fun times! We do take these for granted and then when they're off, it's pretty miserable.

 

[easyeyes4you]

Hope your hot water heater gets fixed before the week-end. That was my fear last night that we would not have enough hot water to all rinse off before bed.
Once in Egypt we came home to no water at all. We had a very minimal shower using a bottle of water each (bottled water was cheap).
In Malaysia we got the no water for a day also, with no warning either, I was in the middle of a wash of dirty diapers, only had one kid back then but he would have been a baby. Nice stinky house! Ha, fun times! We do take these for granted and then when they're off, it's pretty miserable.

I agree totally.. sounds as if you are an old pro at these inconveniences... how is It you have been so many places around the world.. Is your Husband in the Oil industry?

 

[faerywings]

That is great news, Lou- hope that the electricity stays on.
I am so blessed to have a fantastic set of neighbors. everyone around me has gas, while we are all electric. I would run across the street with my tea kettle to boil water so I could make instant coffee. Then we would pool our food and cook it at my other neighbor's house and have a dinner/drinks deal. Our power came on before a friend of Scott's did and we told them to come down for hot showers and to this day, the mom still hugs me when she sees me for that

I am with Liz- I would love to hear more about your travels!

 

[01lousmith]

Chris, that sounds like the way it should be! I am not taking it personally though. I think it is more a case of everyone just getting on with their lives and too busy to even notice the other side of the street in the dark. If the shoe is ever on the other side, I'll make sure to knock on the doors to offer any "spare" we have (be it freezer space, ice box, ice bags, torch) and help with meals or showers.

We are both engineers. I stopped working the day before my 1st was born (I tried to get back when he started solids, but he could not tolerate food and ended up 99% breastfed until almost 1, so after a month of being up all night bfing, and spending days worrying about what was wrong with him, I gave up. Then I got pregnant with #2 just before renewing my contract, but they had changed the T&Cs to ridiculous ones). I am French, he is Australian. We met in the UK and started from there: Egypt, UAE, Malaysia, now US. I did the 25 photos challenge with Joanne Brisebois the other day. My layout was pictures of countries I've lived in and visited. I counted 28!
Now that we have the kids, I'm hoping we can stay put for a few years. Then when the youngest is 5 or 6, my husband wants to sail around the world... We'll see where the world is at then...

 

[faerywings]

Lou- That is very kind of you, a good soul.
Your life is so fascinating! I am such a homebody but would love to travel as long as I am not away from home for too long.

 

[VickiStegall]

Not like me to be up in the middle of the night but cannot sleep. After Earth hour the other day, here we're doing Earth day or actually just entering Earth day number 2... ok, fine i'll admit it's not not of our own free will. A storm caused power outages and while our neighbours across the street have had electricity most of yesterday and porch lights on all night, we are powerless! How frustrating (enraging might be more like it...) that in a few hours i will have to throw out our fridge/freezer contents, go to the shop for just enough to get by for breakfast/lunch, have to figure out what to do with a bucketful of dirty cloth diapers that were meant to be washed yesterday, while literally across the street it is business as usual. Our electricity provider is not giving any info either ("currently assessing the condition" since yesterday really). Yesterday the boys had a glorious 2.5hr nap, and i could not do anything with that free time (well i guess i could have handstitched a blanket or aomething).
Whingeing over (better save that phone battery, currently can only charge it in the car). I need to figure out a way to switch off (!) and get back to sleep. Arghhhhh

Oh, I have been there, done that and it stinks every single time. It just makes you want to throw rocks at their windows lol (not that I would actually do that, but you contemplate it right?)

I get really claustrophobic without power. Not sure how electricity provides oxygen (I know it doesn't lol) but my body sure thinks no power = no oxygen.

Hopefully you have power back by now!

 

[VickiStegall]

We are very fortunate to know and are on good terms with all of our neighbors. We've lived in this house 20 years, so that's probably why. Anytime we have any kind of trouble - power outtage, tornados, whatever, we all band together. If one of us is going to the store, we pick up for everyone else, etc.

Lou, I love the idea of sailing around the world, but not sure how I'd handle being cooped up on a boat for long periods of time.

 

[01lousmith]

We are very fortunate to know and are on good terms with all of our neighbors. We've lived in this house 20 years, so that's probably why. Anytime we have any kind of trouble - power outtage, tornados, whatever, we all band together. If one of us is going to the store, we pick up for everyone else, etc.

