Count Down

I can't believe Christmas is less than 2 weeks away. I usually start prepping right after Halloween. but lost 9 days because of the hurricane. I've been crazy busy, but I still feel there is so much to do.

This year I'm cheating with some store-bought appetizers, although I'm still making quite a few of my own. Of course, all the cookies are from scratch. I made up some cut-outs yesterday--froze half and hid a few for Mike to enjoy this weekend. They came out really good (the recipe is in the December issue of Redbook) and I think this will be my go-to rolled cookie recipe. I have the dough made for some other recipes, too. Just a matter of taking it out from the freezer and using it. I do my baking like this: mix dry ingredients, bag and label; then make dough another day; then take out dough and bake. Makes it easier not to take up an hour or so between prep and cleaning.

My house looks festive. All but the tree, which is sitting out on the deck until we put it up, probably the weekend before Christmas.

I like to set my decorations up by category. All my snowmen are on top of a hutch, for example. Here's my Snoopy display:

I'm keeping my eyes open for a Charlie Brown to go with the tree.

32 Years

Yesterday was my and Mike's 32nd anniversary. He gave me two gift cards and a really cute card. We went to dinner at Miller Ale House and had prime ribs. We really enjoyed ourselves! After, I spent part of one gift card at Bed, Bath and Beyond. I got some fancy coffee for the Keurig, a bag of chocolate/mint Lindt candies and some flavoring for water. My other gift card is for Barnes and Noble. I said I'd give Mike his Christmas gift for an anniversary gift, but he didn't want it. He was happy to give me presents and didn't want anything in return. He is awesome. I totally adore this man.

The funny thing is that Katherine and Michael came over to share a belated birthday dinner with James. He turned 26 during the hurricane, so we couldn't do his scungilli and sauce. This was his only available night for dinner. If we waited for the next time, it would be too close to Christmas Eve, when we also have scungilli. I'm glad his brother and sister joined him.

Today, Katherine and I went out to lunch together. I took her to Ulta for her own birthday present, also very belated! I spent money there on gifts, too. Probably went a little overboard, but at least I have some gifts out of the way. We also stopped at Michael's, where I picked up a frame for a guitar print I got Michael and a Bob Ross beginner's kit for Nicky.

I'm pretty much done with family shopping. All I have to do is figure out what the heck to get James!

Too many storms

Our power came on at 3:30 yesterday afternoon, almost exactly 9 days after we lost it. We saw telephone poles being toted up the block and were so happy!
Then we got hit with a Nor'Easter that dumped about 3 inches of snow on us.

Pics:

This old tree ripped in half and is only hanging from these weird vines. You can see how the wood is twisted. It just about took out my neighbor's roof. Mike went there with a chainsaw to cut it back.

We only lost one section of fence, which Mike easily fixed.

This is one of the trees that almost took out our neighbor's house up the block, and caused us to lose power for more than a week.

Another reason we lost power. Our house is at the bottom of this hill, just two houses from the cracked pole.

AND JUST TO ADD INSULT TO INJURY:

The Nor'easter did this to our gazebo. It's supposed to come to a point at the top. Mike put on the awning to protect the generator from rain. We were NOT expecting snow!

At least, not snow that does things like this! This is the gazebo this morning. Mike and James had already wheeled the genny into the garage for storage, since we have power again.

And every time the lights flicker, we cringe...

Utility Trucks at Last!

We were told that the damage to our block is so bad it will take a special crew to fix it. Still, there are utility trucks up the blog and I hear chainsaws at work. At the very least they are cutting down the fallen trees!

Don't know if I posted this already, but the generator that was leant to us by my nice bil decided not to work. So Mike went off to Home Depot and happened on the last available generator. $700! But worth it, believe me, mostly to have some light and heat and to save some food.

The chest freezer downstairs kept things very cold or frozen, but things have started to thaw out. I have started taking things out and either discarding them, or cooking them if they were still icy cold. I don't have an oven or stove or microwave, but I'm using my barbecue. Browned up some ground beef today and we'll make spaghetti or something another day. I can even refreeze it in my upstairs fridge, which is working with the genny. (The power does not travel as far as the garage.)

Hanging in there, keeping busy with crafts and such. And watching DVDs!

Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy

Today is October 29, 2012. Hurricane Sandy hit us last night. We lost power about 8 p.m. Mike went to bed early but I stayed up and did some crocheting by lantern, plus I played on my DS and with my phone. I also texted back and forth with Katherine for a bit--more on that later.

I kept hearing noises all night, other than the heavy rain and wind, but there was no telling in the dark what was going on. We woke up this morning to find part of the fence in the backyard down, and a tree broken and half-hanging into the neighbor’s yard. Mike went over there later with a chainsaw to help cut it down.

I am trying to keep busy with my crafts and crochet, as well as my puzzle book. I wish I had though to charge my DS, which is about to run out of power. So is the computer so I may not be able to continue my story for a while. Mike is saying it could be a week before power comes back on. Nobody has any in the area, not even stores. Most are using generators, or working by daylight only.

