I was in the bathroom and I heard Peter "talking" in his room. The thing is I am not sure who he was talking to. No one was back there (I checked) and he was watching something on his phone so I don't think he was talking on the phone to someone. I am pretty sure he was talking to himself. This is not the first time I have heard it. It is alarming for this mom. I already have concerns about how much time he spends alone in his room and add to that him "talking to himself," and well that just seals it. It wasn't a half hour later that I realized I too was talking to myself. So either I need to stop worrying about Peter or be worried for both of us.
My talking to myself is probably even more alarming as I realized I was running "commentary." Perhaps it is watching too much Reality TV with Mom and Dad but I realized I was narrating my story. My folks are big fans of the Alaska Reality TV shows. I don't know the name of the show but there is this one with the Kilter Family. Well lets just say we talk about the Kilter's probably more than our own blood relatives. If you were listening in you would think they were relatives or personal friends. I think we are all a bit mesmerized by all they do just to maintain a life that for us largely comes from Wal-Mart and Amazon.com. So call it Kilter influence but I found myself narrating my prep for the upcoming "blizzard".
So lets talk about that "blizzard." First of all lets remember that I live in the South where it takes little more than predictions of rain and the temperature dropping to shut down the town. Today is the second day my town has shut down schools this week because of the weather. Currently that weather has been little more than cold rain. Go ahead and laugh. Most of us here do too. "They" do say we really are suppose to get something tonight. So my plans for tonight and tomorrow have been postponed and having been sent home early from work, I have spent the afternoon "preparing."
Now before you judge too much let me say that in the past couple of years we have had some winter weather that has caused havoc - icy roads, power outages etc. Add to that my seven years in Uganda where I dealt with regular power and water "rationing." I know it is better to be prepared and later put it all away unused than to be scrambling in the midst because you didn't.
So having taken lesson's from the Adams and Moores who I survived winter storms with during my Camp days and my own experiences in Uganda, I took some steps of preparation this afternoon. First of all I made sure I showered and washed my hair this morning, just in case I don't have hot water for a few days. Then I did laundry so my favorite clothing is clean. I washed the dishes. I baked brownies. That had multi purposes. That act helped warm up the kitchen as well as provides chocolate should I have to deal with a power outage. And yes now I have to do the dishes again. I will get to that shortly. So then I found candles - lots of candles. I prepped them and have them waiting in the laundry room in case they need to be deployed. I also located flashlights and checked batteries. And yes I know where the matches and lighters are. I filled up some jugs with water for drinking as well as "other." I took some refrigerator food and place it in my car (whose temperature is lower than the fridge's). Now that might seem strange but this is my Uganda training. I had a roommate in Uganda that would not let us open the fridge once the power went out. Like she locked it. Yes we had a lock on the fridge. It seems extreme but it saved a lot of food from spoiling during regular 24 and plus hour power outages. Living on a power rationing schedule we often knew approximately when the power was going to be out and could pull food out of the fridge and put in a cooler with frozen milk to be used during the power outage. Therefore in my effort to not open the fridge I have a few items waiting in the car if needed. And yes these are foods that don't need to be cooked. We have a gas furnace for warmth but not a cooking source. I did put a pan of water on the furnace grate so we would have some warm water. I will drink warm tea if I have to. I inventoried what can be eaten without cooking so if it happened I can present Peter with his options. Oh I also moved my car to the bottom of the drive near the street. This is also based on experience from the year I spent days trying to shovel the icy drive as well as the number of limbs that fell last year at the top of the drive way. I have charged my phone and computer.
And all the while that I am doing this prep I am "narrating" the how and why as if the Kilter camera men are following me around. So maybe I spend too much time alone or too much time watching reality TV. Or maybe I just need my own show.
About 15 minutes ago the blizzard started - flakes looked like they were being dumped. Wow! I was feeling pretty proud of my prep and planning because by looks of things, the blizzard is on its way.
It has since stopped. Oh well, blizzard or no blizzard it never hurt to have brownies.
