Thank you to first time commenter Kara for asking “what can I not live without (laptop, etc.), and do I have a morning ritual?”.

I won’t deny that I don’t enjoy not having a computer. Last November, when I was doing NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month, a 3o day challenge to post to your blog every day), we lost our cable and internet connection for two days because a tree branch fell and knocked down the line. In order to not miss a day of posting, I took all three of my kids to the public library on those two days and bribed them with ice cream to watch their baby sister in her stroller so I could write my posts. But still, if I hadn’t been able to get to the library, I think I would have been okay.

No, what I have discovered after losing all power during storms and such is that what I really can’t live without is temperature control.  We lost power during a thunderstorm the week before last, and by 11:00 p.m., when the air had finally lost it’s air conditioned chill and the house started getting hot and humid inside? I started feeling really, really cranky. I do not like not being able to cool myself down. At least if you lose power in the winter, you can just throw on a few extra clothing layers and snuggle under piles of blankets. But when it’s too hot? It is just too damn hot for me.

As for a morning ritual, I was pretty lazy all summer long but now that school is back in session, I have had to develop a morning ritual pretty quickly. The alarm goes off at 6:00 a.m., I stagger to the shower with my eyes barely open, take about ten minutes to wash, condition, cleanse, and shave if necessary, and then go back to the bedroom to get dressed. By 6:15 I’m in the kitchen, my son the morning person is up, dressed and has usually already had breakfast. Depending on how awake I am, I either start coffee first or start packing his lunch. Yesterday morning I was so tired that I poured the water in the coffee pot, went to the drawer to get a coffee filter, but instead walked over to the fridge and started making Ryan’s lunch, and then realized I hadn’t even finished making the coffee.

Ryan leaves at 6:40 a.m., I then make Chris’ lunch and wake him up, then by 7:00 a.m. I wake up Nathan. Kaitlyn is usually up then, so I get her up, change her diaper and bring her to the kitchen for breakfast. Chris leaves, Nathan and Kaitlyn have breakfast, then I have Nathan get dressed while I get my laptop powered up and start mentally going through my work for the day. Kaitlyn gets to watch a Dora or Diego episode on the DVR. Nathan leaves at 8:10 a.m, and THEN I make my own breakfast, some scrambled eggs and toast or a waffle or some cereal or something, if I’m hungry. And the rest of the day proceeds from there.

Thanks for the question, Kara, and my sincere condolences on the passing of your Father in Law.