Giving Thanks: November 2

November 2nd: I am thankful for electricity... and the occasional power cut. 

Just as we were finishing up breakfast this morning, we had a power cut. Clearly, nothing like people have been experiencing in the North-East, but still, we were without power for a good two hours. Which meant I got absolutely nothing done. No dishes, no laundry, no vacuuming, no internet... nope. Oh, and no heat. That was the tricky one. The other stuff I could just throw my hands up over, because, let's be honest, not being able to do housework isn't the end of the world. But not having heat was a little harder to ignore. At first we were OK; I worked on a sweater I'm knitting for Nick and Espen played his little heart out. Then Espen came up to me and said: "Cold, Mama. Blanket?" Break my heart! 

So I scooped him up and headed upstairs where we camped out under the duvet in my bed. We watched cartoons on the iPad (thank you, 8 hour battery!) and read books and just played together. It ended up being a really nice way to spend the morning. And just like every cliche about power cuts ever, I was a little disappointed when the power came back on. But let's be honest, not when the vents started gushing with lovely warm air. 

Going without all of our day-to-day conveniences for a few hours was a great reminder of how fortunate we are to live so comfortably. At the same time, spending some time being unplugged showed me how easy it is to get wrapped up in those conveniences and completely miss out on the simple pleasures like snuggling up with a book and your favorite toddler. 

It's amazing what you can accomplish when none of your appliances work.