The Daily News

LFCA Latest Issue: Friday, September 25, 2009.

Latest Post on BlogHer: Parenting after Infertility.

My Status: Fed Josh's almonds to the squirrels. They needed them very badly.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Circle Time: The Show and Tell Weekly Thread

Show and Tell is wasted on elementary schoolers. Join several dozen bloggers weekly to show off an item, tell a story, and get the attention of the class. In other words, this is Show and Tell 2.0. Everyone is welcome to join, even if you have never posted before and just found out about Show and Tell for the first time today. So yank out a photo of the worst bridesmaid's dress you ever wore and tell us the story; show off the homemade soup you cooked last night; or tell us all about the scarf you made for your first knitting project. Details on how to participate are located at the bottom of this post.

Let's begin.

Actually, wait, before we begin, you voted for Stirrup Queens in the Weblog Awards, right? You haven't? Go over and vote and then come back. It's two clicks.

Okay, now let's begin.

On Tuesday night, we lost power around 2 a.m. and for the first time ever, the twins came into our bed. I didn't sleep at all on Tuesday night because the Wolvog wanted to play with my hair. All night. He wanted to tell me that he thought the grey was beautiful and that my hair smelled good and that he loved it. All from 2 a.m. until about 7 a.m.

In the morning, Josh got out of bed and the alarm went off. And the alarm could not be shut off. Even when wires were ripped out of the wall. It would wear itself out after 10 minutes of buzzing and then start all over again once someone moved and the sensor detected motion. A home security person came to the house and fixed it, but that was only after everyone's nerves were fried.

Well, imagine our happy surprise when we lost power again the next night. We set up the twins with Plan A (sleep with the flashlights on until we're ready for bed and then they can come into our room) and lit some candles downstairs so we could have a romantic dinner of cold cereal. "I'm going to read every Harry Potter book tonight," I announced. It seemed like a great project. Josh pointed out that it would take a long time to read that many pages and I probably didn't need to bring all seven books upstairs. But I disagreed.

We read and did crossword puzzles by candlelight until the lights came back on at ten and we thanked the gods for electricity and made hot tea and read blogs.





What are you showing today?

Click here or scroll down to the bottom of this post if this is your first time joining along (hint: link to the permalink for the post, not the main url for your blog and use your blog's name, not your name). The list is open from now until late Tuesday night and a new one is posted every week.

Other People Standing at the Head of the Class:

1. Weebles Wobblog
2. I Want To Be A Mommy
3. The Steadfast Warrior
4. Cara (parenting after loss)
5. Cara
6. Infertility Podcast & Blog
7. Baby Smiling In Back Seat
8. WiseGuy
9. Not The Path I Chose
10. In Due Time
11. An Unwanted Path
12. Kristin
13. Fractured Rainbows
14. The Life of Liv
15. Life and Times of me
16. Katie
17. Delenn
18. Baby, Borneo or Bust...
19. On The Road to Baby
20. Martha
21. Loribeth
22. Danse
23. Being Infertile



Want to bring something to Show and Tell?
  • If you would like to join circle time and show something to the class, simply post each Saturday night (or earlier in the week or on Monday if you can't do the weekend), hopefully including a picture if possible, and telling us about your item. It can be anything--a photo from a trip, a picture of the dress you bought this week, a random image from an old yearbook showing a person you miss. It doesn't need to contain a picture if you can't get a picture--you can simply tell a story about a single item. The list opens every Saturday night and closes on Tuesday night.
  • You must mention Show and Tell and include a link back to this post in your post so people can find the rest of the class. This spreads new readership around through the list. This is now required.
  • Label your post "Show and Tell" each week and then come back here and add the permalink for the post via the Mr. Linky feature (not your blog's main url--use the permalink for your specific Show and Tell post).
  • Oh, and then the point is that you click through all of your classmates and see what they are showing this week. And everyone loves a good "ooooh" and "aaaah" and to be queen (or king) of the playground for five minutes so leave them a comment if you can.
  • Did you post a link and now it's missing?: I reserve the right to delete any links that are not leading to a Show and Tell post or are the blogging equivalent of a spitball.

20 comments:

Lori Lavender Luz said...

10 across is "blog."

I feel all warm reading this post.

I really love the photo of Josh. Tell him I said so.

battynurse said...

That is a great pic of Josh.
Having the power go out can be fun for a while as long as it's not too cold. However I've had the power go out here like 4 times in the first couple of weeks here and now I worry about it messing up my alarm and over sleeping.

Cara said...

Only you can take a "fried nerve" story and make five hours of hair stroaking sound, endearing - enjoyable even!

Great story and pics!

The Steadfast Warrior said...

I remember as a child when the lights would go out. Candles were lit in our house too and we played board games. Monopoly being the only one that comes to mind right now, but proabably card games as well. As I child the dark was never scary for me. I loved watching the play of the light and shadows. Still do till this day. It seeps into my art constantly. Thanks for reminding me of that memory. :)

Kim said...

You are kicking ass at the Weblog Awards! Yay!

Baby Smiling In Back Seat said...

I used to think blackouts were so much fun. Now, after the 6-day ice storm blackout in December, we are either frantically thrust into lockdown mode or resigned to sit there and, ugh, talk.

@Lori: If 10 across is "blog," then 12 down must be "ovum."

..al said...

Now that I read people recounting fond stories on 'when there are blackouts', I want to really send out invites to my part of the world - where blackouts/power cuts are a normal thing. :)

Love doing crosswords....you spent your time good!

Photogrl said...

Way to turn not having power into a enjoyable evening!

In Due Time said...

Isn't amazing how quiet your house is when the electricity is off?

luna said...

sounds kind of fun. except the being awake from 2am-7am part. and the alarm part. and what about your heat? you didn't mention if you were cold. 'cause that wouldn't be too fun either.

AnotherDreamer said...

I hate losing power.

Sorry about your alarms, I think I would have been screaming, lol. Seriously though, I probably would have. Ungh.

Liv said...

I lived in Central America for a while and we had mandatory "power rationing" for an hour or two every night between 6-10pm. It could be frustrating at times, especially when trying to prepare dinner and you could really use the microwave...but mostly I remember all the fun we had with no TV! I hope your children remember this experience as fondly as I remember mine!

Sam said...

Doesn't it just go to show that you don't need the television to keep yourself occupied (I don't think that I could say the same about my laptop and internet access though ha ha!!).

There is something quite calming and relaxing about knowing that there is nothing you can do and all you can do is make the best of it.

HereWeGoAJen said...

Now I want to read all the Harry Potter books today. I'll have to get on that.

Martha@A Sense of Humor is Essential said...

This is such a delightful post, made me feel all warm and cozy. I thought of you and your family, Mel with my Tell and Tell, no Show, sorry.
Also, I've been clicking over daily for the contest!

loribeth said...

We have lots of little power blips & outages. Which makes no sense, since I live down the road from the country's biggest power plant...! Oh well. If there's no power there's no heat, & it can get pretty cold pretty fast at this time of year...! Glad you managed to stay cozy & busy, though!

Queenie. . . said...

How do you make your candle photos come out so beautifully? Mine are always all wonky and over-bright.

the misfit said...

The rest of the world things that all babies are conceived during power outages. The infertile do crosswords and eat cereal by candlelight.

Perfection.

Kristin said...

Glad you had a good evening despite having no power.

MrsSpock said...

That picture of Josh somehow reminds me of a medieval scrivener translating a Latin text by candlelight. Or perhaps I've just been watching too much History Channel.