Weekly Review 100

Hello, readers. Before I get to this week’s review I wanted to say happy heavenly birthday to my Dad. I wish you here to see all the things I’ve done. I wish you could see your grandson. He would be obsessed with you! I wish you could see the family and home Lea and I created. I wish you could see this little blog I made. You saw the original one I made, but I think you would have enjoyed this one more. Lastly, I wish you could see the Bears and the White Sox and how good they are. You’d be so proud and we would definitely be going to games! Most of all, I just wish you were here. I hope you, Yiorgo, and both of my grandfathers are celebrating up there. 

I kind of rambled, but that’s okay. Just letting it all out. Oh, and happy birthday to the princess of our household, our cat Baby Ruth! Now, let’s get to this week’s Weekly Review. I cannot believe I’ve written 100 of these things in a row. It’s been tough some weeks but I’m glad I kept this series going. I don’t have anything special planned today. It will just be a normal weekly review, and when you continue reading you will see why. 

In the middle of the night, or early morning, on Monday, Mr. O came running into my room. I don’t remember much of it, but I guess I had a conversation with him while I was half asleep and I feel so bad about it. Lea said I told him to go sleep with her in the guest room and he ran over to her and was upset. I apologized later that morning and we hugged it out. In the evening we played with all of his Paw Patrol pups. He likes building a house or a garage for them with his blocks and then having the little figures go sit inside it, lol. While we played, Lea made sloppy joe for dinner, along with some mac and cheese. Before we knew it the day had turned into night, and I put Mr. O to bed. When I came back downstairs Lea and I watched the first episode of Barstool Sports’ Surviving Barstool (season 5). It’s survivor, but with their content creators. It’s really fun to watch. Very entertaining, and the fact that they all are competing for 250K and then going back to work together once its all over is hilarious to me. All the betrayal and arguments throughout the game must make that awkward. 

On Tuesday morning a thunderstorm rolled through the region. Little did we all know how bad it would be. I took Mr. O to daycare and left him there with tears in his eyes. I guess I make it worse by hugging him every time, so this time I just put him down, said goodbye, and left (he was fine). In the early afternoon, while I was working, we had a severe weather threat along with a tornado warning. Lea and I ran into the basement and we quickly lost power. I thought it would turn back on soon but it did not. I didn’t realize how bad the storm was until later. I didn’t have any service or power. No calls or texts coming in or going out. It was a scary time. 

Around 3 PM I heard my grandma is the only one in our family who had power. In fact, she was within the 5% of people in Lake county Indiana to have power:

It was really bad and still is really bad. The region was destroyed. As I was driving to my grandma’s to finish the work day, I had to be re-routed three different times because of all the huge trees blocking the roads. Some even smashed houses, sadly. But the worst story I’ve heard come out of this storm is someone passing away. The wind tore up a huge tree and the roots pulled up a gas line and…well you can figure it out. That’s the story I was told by a friend who works for the power company. May this person rest in peace and the Lord have mercy on them and their family. 

When I arrived at my grandmother’s, the rest of my family was already there. My aunts, one of my cousins, and my grandma. I set up shop at her dining room table and worked a few extra hours, maybe until 7, to catch up on all the things I missed and to make up my hours. Lea and Mr. O eventually met us there and we hung out for a while before driving home. I led in my car while Lea and Mr. O followed. It was pitch black out. No lights were working, chaos was everywhere as only one gas station was open on the way home and very few restaurants. People were honking, screaming, yelling, flipping each other off. It was a scary night to be on the road. Lea and I stayed on the phone most of the time, and I could hear Mr. O telling her, “Mama I will protect you from the mean people”. That’s my boy! 

When we came home we brought out our flashlights and lanterns and fell asleep with no air conditioning. It wasn’t that bad honestly, and we could still shower in the morning. On Wednesday there was still no power. We packed all of our things and headed to my grandmas. The rest of the family was there again working and I locked myself in the guest bedroom to be free from Mr. O and his distractions (although I do welcome them at some points throughout the day). This was day two with no power in the region and the power company still had no estimation on when they would be able to fix everything. I remember thinking, I hope they fix this soon or it’s going to get really bad out there.” 

