"The best laid plans of mice and men . . ."

What I had planned for my evening tonight:

Race home, intercept child, send husband to meeting, prepare nutritious/delicious/FAST meal for the child, have "eureka" idea for creative play activity with child, bathe child and bid adieu for the night, complete painting project that has been in progress and on hold for no less than 2 weeks, perform organization and tidiness miracle on the homestead, receive husband home with love and joy, vegetate

What I got for the evening:

Raced home, intercepted child, sent husband to meeting, discovered that I am still a culinary disaster, extracted child from refrigerator, compromised on a chocolate pudding compliment to grilled cheese dinner (protein, dairy and carbs - look at the excellent balance there), discovered that child had not scheduled today as an eating day (I really believe he only eats 2-3 times a week; he seems fine with this. I'm just trying not to make up the difference myself), went out after the mail and discovered that the odd stillness indicated that perhaps the weatherman was not exaggerating about the "severe" storms this time, turned on TV, told child no less than 1 zillion times that he could not scream louder than the emergency broadcast signal, switched to weatherman, watched the sky turn an odd shade of green, called the husband to nonchalantly ask when he might possibly be able to come home, decided that the dog should go out, broke up a wrestling match between the dog and the child that started with the dog trying to drink out of his squiggly straw and ended with minor scratches and tears, corralled dog on leash, watched entire weather radar turn red, took phone calls from husband en-route that got cut off TWICE, completely lost power, decided it was time to hang out in the bathroom, had to find flashlights while hobbling around the house in the dark holding the child and dragging the dog, welcomed husband home to the dark bathroom with his happy little family, enjoyed some assistance in minor crisis management, decided we could come out of the bathroom, watched husband and child eat chips for dinner, dressed child for bed by flashlight (he has been mostly silent since the evacuation to the bathroom), cursed the blasted electric company, put the child in bed, realized that the smoke detector is beeping again because it has a low battery and this time it is the one in the vaulted ceiling that I don't have a prayer at reaching, sang the praises of the husband with extra height and more balance than me, read a book by flashlight, sent husband to bed at 8:30!, read book by flashlight until power came back on at 11!

My own little mini-drama! Sadly, the biggest learning here is that I am unequivocally dependant on my electricity. And that I have to get all the smoke detector batteries changed before they bite me again!