Ah, the joys of electricity!

Last Friday my area (Southern Illinois) was hit by a massive weather event. It's being called an inland hurricane because on the radar it actually looked like a swirling, rotating hurrican with a definite eye in the center.

Wind gusts from the second half of the storm were clocked at over 106 miles per hour. It caused major damage over at least three counties and left me and my family without electricity for almost five days.

Consequently, because of the power outage, the majority of my refrigerated and frozen food were ruined. It felt like pouring money into a trash bag as I cleaned them out.

Not only that, but once the power was restored I discovered today that my large freezer isn't working right. Some of the items that were left in the bottom of the freezer (but need to be pitched) are frozen solid, while other items are soft and mushy - and there is a layer of about two inches of slush and liquid in the bottom. Those are good signs something isn't working right.

I'm not complaining, though, my family is safe and things could have been so much worse.

Our home was not damaged, we just had several large trees and limbs down in our yard.

Here's a link to pictures I've posted from the storm and the resulting damage - check them out here.