The Day the Lights Went out in Texas

 

We woke up on Valentine's Day with snow.  

It was all vey exciting until it wasn't...

We made a fun breakfast. 

And the boys opened some small things from us and a ton of stuff from Mickey Mouse and Pops.  Ha.

It had been bitterly cold for days, so it was difficult to stay outside much.  

It did NOT feel like we were in Texas!

My good friend happened to be launching a new online business Sunday. 

We decided to stick with the plan of surprising her with champagne Sunday afternoon BEFORE the heavy snow arrived.  

My friend's sweet husband wanted to make sure we were all safe and picked us up one by one. 

We took a picture outside of her house and text it so she would know we were there. 

SURPRISE!

We had SUCH a fun afternoon!  It was much needed (we had been missing each other since we weren't playing baseball)!  Also, we had NO IDEA what was coming in this picture!

After staying longer than needed, Summer drove us all home successfully right as the heavier snow was arriving to town. 

Got home and the boys were playing football. 

My friends were leaving the neighborhood and found the little train.  Our neighbors rent it out for birthday parties.  They are so sweet and let them jump in for photo op.  I laughed so hard. 

So then my neighbors wanted to get the kids out there. 

I cannot tell you how cold it was outside.  Like freezing!

But he was so kind and actually drove the kids around for a trip. 

Kids were running outside left and right!  Ha.

The boys then decided they wanted to play.  

The snow stated coming down hard!

I mean, where are we!?!?!   

Woke up the next morning with a beautiful scene but a cold house.  The power went out three times which was shocking since we didn't get any ice or THAT much snow.  

After searching online, we learned TX's power grid was at an emergency level and lots of people had lost power.  If we had not lost power, we were put on rolling blackouts.  And it was VERY cold outside.  

The blackouts started small.  

We would have power for an hour and then lose power for an hour. 

And gosh, how thankful we were that we had the gas fireplace repaired this year. 

We were able to go out and see just how much snow we got. 

We could only go out for about 15 min at a time because of the temps. 

That night, the blackouts had to be extended.  We would get power for about 50 minutes and then blackouts for 90.  The house got down to the low to mid 50s and we were the LUCKY ones.  The poor people without power in those temps.....so so bad.  They could see their own breath in their houses.  They had no power to get their space heaters going by their faucets.  They had to leave their houses which meant it was guaranteed pipes would burst. 

Owen spent the night and we played spoons. 

The dog didn't know what was happening. 

It got down to -1 degrees that night actual temp.  Our kitchen faucet froze but we had ONE 90 minute power block the next morning and we were able to thaw it out with hair dryers and a space heater.  

Having no power off and on was no fun.  None of us liked it. 

I managed to get out of the house and check out Walmart because we were expected to get more snow the next night if you can believe it.  Shelves were bare. 

I felt I hit the jackpot.  I even found two rotisserie chickens.  I kept one for chicken noodle soup and was able to give the other hot chicken to my elderly neighbors. 

More fun. 

Our Keurig broke with the power surges. 

 Had to get a new one and it makes lattes. 

Another long night....

This is the truest Meme I saw.  

My friends and I were able to determine when our power would be going off.  One was on the same grid as me but exactly 3 minutes ahead of my neighborhood.  Another two friends were 15 min ahead of us but on the opposite schedule.  I was able to give everyone in my neighborhood a 15 min heads up before power would go off again.  It was a SCRAMBLE every time to get what you needed done.  Cooking and eating was as quick as you could do it!  It was a race!

I was able to use two power hours to cook soup!

We drank heavily. 

(kids are under that planet)

This was the next fun event that happened.  The blackouts caused our water equipment plant to breakdown.  I mean power shutting on and off is no good for any equipment.  Worse than that, it was being done on purpose.  So the equipment broke and we RAN OUT OF WATER.  Like no water coming out of the faucets.  At all!  They gave us a heads up and we filled our tubs.  INSANE. 

Look at the snow! At least it was pretty. 

We did bust out of the house the next day and go sledding with baseball friends. 

(Also to note, John's office and my office had zero power, not even rolling blackouts.  He had to go in everyday to check on servers and hook up to generator.  My office was closed all week.)

Someone finally sent Keller some water to fill our tanks, but we had to boil.  

You don't realize how important water is until you run out!

On day 23758774, I waited an hour in the drive-thru for burgers and shakes. 

We took the boys out one more time for sledding with the neighbors. 

I used what I could to get the driveway clear - John had been parking our car at the end of the driveway because it was impossible to get it up due to ice. 

We got internet and water back on Saturday.  It seemed so crazy to even complain about not having water or internet.....

In normal Texas fashion, it is going to be 78 degrees today.  Once the sun came out, everything melted quickly.  Problem is, everyone's pipes had burst and the water began flowing again through their homes.  It is devastating.  We have SOOOO many neighbors, friends, classmates, teammates who have had so much damage.  Entire houses destroyed.  Three teammates are having to move out of their house and into hotels for the next three months while they work on restoring their home.  Plumbers are booked for weeks.  It.  Is.  So.  Sad. 

I can't say enough how lucky we are.  I do not know how we made it out without pipes bursting.  We are just so fortunate and I almost feel bad everything is okay over here.  

They tell you before snow to have batteries for flashlights, fill up bathtubs with water, fill up cars with gas, get plenty of bread and milk.  This is EXACTLY what we needed.  All the things that sound crazy to prepare for, it was the only way to survive.  

It was a wild, wild week but we fared well unlike so many others.  WE ARE THANKFUL.