Sleepless in MO

What a night! I’m always so tired after making that 10 hour trip. Last night, about 9 p.m. I started trying to get Addie ready for bed. I had told her that til school starts, she can stay up later. Because Chad and Nicole get up so early for work, and with their dog, I just don’t sleep great there so this time I’m staying in a hotel and Addie is staying with me. She was still talking at 11:15 p.m. and I think I fell asleep a couple of times while she was talking and I heard her saying “Granny? Granny? Are you asleep?” Finally, I said “Addie, if you don’t go to sleep NOW, I’m taking you home!” Either she did fall asleep or I did because I didn’t hear her talking any more.

About midnight, I woke up and thought I heard thunder. I snoozed off and on but the thunder woke me several times until about 1:15 a.m. when the weather got really bad. I got up to look out the window and tried to get a picture of how hard it was raining and the wind was blowing.

I knew it would be a blurry, horrible picture but I tried.

The instant I took the picture, the air conditioner went off and I thought . . oh no . . the electricity is off.

I snapped another picture and you can see that half the lights across the street were now off.I went back to bed but checked the weather and we had a severe thunderstorm warning til 2 a.m., which included hail and a possible tornado. I picked up the bedside phone to call the front desk to see what we should do if the tornado sirens went off but the phone was dead. No lights, no phone! I looked out in the hallway and the exit signs were all working but otherwise, no lights in the hall. Before I went to bed, I started to charge my phone but decided I’d do it in the morning. I had about 40% battery left so I knew that was enough to last through the night if I didn’t waste it.

I stayed awake til 2 and the weather was still bad, checked again and the severe storm warning had been extended til 2:45. I stayed awake til the worst of it seemed over because I didn’t want to sleep through the tornado sirens. If those had been activated, I would have grabbed Addie and gone downstairs for further instructions. I did get up and take off my pink and black polka dot nightgown and put on shorts and a T-shirt, make sure my room keys and car keys were in my purse, and put both our shoes by the bed.

Even as it was getting to be daylight, the clouds were still looking scary.

Addie woke up about 6:15 when a flash flood alert went off on my phone and she wanted to watch TV, or watch youtube or go swim. The hotel manager went out and got donuts since they couldn’t fix breakfast so using the phone as flashlight, we made our way downstairs, Addie had cereal and a donut, I came back to the room and had smoked salmon I had brought from home.

After about the 10th time of her asking “What are we going to do?” I told her . . you’re going to find something to do to keep you quiet and I’m going back to sleep!

The power came back on about 10.

Vince always brings a flashlight with him into the hotel. I thought I had one and I did but I didn’t realize it was in my computer bag until after the power came back on. You can bet I’ll know where that thing is before I go to bed ever again in a hotel and . . I will go to bed with a 100% charge on my phone!

The funny thing is that I’m so hardheaded, I sometimes only learn lessons the hard way. As we’re looking for a house here, I’ve ruled out all the homes for sale that have basements and after looking at the one yesterday (it was one we had already made an offer on and couldn’t come to terms on the price), I started thinking maybe we should consider a house without a basement. Last time I was here, we all ended up huddle in a closet during a storm and now this last night. No . . will not buy a house here without a basement. I was telling Vince that story and he said “It doesn’t matter what you decide about a basement . . I will never buy a house there without a basement!” Guess he settled that momentary lapse of judgment I was having!