Life as it happens with our three beautiful and adopted children, Shayla, Yamira and Manuel: Live from West Boylston!!!!!!

Sorry for my absence. It's been crazy around here!!!! Ping and I were around most of Wednesday, but so was Daddy. Bill stayed home to do schoolwork. On Thursday, we did errands all day. Around 5 pm it started to rain. As the night went on it got worse and worse. It turned into a terrible ice storm. At 10:20 pm the Fire Dept. asked for all available firefighters to show up at the station. So I woke Bill who had fallen asleep with Ping and told him about the call. He headed to the station. Shortly after his leaving, the lights went out. They came back on though. I knew it was a temporary situation because the ice was awful and it was crushing the lines and trees. So I turned off the computer. We lost power again, but it came back after minutes. Shortly after, we had the flickering and then it was out permanently! Life has been messy since.

Bill was at the station and Ping was asleep. I stayed up in a chair all night and watched in horror as power lines blew up into great fire balls. I could hear the branches crashing to the ground and the bigger trees losing 1/2 of their body. It was pretty scary. It was scary because I was concerned the house would be hit. I kept hearing things hit the house, so I would jump up with our one flashlight and I would survey the scene. I would check on Ping and the three fur babies! I would then go back to the chair. Finally around 5:30 or 6:00 am, Ping started yelling "Mommy, Daddy!!!!!" So I ran upstairs. She was wide awake and wanted to babble like a crazy bird. I was so tired. I couldn't even try to sleep because Bill wasn't home and I couldn't wear my darn CPAP anyway!!! Shortly after joining Ping, I heard more crashing. A few minutes later, Bill came up the stairs. I was relieved. He had to park at the bottom of our hill because there was no passage to the house due to trees being down and laying across the street!!!! Bill and I tried to sleep, but couldn't stop laughing because Ping was full of major energy and was dancing and singing and babbling in bed! We finally passed out. We were freezing by then. Bill stayed for an hour or so and then headed to work. There was no school, so no swimming for me. I couldn't have gotten there anyway since the roads were blocked. Plus it was dark and freezing inside! The only thing that worked was our cells! Meri called and told us that she and Joe were in the same situation. Bill called around noon and said he was heading home. He was exhausted! So he came home and slept while Ping played and I made out our Christmas cards with my coat on and a blanket around me. The temps were in the mid 40s! I could feel it in my bones. Meanwhile Ping insisted on wearing a dress!!!!! That kid!

Meri and Joe texted and called us all day and kept asking us to come over and sit by their fire. They were making potatoes and steak on the gas grill. We were so frozen and hungry, so we headed over there. We stayed till 10. We were warm for a little while which was great. It was nice to have some people to spend time with and the food was fantastic! They were much better equiped than we were!!!!! So we headed home for 10 pm because Bill was on call starting at 10. He was covering for another guy! When we got home, we went to bed. What was there to do? It was pitch black and colder then anything, so we just piled into bed with the comforter and 3 blankets.

Meri called in the morning, but I was too cold to pick up the phone! Then Sarah called at noon. As I was talking to her, the green light on my CPAP glowed. I was like "OMG, I think we have our power back!!!!!!" Sure enough we did. Bill jumped out of bed and yelled "wahoo, I am off to make coffee" as he ran down the hallway. I sped myself into the shower! It was divine!!!!! We then picked up and did a few things around the house. We were going to go out but the day got away from us. I was fine with that. Staying home and appreciating the warm room and light was fine with me. We watched the "Miser Brothers" on TV and then I watched a new movie on Hallmark. I love Christmas movies!!!!! Finally went to bed at 2am.

Today we went to Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, MA for Breakfast with Santa Clause. We had 1pm reservations. We arrived a little late. Had to move some branches from the street before we could pass. It's still quite messy around here. The place was a zoo. The food was great. At first I was pretty perturbed. Took forever for a waitress, all the tables were shoved together so you couldn't walk around easily and it was just way too crowded for my taste. I thought this was going to be a sweet and quaint event. Once people started to finish up, it was much more pleasant. Like I said, the food was good. Not a fan of brunch due to people who don't wash their hands properly, but I figured I needed to get over that! LOL. Bill took Ping immediately to see Santa at my urging. Didn't want her dirty before her picture was taken. Bill took her alone because I wasn't squeezing my butt through all the people and chairs. The pictures were awful. No smile. After they returned, I got up and got some food and then Bill did. Ping colored. When Daddy returned with sausages, bacon and eggs, well you could see her eyes twinkle! My chickadee loves meat!!!!! I don't touch that stuff at all or I would be thristy all day long and be miserable, so I have learned not to indulge!!!!! Then she asked for more sausages. I told her that I wanted to see her smile with Santa like she smiled when she talked about the sausages! It was hysterical because right after I said that, she jumped from her chair, walked right over to Santa, jumped on his lap and smiled. I had to run after her with the camera!!!!! I could not believe my eyes!!!!! So cute and bold!!!!! So I guess if I want a smiling Ping, I need to carry some sausages around! We met the manager of the tavern and talked about our adoption quite a bit with him. He is in the process. I told him to have his wife or himself email me or call me anytime. It's nice to talk to someone who has been there and done that already, so I hope they feel comfortable calling if they need anything.

After brunch, we ran a bunch of errands and came home. We were going to make a gingerbread house, but it was too late. I wanted Ping to have a bath since her hair smelled like smoke from Meri's house the other night. I am not complaining, just don't want people wondering what we are doing to her. Bill said "it's not a bad thing that she smells like smoke." Um thank hon, but I am not a firefighter and neither is Ping!! So a nice warm bath and off to bed they went. Bill was coming back to make dinner, but had a feeling I would never see him again and sure enough, he never returned. I wouldn't care so much, but he turns on every freaking Christmas light in the house plus all his village stuff. I get stuck shutting it off! I can't reach the village lights the way he has them, so it's a thorn in my side when he does this to me! Anyhoo, Ping doesn't have school tomorrow, so we have a few errands and Daddy has work! I best be off to sleep.

Mama Out!!!!!