And cookies.

The first email came on April 14th.
     The power will be out on April 19th from 9 to 1...


#$%^, I said, because I am prone to say such things.

I dove for the calendar. HA! I leave on the 15th for a week! I will miss the power outage!
Score one for the good guys!

The second email came on the 15th.
Power outage postponed. Date to be determined.


#$%&.

The third email came on the 20th, while I was ensconced in the dubious safety of the Maine North Woods, sans electricity, running water, or sanity.
     The power outage has been rescheduled for the 27th, from 9 to 1. Plan accordingly.

And I would have, had I been able to access my email. I wouldn't have come back to the island.

I did not see the email, however, until late in the evening of the 24th, safely ensconced in the dubious safety of my living room, where, slightly delerious from the scalding hot shower from which I had recently emerged (the first in gulp 5 days), I was relishing the indoor plumbing, electricity, and strong cell phone signal. No wine necessary.

#$%^, I said, again, because I really like the word.

I was left with no choice but to Prepare For The Power Outage.
Monday and Tuesday were frantic days filled with a school board meeting, laundry, and filling water jugs. And cookies. Because I read once that you can survive anything if you have cookies.

On Tuesday, I wrote a note on the whiteboard on the fridge, where I was unable to pass without the desperate words "POWER! OUT! WED!!!!" frantically warning me to BE READY on WEDNESDAY.
I added it to ical, with an audible alarm set for 1/2 hour before the appointed time.

I told ical to send me an email at 7am, to keep me alert and ready.
And I went to bed Tuesday night, fraught with dread.

I woke up this morning, and packed the kids off for a field trip. (Yup, I let my kids go off the island today, on a field trip, without me. There will be wine, later.)
I opened the Post Office at 8am on the nose, and, armed with the knowledge that I had one hour, hit the ground running.
I dove into the paperwork I normally do on a Wednesday morning: deposit, payroll, accounting, stamp order.
I kept one eye on the clock, while working at a feverish pace.
Finally, I was down to two tasks, both of which required photocopies, when, boooooooooop.
At 8:52, the power went out.

Nooooo!
Where was the alarm I set? The email?
In my haste to get my paperwork started, I never turned on the laptop.

I was *this* close to getting it all done in time.
Oh, well.

I have the entire afternoon to myself, all the housework and laundry done, and no kids to pick up from school.
And no electricity.

It's just me, a spoon, and a jar of Nutella.

p.s. The power came back on just before 12:30. Now it's just me, the spoon, the Nutella, and Pride and Prejudice. Heaven!