I'm sorry for the silence in my corner of the blogosphere. Our town has been without power since Saturday, October 30th - a result of the Snowtober storm we had here in the Northeast. I live in a rural little town in New Jersey, in a bit of a higher elevation. While the views of the autumn trees are spectacular, so is the snowfall. We had about 16 inches of snow built up on top of those trees last week. So many trees fell, as did the power lines below them. It's a big mess, I'm not going to lie, but we're making the best of a bad situation.
I am going to try and post some pictures - of both the beautiful snowfall as well as the damage. (I have tried to Tweet as many as I could)
The first few days were hard, but when the 9 year old said, "Mom, don't get mad, but you're being really grumpy with us, and it's not fair," I decided that there were some things I wasn't going to change, so I had best put on a happy face and deal with it. I let my frustrations out on Twitter, not on my boys (for entertainment purposes, check out my #ReasonsThePowerOutageSucks Tweets @AlisonsBookMrks) and things got infinitely better.
This week I have gone to friends' houses to do laundry and blow dry my hair. I am like most women and have enough essentials to last me to the next ice age, but my boys needed clean clothes for school. And even though other people may not care what my hair looks like, it's a little piece of normal that keeps me happy. Our generator is running our water, so we're clean and I can cook on the gas cooktop. It's taking a village, let me tell you.
Luckily, my boys go to school in a town that didn't lose power, so they have been in school during the day. The evenings are quiet - my boys are readers and like to play board games or draw. The 9 Year Old just finished his first TIME WARP TRIO book by Jon Scieczka and The 6 Year Old just finished DIARY of a WIMPY KID: RODERICK RULES. In my house, we have a rule: you can't see the movie until you've finished the book. When the 6 year old finished the book, he wanted to see the movie. Thank Apple for the iPad! I went over to a Panera a few towns over, hooked into their Wi-Fi and downloaded the movie! Movie night!
Even though my little town got slammed up on our hill, many of the surrounding towns were unaffected by the snow, so we still have access to stores, restaurants, laundromats, hospitals and civic centers. Most importantly, I can drive to get Wi-Fi. See? You have to love technology!
Right now, I am at one of my favorite places - the County Library. I have Wi-Fi, plugs, heat, a comfy seat, and I'm surrounded by books! I'm a happy girl.
Hopefully we will have power soon - next Wednesday at the latest. I'm sorry for being so quiet and hope to be back posting, reading, and writing. My goal was to take part in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) but I find it difficult to write longhand. (excuses, excuses!) Maybe I can pretend NaNoWriMo is next month and write my novel in December? I'll keep working on my outline.
In the meantime, happy reading, book friends!!
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Book Review: Quiet – Susan Cain [TSS]
1 hour ago
6 comments:
I can't imagine going without power for that long. Just a few hours is enough to drive me crazy. And I can't even imagine the whining that would ensue from my stepdaughter if she had to go that long without video games or TV! Like you said though, you can't change it so your only choice is to make the best of it. I will keep my fingers crossed that you get your power back ASAP.
I hope you get your power back asap. I'm in New Jersey also and we had extensive damage around here with just 3" of snow. I never thought about what would happen if it snowed when the trees still had all their leaves... now we know, right? Crazy.
Hang in there! Hopefully you'll be back to normal VERY soon.
So sorry that you're still without power all this time later, but you definitely sound like you're holding up better than I would. We're in Ocean County and got just a coating of snow last week--keep hanging in there! Oh, and this librarian was really pleased that you mentioned you were using your library for all of its goodness!
Wow! What a nightmare for you - I'm sure I'd be a grumpus too. I hope things return to normal soon.
I remember when I was 18 and the big hurricane hit Miami. We were without power for 2 or 3 weeks, and it was during the summer. It was AWFUL! And I can imagine what you are going through right now. At least you can escape sometimes and get out into places where there is power and wi-fi, but I can understand why you are cranky, and hope that your power comes back soon!
Hang in there!
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