Lou, I love the idea of sailing around the world, but not sure how I'd handle being cooped up on a boat for long periods of time.

We know well at least 2 families across the street (my husband works with the husband from one, and the other family we invite to have both sets of kids playing in our pool), another 2 families a bit less but i baked cookies and gave chocolate truffles at Christmas, so that should count for something right

We'd be stopping in beautiful places along the way! No sailing for extended periods of time for me and the kids. We'd fly for the long passages. My husband's family is really into sailing, so they'll enjoy helping out for the long passages. Me, let's just say i grew up in the middle of the middle of France, plenty of lakes but seas and oceans...not so much! I'm always seasick the first day i get back on a boat.

 

[easyeyes4you]

Oh, I have been there, done that and it stinks every single time. It just makes you want to throw rocks at their windows lol (not that I would actually do that, but you contemplate it right?)

I get really claustrophobic without power. Not sure how electricity provides oxygen (I know it doesn't lol) but my body sure thinks no power = no oxygen.

Hopefully you have power back by now!

Yes, Lou... Vicki lives in the middle of Tornado country... What was that big one a few years ago that did so much damage to your area Vicki...? Anyway, Lou, it was devastating and there was a huge collab made called Charity that we bought to help with the recovery efforts... eace:

 

[easyeyes4you]

Chris, that sounds like the way it should be! I am not taking it personally though. I think it is more a case of everyone just getting on with their lives and too busy to even notice the other side of the street in the dark. If the shoe is ever on the other side, I'll make sure to knock on the doors to offer any "spare" we have (be it freezer space, ice box, ice bags, torch) and help with meals or showers.

We are both engineers. I stopped working the day before my 1st was born (I tried to get back when he started solids, but he could not tolerate food and ended up 99% breastfed until almost 1, so after a month of being up all night bfing, and spending days worrying about what was wrong with him, I gave up. Then I got pregnant with #2 just before renewing my contract, but they had changed the T&Cs to ridiculous ones). I am French, he is Australian. We met in the UK and started from there: Egypt, UAE, Malaysia, now US. I did the 25 photos challenge with Joanne Brisebois the other day. My layout was pictures of countries I've lived in and visited. I counted 28!
Now that we have the kids, I'm hoping we can stay put for a few years. Then when the youngest is 5 or 6, my husband wants to sail around the world... We'll see where the world is at then...

I LOVE hearing how people met... What a wonderful story... You have had an exciting life... so far... Now the kids make the excitement... right??? Thank you so much for sharing with us...

 

[faerywings]

I get really claustrophobic without power. Not sure how electricity provides oxygen (I know it doesn't lol) but my body sure thinks no power = no oxygen.

:rofl:

 

[faerywings]

Sailing like that sounds fun, but I don't think I would be able to do that. I adore the ocean and have enjoyed the few times that I have been on boats. but even the idea of going on a cruise makes me feel claustrophobic, looking at nothing but ocean. My ILs and BFF love cruises but I don't see the appeal. Not that a cruise or any vacation is in my future, but ya know, if I had the opportunity, a cruise isn't on my list. Give me a week at a resort like Sandals or Beaches and I would be in heaven.

 

[faerywings]

Lou- if you baked cookies or made truffles for me, I would be your friend for life. LOL

 

[01lousmith]

Yes, Lou... Vicki lives in the middle of Tornado country... What was that big one a few years ago that did so much damage to your area Vicki...? Anyway, Lou, it was devastating and there was a huge collab made called Charity that we bought to help with the recovery efforts... eace:

They had a tornado very nearby not last Chrsitmas but the one before, which was 10 days before we were due to move here... I was shouting at my husband " I didn't know there'd be tornadoes! why are we moving there?! etc etc"
There is a tornado watch in the wider area for today but not anywhere too close, thankfully for us. I get the impression tornado are very hit and miss. As in they can completely destroy one row of houses, and leave the rest almost undamaged... That's luck I guess.

 

[01lousmith]

Lou- if you baked cookies or made truffles for me, I would be your friend for life. LOL

:bliss:

 

[felis]

WOW, April challenges are so interesting, I hope to find time for more of them!
I'm so proud of myself, personal record 23 pages made in March, but now will have to slow down :Cry:.

