Everything Turns into a BIG Production!

Last evening as Mr. Fixit and I were returning home from Grandparents’ Night at Bella’s school, we found the only way into our subdivision was blocked by a fire truck and other emergency vehicles. We were told by a firefighter that an electric line was down and the transformer had blown. (There was foul smelling smoke from the transformer, and the bushes in front of one house were burning.) She said she would guide us around the line so that we could get home. This was a few minutes before 8:00 pm. The electricity was on in the subdivision where the line had fallen and in ours. I remarked that I was surprised that we still had power.


About 9:30 the whole neighborhood plus the one up the hill went dark--completely dark. It seemed funny not seeing all those little colored lights on various electronic gizmos throughout our house. It was pitch black except for the light emanating from my laptop which was running a scan at the time of the power outage. It kicked over to the battery as soon as the power went out. Using it as a flashlight, I started looking for the real flashlight that is usually kept here by the computer so that Mr. Fixit can use it whenever he has to fiddle work on the computer tower. Of course, the flashlight wasn’t where it should have been.

Being Mrs. Fixit, I usually carry a small LED flashlight in my purse. As luck would have it, it wasn’t in the purse that I had used to go to Grandparents’ Night. The light from the laptop that I was carrying around like a flashlight was barely sufficient to go through other handbags for the little flashlight, but I found it in the third one I seached. Voila, light!

With the little light, I performed a house search for the large computer room flashlight. It wasn’t anywhere I looked.

The next course of action was to gather candles so that I wouldn’t waste the batteries in my little flashlight.

I could only find votive candles which give meager illumination and one pillar candle. The pillar candle was the decorative one in the bathroom. Next came the search for a means to light the candles. Since I stopped smoking, I no longer have matches or lighters close at hand. I found some fireplace matches exactly where they should be. Surprise! Surprise!

Okay! I was all set! Candles with a little flashlight as backup. I then went back to searching for the large misplaced flashlight. I found one in the garage, but it was an old one that won’t hold a charge. There was less light coming from that than from any of the votive candles. I finally found the “good” computer room flashlight, but, wouldn’t your know it? The halogen part needed to be recharged. The LED part was nice and bright though.

I used that to take my meds and my insulin. By that time, it was 11:00 so I decided to go to bed. I quickly realized that even the pillar candle doesn’t give enough light to read. First, NCIS LA was interrupted and now I can’t read! Talk about adding insult to injury! I decided to use the purse-sized light to read. I had just settled down when the power was restored. Yea!

All of this just goes to prove that every minor little problem in the Fixit household turns out to be a major pain in the derriere! And I know the reason for this one. If I were more organized, I would have known where the big flashlight was; I should have seen to the recharging of the battery BEFORE it was needed. I should have moved the handbag light into the currently used purse instead of leaving it in one I used days before. I should have tapers, not votive candles, stored conveniently and not in a box on the bottom of a stack of other boxes on the top shelf in the junk closet. I would have matches stored with the candles.

It’s situations like this that make me wish I were more organized. And if wishes were horses, the beggars would ride.