How I Have Dealt With Hurricane Sandy

I’m almost ashamed to admit this…But I began writing this post from my iPhone….

In Charleston, SC!

For the past few months, my friends and I have been planning this trip.  Because of the hurricane, most of the girls bailed out but two of us decided to fly down and meet our friend.

Regarding the whole hurricane recovery, it’s not like I jumped ship and abandoned my family.  Originally, I thought about cancelling my trip.  Then at the last minute on Thursday morning, my husband insisted that if our flight is still leaving, then we should be on it!  So, I reluctantly packed and with tears in my eyes I kissed my family goodbye while we stood outside by our generator.

Sure, I cried on the airplane and I swear if my friend didn’t snag the aisle seat, I would have charged off that plane before they slammed that cabin door shut!  Of course, I felt like a bad mom leaving my family but I also knew that my husband wouldn’t tell me to go unless he really meant it. 

First, we flew to Charlotte, NC where our friend lives.  That night, we had dinner that night at Mac’s in Charlotte (great barbeque) and then slept at her house.  First thing Friday morning, we were on the road to Charleston.  Basically, I think it took a little over 2 1/2 hours to drive.  Once we arrived, I realized how much I needed a little vacation!

Cheers to that!

As I’ve probably mentioned, I had never been to Charleston before and I can honestly say that it exceeded my expectations.  What a lovely city!  And wherever we went, people showed us such compassion about the hurricane.  They had so many comments about what they saw on the news.  Overall, I think they knew more that I did!  Since we had been without power since Monday, October 29th, the only news I could get was through the newspaper and occasional posts on Facebook through my phone.  Seriously, I have never been on Facebook more than I have in the past week!

While I was away, I was able to check my blog and emails a few times and I want to thank you all for your concern.   I will swing by today to write back.  I miss all my blogger friends! 

When I can, I’ll write a full post about Charleston.  We just arrived home yesterday evening so I am spending as much time as possible enjoying my family!  As you can imagine, I missed them SO much!…and of course Rosie too.  Of course, I still have to write her Weekend Pupdate for this week.

**Update – You can find my Charleston posts here:

• Charleston Restaurants and Shopping
• Charleston Homes
• Charleston Hotel Tour

As of right now, we are STILL WITHOUT POWER.  Luckily, our generator is chugging along…although it had a problem on Saturday.  My husband’s friend, who own’s a car repair shop, actually left his business to come over to our house to fix the generator.  He ended up taking apart the motor and got it running for us.  Obviously, we were so grateful.  Though we do have occasional cable/internet which allows me to write this without having to rely on the little portable hot spot I used a bit last week. 

Our land line phones are still out of order.  Luckily when we have the generator going, we can charge everything.  At one point this week, cell phones were barely getting signals because of all the use.  I was only able to text or for some reason, if I stood in front of my house in the street, my phone could pick up a signal.  I guess some of my neighbors had the same issue because I kept seeing people talking on their cell phones out on the street.  We live in a very close knit community but lately we have seen even more of our neighbors than ever!  Everyone has been helping each other out in one way or another.  It makes me love where I live even more!

The power company is working hard all over the area to restore power.  We’ve seen crews from companies as far away as Ohio helping out!  In times of crisis, you realize how people really come together.  Yes, we feel very lucky.

Friends and neighbors have been wonderful.  The people who do have power have been so generous to open up their homes to those that do not.  Luckily, since we can hook our generator up to heat, hot water and some electrical outlets, we have not had to take anyone up on their offer.  Although, I may be bringing some laundry to my sister in law’s house later today since our washer and dryer are not hooked into the generator panel.  Our next door neighbor does not have a generator so we have a long extension cord connecting our generator to their sump pump and outside refrigerator.  They have been over to use our shower several times.

New Jersey is using the odd-even system to keep gas lines down.  If your license plate ends in odd, you can get gas on the odd days and even on the even days.  Luckily, we have one of each so that isn’t an issue and it doesn’t apply for people filling up gas containers for their generators since that is a separate line.  The gas lines had been so bad in the middle of the week, that my husband and next door neighbor did a gas run to Pennsylvania at 10:00 o’clock at night on Wednesday.  Whenever one of us goes out to fill up a gas container, we pick up some for several of our neighbors who need it too. 

My kids did not have school all last week and are off again today.  In New Jersey, Halloween was postponed until tonight but I think our area will be postponing again due to the power outages.  I am so proud of my boys for making the best of things.  They have been very well behaved and during the hours when we turn off the generator to conserve gas, they have kept themselves busy.  They even helped pick up sticks and roof shingles in our back yard the other day.

Or course while I was away, my husband told me they used the wheel barrel to push each other down the hill.  Ugh…I guess I have to choose not to worry about what happens when Daddy is in charge!

Today, I’m taking the kids out to drop off some supplies at a local shelter.  I think this is a good opportunity to remind the boys that there is always some way they can help and also learn to appreciate what they have.

My heart just breaks for the people in the northeast who lost so much in this storm.  Sherry from Sheer Serendipity left me a message that her home was hit hard.  She lost everything.  Please stop by and give her your support.  When I see pictures of all the devastation, I just want to cry.  Please send your prayers to those families and donate to the Red Cross if you can. 

I also want to send a huge thank you to our awesome governor Chris Christie!  He is a Jersey guy through and through and is doing everything he can to get our state back in business.  There is no one else I would rather have in charge in a time like this!  We love you Christie!

Thanks again everyone, for all of your thoughts and prayers.  Like I said, I will stop by to visit today.  I am so behind with my blog reading!  I hope everyone is safe and well.

Did you have any experiences with Hurricane Sandy?