Hurricane Ike, Pt. 3

Monday
I wake up early, as I will every day this week. A cool breeze wafts over me from the window. Little Warrior has climbed into bed between us during the night. She cuddles her body into mine as the breeze touches her.

Things are beginning to get warm in the refrigerator and thaw in the little freezer below. We give the children cereal and milk, urging them to drink up. I take the rest of the milk and make cocoa, putting it in thermoses for the evening.

The day is pleasant. The cool front has come in. During “normal life,” this would be the day I’d get excited, filled with that autumn feeling. It still thrills me, but this time, because the cool front is our air conditioner. I open the windows that have intact screens, giving dirty looks to both myself and The Husband for not replacing the torn screens already.

We make sandwiches with cold cuts and cheese. What we don’t eat, we throw away, since the ice is melting and we don’t know when we’ll get more.

I have a bag of shrimp that has partially thawed and cream cheese from the fridge. And cream. We have a gas stovetop and I make a sumptuous dinner of shrimp alfredo over penne. We eat out on our deck, staying carefully away from where a thick tree branch drove through one of the boards. While the family is finishing up dinner, I make dessert inside. I mix up a cake mix with some of the softened butter, buttermilk and eggs from the refrigerator. I pour it in a non-stick saucepan, cover it, and cook it on low on the stove. When it’s “baked” up, I drizzle on some of the various sauces we’d had in the fridge – caramel, fudge. Everyone is very impressed that I made a cake and I feel proud of this small triumph.

When we come in, the house is dark. The Husband and MIL promise to clean the kitchen in the morning. It really would be impossible to do it by flashlight.

We read more of Little House on the Prairie and go to bed. The children all want to sleep in the living room in front of the open window. Since they can’t turn on lights, I think it’s more about wanting to be together than the cool night air.