The Big Black Out (or having our power cut)

Oh my, I cannot believe that I forgot to blog about the big black out!!

It was 5 pm. I was making dinner and the kids were having their evening meltdown- you all know the one where they run like crazed maniacs around the place and tackle each other leaving one or the other in tears?  Yep, that one.  Then, all of the sudden, the lights (and everything else) go out.  Just like that! Thank goodness for the light on my phone and the light coming from my computer.  I immediately got on the phone to Doug thinking that it was a fuse and he could walk me through fixing it. But no, while I was on the phone I opened the door to see if the power was out throughout the building or just in our place. As I opened the door I saw a card on the floor that said something like, "URGENT: Your power has been shut off." No shit Sherlock!  I got on the phone and called the energy company. They said the apartment had never been registered in our name (management company's fault) and no bills have been paid.  I was told that I could pay in the morning and the lights would be turned back on then.  I told her I have two kids that are freaking out (didn't even mention the dogs) and couldn't wait until morning to have power.  Finally, we worked it all out (too long and boring to detail it all) and she said the power would be back on within 4 hours. Okay, that was better than in the am.  So we quickly ran out to 7/11 to buy some candles and batteries.  All they had was birthday candles!  I will have 400 of those please.  Not. Anyway, we got some batteries and headed to the restaurant in our building to get some pizza. While waiting I told the waitress our story and she gave us a few tealights to get us through.  So nice! We took our dinner back to our apartment and had a lovely candlelight dinner during which I told Coop all about what it was like in the "old days" when people did not have any electricity at all. He was amazed.  About 3 hours later, our power came back on.  Phew.

Today we were walking around town and Coop looked up at the electrical wires.  There were several pairs of shoes hanging from the wires. He said, "Mom, maybe that is why our power went out."  Ah, if only life were that simple, Coop.