After last month’s thrilling rent problem and subsequent suckiest Christmas ever, I thought I would have a short reprieve from major drama, at least until my tax return comes in next month.

But no such luck.

Monday night I came home to a lovely notice on my door that the electricity will be shut off sometime today. I spent yesterday in a room full of shocked people who got the same notice. Everyone in the room with me either had small kids or was elderly or pregnant. We were waiting to find out about a grant to keep our heat on.

So I will get a grant, almost enough to keep the power on, but it takes them at least 48 hours to process it. Once I get that grant, there is another I can get (but only AFTER the first one is processed) that will cover the rest.

So I call the power company to tell them money is on the way, can they please give me the 48 hours to get the grant taken care of.

Nope. And I know that for all those desperate moms and grannies that were sitting in that room with me yesterday, it’s a nope to. We’re all going to be without heat and electricity in the middle of January. I’m waiting for the shut off any minute. In the mean time I’ve made sure that all the dishes are done, the fridge is cleaned out, the laundry is done and the heaters are jacked up so that we can retain as much heat as possible when it goes out. It’s only temporary, and mostly it means cold sammies, cold showers, no tv or computer and sleeping with many blanket for a few days. But damn, it’s January.

Now I understand, we need to pay our bills, etc. What I don’t understand is why the we only get 24 hours notice, when the power company KNOWS that the only place in town that offers federal grants for heating assistance takes at least 48 hours to process the applications? It doesn’t cost the power company any extra to send the notice out a day or two earlier, so what gives?