The lights are off, and nobody's home

This morning, the Dallas area had a major storm. When I got to the school at around 7 a.m. the power had gone out and there were no lights in the building. It's a pretty good thing I don't scare too easily, because otherwise I would have been freaking out being the first person to walk down the pitch black third-grade hallway.

Once I used my bat-like sonar and gained access to my classroom, I was able to pull up the shades and let a little bit of light into the room. Then I went back outside and did my usual morning crosswalk duty.

The power was still not back on by the time I picked up my kids, so we ate breakfast in darkness. The kids of course kept asking, "What happens if the lights don't come on on Wednesday?" Referring to Wednesday's TAKS test. I told them they'd have to take it in the dark. Evil, I know. Sorry.

At around 8:10, the power came back on in a very strange fashion. The lights out in the hallway came on, but when I flipped the switches in my classroom, those lights remained off. On a whim, I tried the pencil sharpener, and it worked just fine. I went and turned my computer on. Not sure why all of the electrical outlets worked while the overhead lights did not, but that was the case until around 8:30, when the lights finally came on.

An odd start to the week, and tomorrow is going to be even crazier. Tomorrow is Stupendous Tuesday or Fabulous Tuesday or some such, so there will be voters galore at my school. Stranger danger everywhere you look, and I have a feeling Anonymous Joe and high will have a very hard time keeping them from parking in the student drop-off zone.