Inconvenience

Thanks water company for deciding to turn the water off for 5 hours on a day I need to make 150 cupcakes. Especially when I have plans tonight that will impede on the amount of time to make these.

Instead of my usual morning routine of coffee and blogging first thing after getting up, I had to make sure that anything requiring water was accomplished, including showering and pet bowl refills. A few days ago we received a notice from the water company that they will be shutting the water off for five hours to perform some maintenance. This really shouldn’t come as any surprise since they’ve been doing work along the road next to us for what seems like two weeks now. What exactly they are doing is beyond me, but hopefully they are fixing the water pressure issue, which for us is the opposite problem most people have… we have WAY too much water pressure. I mean, to the point where it has been breaking the shut-off valve seals.

But this whole thing got me thinking about a bigger picture. Have we become so spoiled at having the convenience of tap water that we freak out when it suddenly isn’t available for a short period of time? Or perhaps even used to the fact that we have a very reliable source of power here in the Pacific Northwest? It sometimes feels like we live in a fantasy world when there are other parts of the world with limited power that gets shut off daily at certain times, or water that has to be hauled from a central well. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to live in that world, but I could imagine it would seem quite normal for those who’ve been living in it.

So instead of having a negative attitude about waiting to make cupcakes and do the dishes, I’m going to do some much needed grocery shopping, house cleaning, and maybe even a little quilting. While I wish I could simply bake and get the cupcakes done right away, I’m going to instead challenge myself to make everything faster. Hmm… maybe I should make mini cupcakes instead? Nah! People like my cupcakes too much for the joy to be over in two bites!

Uh oh… suddenly a thought popped into my head. Maybe I should run to the home improvement store and pick up new faucets and shut-off valves and replace them while the water is already turned off? Actually, on second thought, that not only seems like work, but also seems costly. Another day, perhaps.