1. The things in my fridge will last 12 hours with no power before I have to worry. My freezer–24 hours. (Except for ice cream–that only lasts about an hour when the power goes off).
2. Mayonnaise does not have to be refrigerated. It can be left out–at least for a while. I can hear the screams of protest now. It’s true. I too used to believe that you couldn’t eat a chicken salad sandwich or potato salad that had been left out too long….but in those cases, the mayo is actually a preservative…it’s the chicken or other ingredients that will spoil! Don’t believe me? Google it, you doubters.
3. Creativity abounds. When no power, sit in the car and run your laptop off of the car battery. Watch a movie with your husband in there. You even get air conditioning.
4. Even animals need light. Our poor Jack Russell sprained her foot coming up the stairs when the power was out. Poor thing; she is still limping.
5. More creativity. When it goes out during youth group and you’ve got 40 students in your house and no lights and they are kind of stinky from playing basketball and it’s 90 degrees outside and 200 degrees inside…..just hand out a bunch of glow sticks and divide them into groups and tell them you’ll give prizes for whoever comes up with the best dance. Oh yeah.
6. Never put a candle on top of an appliance with a plastic lid. Because you’ll set it on fire. But I wouldn’t know anything about that. Ahem.
7. All the phone numbers for the power company are programmed into my cell phone. The routine: “I’m calling from the Mbezi/Kunduchi area. How long will it be off? Are they working on it? What is the schedule for this week?”
8. Your cell phone makes a really great temporary flashlight.
9. Never underestimate the value of head lamps.
10. I APPRECIATE Electricity!!!!
Anonymous
wow amazing amy how are grace and josiah doing with out electricity im sure they dont care. but how do you improvise with them?
Carley
I like number 3.
Other important things learned:
leave something on so that when it does come back on you'll know it!
battery-operated fans duct taped to your headboard are awesome!
conversations and activities get weird fast when there's no power!
🙂 Carley
Sammye & Tumaini
We used to let the lights go completely off for about 10 mins, then get out the flashlights and see how many of those HUGE roaches (the size of the palm of your hand) had come out into the middle of the room. Not sure if you have those in the city 🙂
Good luck tomorrow! Please post an update quickly so that we can all exhale 🙂 I have a feeling it will go well.