If the mayor’s taut description of the extended blackout yesterday captured his own feeling of powerlessness — “It is what it is” — it did not even begin to describe the frustration of Queens residents like Monica Trevino.

What it was for Ms. Trevino, 35, was the possibility of another workweek of sponge baths using boiled water, with no food in the house, and with an increasingly edgy puppy.

“We would put the radio on when we went to work to keep the dog quiet,” she said yesterday, while getting a haircut in the dark at a Ditmars Boulevard salon. “But with no power, we have no radio.”

Ms. Trevino is one of thousands of Queens residents who have awakened each day for the last week hoping the lights would be back on, only to find themselves still in the dark. This morning, many of them will again wake up sweaty and still tired. They will sponge themselves off or take another cold shower, eat what the heat hasn’t spoiled and head off to begin another week of work, not knowing how much longer the emergency will all last.

While the weather was cooler yesterday, it had been a week of sultry nights and little sleep, ruined food and restless children, no television and dirty clothes. Some people have taken to their cars for respite, while others plunge into a cold bath for relief.