Back to Katherine: she had to do an overnight shift at her store because a manager must be on duty in case the power goes out. First of all, she had to head out there during the worst of the storm. As she was going down a street near our home, a tree fell down right in front of her! Not only that, but a woman had just driven her car past that spot a moment before. The tree fell

RIGHT HERE IS WHERE WE LOST POWER, ABOUT 8 Monday Night. I copied and pasted the above. The story continues:

 Anyway, that big tree fell right between the two cars. Thank God my daughter, and that unknown woman, were okay!
All night, the wind blew up to 100 mph. I kept hearing explosions--transformers going as telephone poles snapped in half. 
For all the horrors, there are other things to Thank God for, at least as far as our neighborhood:

We only lost part of our fence, easily fixed, as well as power.
Two massive trees fell to either side of my neighbor Tony's house, just missing it. It is a small place that would easily have been crushed--these things had eight-foot wide root bases.

Nobody I know personally was hurt or killed. My bil and his family are fine, even though they live on the South Shore. The flooding missed them by a few blocks!




Now for the bad stuff:
A million plus people without electricity--but the crews are working hard to fix this.
People are panicking about being able to get gas, and lines can be 50+ cars long. (Mike was lucky enough to hit a station just as it opened, so he has gas for both his car and the generator.)
The South Shore is a mess, many have lost their homes. I can live without hot water and electricity when I think that's all I have lost!
You don't even want to know about lower Manhattan and New Jersey. It's a massive, tragic disaster.
Some lost their lives, but I don't know the count. It doesn't matter, numbers are just numbers. These are human beings that are gone now.

Better news:
I was worried about Katherine being alone in her store, but three workers were there, too. I found out later that it is against company policy for anyone to be alone, so her other manager would have had to join her. Her store didn't lose power until the next morning, when she was leaving. She stayed to help. Believe me, I was glad when she got home.
Our nice  neighbors brought us coffee and let us use their wi-fi! That way, Mike was able to do some of his office work. I'm writing this thanks to them. Mike offered that they  (and our next-door neighbor) can take a hot shower here if they want.
My bil gave us a genny to use. It only lights up half the house, but we can watch DVDs and heat the place up.
Truth be told, I like this just a tiny bit. Not the scary, tragic parts. But the 'not being able to go anywhere anyway' part that gives me the excuse to watch movies and crochet! And it is fun to be innovative. We used the barbecue to cook and to heat water for coffee. Mike had a pot today. I didn't want any oatmeal or coffee (I'd already had breakfast) but I didn't want to waste the hot water. So I wrapped the pot in some insulated batting that I usually use for making potholders. I covered this with a bigger pot. And you know, I was actually able to make ramen soup for lunch? It's amazing what we can do. Sad as I am for those who lost almost everything, I know most of them will find a way to get on with life!

Our Trip Part II

We broke up the 12-hour drive back home by stopping for two nights at our friends' home in Johnstown, PA. Maryann and Sam have a full house with another adult female, her child, and their own 3 sons and daughter! They are one big, happy family. Seriously, you should see the dinners they put out--like feeding an army. And it was all good, too!
The littles were so cute and I finally got to meet their youngest. Garrison took to me and Mike very readily, which Maryann says is not his usual way. Makes me feel special. The girls, Abi and Bri, got Mike to buy a rock from them for a buck each.

It was nice to see the older boys, Tyler and Logan, too. Hard to believe they are both teens! We enjoyed our dinnertime discussions, especially hearing Tyler's very grown up points of view.

It was also great to see Lisa, Bri's mom, again. Lisa is a very nice woman who's come out of her shell quite a bit since living with the L. family. And she was nice enough to give up her level of the house for our use for two nights.

We had one full day with the family and took a long drive to see some sights. It was fun to go to Baldinger's, a really awesome candy store. There was candy there I haven't seen in years, like Kit-Kats and candy cigarettes. I spent about $30 on candy and really cute cookie cutters. I walked out with probably 3x as much as I would have gotten in New York for the same money--including the biggest jelly beans I've ever seen!

More on the visit next post, whenever I get around to it.

Our Trip

We headed to Ohio this past September 15th. Two days before (and one day before a wedding we attended), I walked into a table leg in the middle of the night and broke my toe--the second one from the small toe, on my right foot (of course).

So I spent most of the trip limping. For the record, I did get an x-ray when I got home and yes, it is broken. Still is as of this date. But that's another post.

Anyway, after a 12 hour trek, Mike and I arrived at Mom's. We were originally supposed to go to the Country Living Fair on Sunday. But mom had taken a trip there the day before and said you had to wait on a 45-minute line just to get in the place. And it was huge, twice as big (she believed) as the Ohio State Fair.

So, much as I really wanted to go, I opted out after all. Mom was okay about that. At 89, she isn't so keen about long walks on uneven ground. And my foot hurt so much walking was a big negative for me.

Honestly, I enjoyed our annual visit to Der Dutchmann restaurant and the little Amish-run stores more than I probably would have liked the fair. The prices are so cheap and there are no crowds. I came home with a few cute things, including a glass cat-shaped candy dish. I also bought some candy for our friend Patty and for Dr. Ahuja. Dr. A loves this stuff and it is about half what you'd pay for chocolate here!

Mike and I took a drive every evening. One night we went to Dairy Queen, just for nostalgia's sake. We found it wasn't all that Mike remembered. (I'm more of a Carvel type.) So the next night we hit Graeter's, a famous ice cream company that is mostly in Ohio. The ice cream was amazing!

Mom, of course, cooked great dinners. We had beef stroganoff and sausages and peppers. The peppers were from her garden. Yum! (And I only gained 3 pounds the whole visit!)

We cut our trip home with a visit to friends in Pennsylvania--

--to be continued!