Yes! You guessed it! The Internet and Wifi has been restored! Happy Dance! I mean 6 days without Wifi.... who knew it was possible? Ha.
The saga began on date night last week.... or shall I say what was supposed to be date night. We had planned carryout and movies and The Amazing Race at home. That was until I got home and discovered our house smelled like our church did the day it was on fire. And no.... I am NOT fond of that smell and it does not bring up good memories. It scared me. Good. Next I realize that some of our power is on and working and some of our power is acting like it's not getting enough power with lights not coming on, or humming or flickering. I immediately get my husband on the phone and the conversation went something like this..... "I need you to come home NOW." Apparently my panic came across because he said he was shutting things down to head out the door before I finished that sentence. He had me turn off our furnace and shut down the power to the house until he could get here.
Back in 2010 (you might remember this post) we had an electric issue. The power was acting very similar to that time, but the smell of hot electric wires was new. My husband got out his electric meter thingy and discovered that one side of the main was reading way too high like 185-190 volts and one side was like 50 volts. He thought it could be the breaker going out so we tried replacing that first. That solved the problem for like a minute and a half.... and then everything went goofy again. Plan B? Call the electric company. By this point it's after 11 PM and the house is dark... and COLD. I mean it was seriously the coldest day we've had this fall. Darrel has proof of this because when he came home with the new breaker.... and dinner... cause yes... we still needed to eat..... he discovered his wife wearing long john pants, a thermal night shirt, ugg slippers, her favorite pink hand warmers (that her friend Lori made for her), and lets see... um like 4 layers of blankets? I practically had a little blanket fort for me and my Kindle... which I am glad is a Paperwhite so I could see it! ha!!
Electric company shows up and Darrel tells him about the readings he got and the man says well that means we need to check "neutrals." I have no idea what a neutral is.... but was happy it was something repairable. Next thing I hear is the sound of a chainsaw.... Yes. At midnight we were cutting off tree tops and fixing a broken neutral. The neutral wire turned out to be in our fence line at the top of the electric pole. It was a really windy day and the tree had hit the line and broken the wire. This caused an electric surge to part of our circuits and brown out conditions to the rest of the circuits. So yay... power is back.... but um boo.... now to discover all the things the surge/brown out fried.
Furnace was out. Bedroom ceiling fan.. .dead ... and one of the things that had a burning up motor that was causing the smell. 2 tv's dead. Modem... dead. Small window Air conditioner in our bedroom... yep.. Fried. Modulator thingy on the satellite. Bedroom alarm clocks... also toast.. um literally. ha! There was also a surge/strike thing on the electric meter that did it's job. It was burned and melted inside and definitely was part of the smell. Also killed our Microwave/Convection oven.
But... reasons to be SO thankful. Furnace was repairable and was fixed the next morning for a reasonable price. Although the strike plate was singed and burned and the surge strip on our electronics by the TV was also singed... Our home was protected and no fire. Thank you Lord. We have prayed for the protection of our home and God has done just that many times. Also thankful it wasn't the middle of winter so we didn't freeze to death! ha. And... thankful for insurance which will help with all of the replacements. I am also thankful for my iPhone with Internet access which was a definite plus during the dead Wifi.
So yes... a saga... and yes still some hassles with all the things needing replaced BUT we are feeling thankful and cared for because God always takes care of us and provides for our needs.
So did you see the picture up top? Yes! Finally I can show you my secret afghan project. This is the first afghan I've made in over at least like 15 years. I used to crochet like I had a hook permanently attached to my hand. Then scrapbooking entered the picture and it pretty much took a backseat. But now? I think the crocheting itch has definitely returned! I first saw this pattern on Knit & Crochet now. It's on TV on PBS on Saturdays. They had a free pattern and I fell in love with the look of it and this cool "Bavarian" style and just had to give it a try. Due to the back post treble crochet decrease stitches it also has this cool raised stitch effect. Love!
I liked the sample look so much I didn't want to change a thing so I ordered the same yarn and colors recommended in the pattern. The yarn is cotton so it has a really nice feel to it. I made the blanket for my new great nephew Elliot that is due in January. We had his Mom's baby shower this past Sunday so I finally got to give my gift.
And this face? When she first saw the blanket made every stitch worth it. Crocheting can be very calming and therapeutic. I also found it was a good time to pray over my stitches and the blanket with lots of prayers for little Elliot. So thankful for crochet and for my Mom and Mother-in-law who both have so much to do with my knowledge and abilities in the crochet realm.
And now that I have returned to the land of crochet I currently am working on 2 more gift projects for Christmas with another 2 waiting in line and I have supplies ready to go for that living room throw I mentioned quite awhile back and this wrap and an adorable snow people couple.... of course while I was looking for links I also spotted this free snow people pattern... how cute are they? Will have to add that to the list. Goodness.... the crochet list is growing... I better stop blogging and get to crocheting!
And OK...since I am nearing novel length at this point... OK Novella length.... lets close with a thankful list....
Feeling so thankful for:
Feeling so thankful for:
- No fire to our house
- crocheting
- a husband that knows how to fix things
- working Wifi
- that there were not more things damaged by the surge
- fall weather
- warm blankets and ugg slippers
- reading. Yes. I read an entire book while the Great Electric Saga unfolded
- my Kindle!
- a date night candlelight dinner. OK. We didn't plan it that way. And OK. We didn't have a choice. It was still pretty nice.
- homemade chicken and noodles for dinner tonight
- Saturday pancakes
- my job
- good good friends
- Ugg boots.... they feel like you are wearing the Ugg slippers!
- new Modem!
- sweaters... boots... and tights
- the microwave... when it works. Darrel got a plate of left overs all ready to heat up... walked over to the microwave... and then it hits us... um it doesn't work. And yes, we've repeated that episode a few times over the past 6 days. What did one do with left overs before the microwave?
- the approaching holidays. already in a Christmas mood this year and that hasn't happened in a while. There might have been Christmas music playing in my car yesterday. And yes. I know it isn't Thanksgiving yet. It just puts me more in the mood for that too!
- hugs from my favorite little ones at church
- a working furnace! It's 44 degrees outside right now and the 30's are showing up in the 10 day forecast.
- Running water... heat... electricity... you stop taking them for granted real quick when you have to do without them.
- Miss Sophie... Tris... and Tanner. He had a birthday this week. 13 years old and has the little ol' dog grumpiness to prove it some days...
- smart phone GPS which got me to an appointment yesterday way quicker than I thought was possible
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