 

[felis]

We know well at least 2 families across the street (my husband works with the husband from one, and the other family we invite to have both sets of kids playing in our pool), another 2 families a bit less but i baked cookies and gave chocolate truffles at Christmas, so that should count for something right

We'd be stopping in beautiful places along the way! No sailing for extended periods of time for me and the kids. We'd fly for the long passages. My husband's family is really into sailing, so they'll enjoy helping out for the long passages. Me, let's just say i grew up in the middle of the middle of France, plenty of lakes but seas and oceans...not so much! I'm always seasick the first day i get back on a boat.

Sailing like that sounds fun, but I don't think I would be able to do that. I adore the ocean and have enjoyed the few times that I have been on boats. but even the idea of going on a cruise makes me feel claustrophobic, looking at nothing but ocean. My ILs and BFF love cruises but I don't see the appeal. Not that a cruise or any vacation is in my future, but ya know, if I had the opportunity, a cruise isn't on my list. Give me a week at a resort like Sandals or Beaches and I would be in heaven.

I love monotony of the scenery, deep sea would look so pretty to me, as long as this is a day trip. Also I love to learn from different places and cultures! My mom was bought 2 of these luxury books of Reader's Digest about a special places. But my adventure spirit find it's limit here.
Ideas to eat strange food and sleep in beds where so many peoples before me are sleep, make s**, cry and even worse, keeps me away from any vacation mode.
Past few years gone to the sea only for weekend, prefer to travel two nights than to stay somewhere. I'm promised to overcome myself this year and finally to go on real vacation, but this is one of the things that people always vow, but not actually made. :redface:

Save​

 

[felis]

And few more things about traveling. I'd love to go on camp, but just don't have friends which to like this kind of living. It's so unfair that alone woman never is in safe. I just finished to read "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry" and this man cross whole England walking and nothing bad happened to him, but first he is male, and second it's fictional story. Cheryl Strayed (memoir "Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail") which is woman and with true walk story admitted that few times was been in danger during her journey.

 

[faerywings]

Truffles for everyone!

Felis- I could do a day trip/overnight on the ocean, looks for whales or dolphins. I love learning about different cultures too but I tend to stick to my comfort zone on food.

 

[01lousmith]

And few more things about traveling. I'd love to go on camp, but just don't have friends which to like this kind of living. It's so unfair that alone woman never is in safe. I just finished to read "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry" and this man cross whole England walking and nothing bad happened to him, but first he is male, and second it's fictional story. Cheryl Strayed (memoir "Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail") which is woman and with true walk story admitted that few times was been in danger during her journey.

I really would not travel on my own either. I did it once when I was 20 something but in Croatia, which is just lovely, friendly and safe, and only for a few days in between visiting my sister who was studying in Zagreb.
My husband left overseas for a business trip yesterday and already I don't feel completely safe in our house at night. I struggled to fall asleep (and we have an alarm so it is ridiculous).

 

[VickiStegall]

WOW, April challenges are so interesting, I hope to find time for more of them!
I'm so proud of myself, personal record 23 pages made in March, but now will have to slow down :Cry:.

That's AMAZING!!!!

 

[VickiStegall]

They had a tornado very nearby not last Chrsitmas but the one before, which was 10 days before we were due to move here... I was shouting at my husband " I didn't know there'd be tornadoes! why are we moving there?! etc etc"
There is a tornado watch in the wider area for today but not anywhere too close, thankfully for us. I get the impression tornado are very hit and miss. As in they can completely destroy one row of houses, and leave the rest almost undamaged... That's luck I guess.

Yes, the 'average' tornado can be hit and miss and those have never really bothered me. For the most part, you can get out of the way with a little a warning.

It's the mega one's that are 1+ miles wide and EF5 which, I've now experienced twice, that scare me and cause me anxiety if they are in my area.

Liz, that tornado was the May 20, 2013 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Moore_tornado

May 3, 1999 was my first big tornado and I caught a 2x4 board with my head and watched a car fly over my husband's head.

We just stay weather aware and try not to panic. We've got a storm shelter in the backyard (since June 1999 lol my mom bought it for us the day after the May 3 tornado so SHE would never have to live through worrying about us again)

 

[easyeyes4you]

May 3, 1999 was my first big tornado and I caught a 2x4 board with my head and watched a car fly over my husband's head.

above cut from Vicki's message...

All I can say is WOW... I would have been packing to move I think....

 

[faerywings]

Yikes! I think out of all of the natural disasters, tornadoes would freak me out the most since there isn't a lot of warning. At least here, in NJ, we get hurricanes and blizzards but those often have days of advance notice.