No power? No problem.

If you live in the Midwest, you may have noticed some pretty nasty storms brewing last night. By 10 p.m. yesterday I found myself huddling in the bathtub of our downstairs neighbors (who I had never met before- oh hey, new friends!) trying to hear myself think over the obnoxious tornado sirens, heavy winds, and crazy people running around outside screaming their heads off. Oh, and it was hailing. Hard.

It was a pretty exciting night that started with us losing power and ended with me sitting on the balcony outside the boys' apartment watching some pretty sweet lightning streak across the sky. Luckily, campus stayed tornado-free, but when I woke up for my 8 a.m. class this morning the apartments were STILL without power. Getting ready that early in the morning with no electricity isn't exactly fun (or easy), so I threw together this little "how-to" list, in case you should ever find yourself in a similar situation.

How to Get Ready in the Morning, Sans Power...

1. There's no window in the bathroom, and taking a shower in the dark is just plain scary, so sticking your head over the side of the tub to wash your hair will have to suffice. Just use plenty of deodorant and body spray to make up for the whole no-shower thing.

2. Move to the bathroom sink to wash your face and brush your teeth. Pray that you've rinsed all of the face wash off your cheeks and that the stuff you squeezed on your toothbrush was toothpaste, and not acne cream.

3. Time to do your hair! Plug in the hair dryer- oh, wait. No power. That's no good. I guess you'll just have to towel dry your hair and wait until it's dry enough to straighten... Well, crap. That won't work, either. Oh hey, messy bun.

4. You should probably get dressed now. Searching through your closet and/or dresser won't do you any good when you can't see what you're rummaging through. Just grab whatever's closest to you and throw it on. If you're wearing flip flops, you may need to step outside in the sunshine to make sure you're not wearing one black shoe and one navy shoe.

5. Make-up will have to be applied in the living room, or in whichever room has the biggest window and therefore, the most reliable source of light. Plop down on the floor by the window and do the best you can with your little hand-held mirror.

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It's so easy to forget how much we rely on the "necessities" like artificial light and working outlets. Electricity is something that's so easily taken for granted. While I can honestly say it was interesting having to tweak my morning routine to one without power, I will be very relieved when this darn power outage is taken care of.