Very few places have power, and to get gas or food takes hours. It’s a very scary situation and I found our family ill-prepared for it. That’s definitely going to change from now on. Apparently, the midwest (Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana at least) are in the new path of “tornado alley” or whatever the heck it’s called, so these storms aren’t going to stop. In the afternoon we learned our power had been turned back on in our neighborhood. I’m so thankful we only had to go 2 days without it, but I do feel for the people who, as I write this on Sunday, August 16th, are still without power. 

Once work was over, my friends “uncle snack” (as Mr. O calls him) and Toby met us at my grandma’s house. Snack, Toby, Lea and I were going to the White Sox game! They were having a themed Fourth Wing night and Lea loves those books and wanted the giveaway, so we bought tickets a long time ago and planned to go. 

It was a really good time and Lea was also able to meet some of my co-workers who were also at the game. The White Sox also won!

I don’t have anything written for Thursday, and I honestly don’t remember much of it, lol. I know Mr. O came into my room at 2:30 AM to sleep with me and we cuddled. In the evening, I made dinner. There was a lot that happened between Tuesday and Thursday, but I didn’t write most of it down because we were so busy with no one else in my family, besides my grandma, having power. Every town around us has been suffering as well.  Lea went out and bought a few groceries to hold us over for a few days, but that is about it. More storms were coming throughout the week so we weren’t sure how it was going to play out. 

On Friday morning, Lea and Mr. O were still sleeping (keep in mind it was probably 6 AM when I woke up lol). I ate my breakfast then sat in silence in my recliner with the windows open in our living room. The crickets and birds were chirping and a slight breeze was blowing through the house. It was peaceful. After I started working, my family finally came downstairs. Lea made eggs and sausage for her and Mr. O, while I powered through a tough work day with my colleagues. In the evening, I made an egg and sausage sandwich since I didn’t eat any of the sausage earlier. After dinner I played with Mr. O before putting him to sleep. He passed out on my arm as I was reading to him and left a puddle of drool on my shirt, lol. 

When I came back downstairs I attempted to work on my Exploring the Region post but I couldn’t do it. I’m mentally blocked and I can’t focus. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’m usually fired up to write these but I’ve been so distracted lately. 

Once again, at 2:30 AM on Saturday morning Mr. O ran into my room and jumped into bed to cuddle. When we finally woke up for the day, he helped me clean the bathroom upstairs and vacuum the entire house. Then we watched the Bears first pre-season game against the Cleveland Browns (Bears won). In the afternoon, Lea and I sat on our back patio while Mr. O dug into the dirt. When we came back inside my mom had called and asked if we could dog sit Sparty (her dog) until she gets her power back on. We said yes and Lea went to go pick him up. Mr. O was so excited when she came home with Sparty. He went nuts. I’ve never seen him have so much energy so close to bed time, lol. 

Thankfully, the power company started giving the people of northwest Indiana hope. Little by little each town is getting their power back. They said by Tuesday most people should have it back on, and by Friday of this week everyone will. It’s a long road for the area to recover fully, but our people can do it. If you want to know the real severity of what happened here over the last week, please google it and see. This blog isn’t doing it justice because my experience wasn’t as bad as my fellow region rats. 

I woke up Sunday with Mr. O next to me in bed. He told me Sparty was barking downstairs so we went to let him out in the backyard. We played for a little bit until I decided it was time to cut the grass. Mr. O came outside to help me, and within minutes his face was covered in dirt! He had a good time though. 

Currently, I am writing this while Mr. O, Lea, and Sparty are relaxing and eating lunch. Tonight we are meeting my mom and a few cousins at Texas Roadhouse to celebrate my dad’s birthday. Then, Lea and I are going to come home and watch Survivor and the Lanterns premier on HBO! Lantern’s is the latest DCU project. I’m so pumped for it!

A Moment I’m Still Thinking About

I’m still thinking about all the chaos and destruction that tore through the region this week. I’m thinking about how we need to be more prepared for next time. We need a backup generator and  a way to keep in contact with the outside world. It was a scary couple of days for us and it’s been even longer for others. I hope it can be resolved soon. 

Thank you for reading this edition of my Weekly Review. Please subscribe!

Instagram