I’m switching days with Julie this week (for those of you who keep track!) She’ll be here tomorrow!
So.
Two weeks ago, I posted Be Careful What You Wish For. It’s hard to believe it’s only been two weeks since the snowstorm from hell that knocked out my power for 36 hours, froze us, we lost a fortune in food from the fridge and freezer, paid for a new alarm battery (nearly $1,000 for all work) … etc. Because this past weekend, we had the Nor ‘easter from Hell … and it happened ALL OVER AGAIN.
I posted the link from two weeks ago in case a) you missed the blog and wanted to catch up; or b) you wanted to reread how pathetic my life has been before you go forward today and see how pathetic it still is. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am NOT complaining. Compared to a lot of people, we had it easy. Still do, as some of the county is still without power and heat. But come on, I know you all love reading about my travel and now weather related mishaps.
So here we go again:
Last Saturday night we had plans with college friends on Long Island. On Thursday I saw the weather forecast (severe rain, heavy winds topping 50 mph etc. for the entire weekend – like 4 days, the worst of the storm to hit us Sat night) and said to hubby, we’re not going to make it out there. Sure enough by Saturday 3 PM we KNEW things were going to get bad. I told my friends that we’d have to reschedule, that the roads were flooded (true) and … here is where I made my FATAL mistake … I said that if power went out again I didn’t want my kids home and us far away.
Soooo .. instead we took the kids out for a family dinner. While there, we got a call from neighbors that the power was out. Here we go again! Finished dinner and drove home … where we saw a transformer fire on the way home, near Westchester County Airport. We knew that was a bad sign in general and really scary!!! On the other hand, my parents live a mile away (they’re in FL but they have a house in NY) and for some reason, they had power (which they did not have during the snowstorm). So we went home, dug up the flashlights, packed ourselves up as best we could in the dark, grabbed both dogs (who have never been anywhere except: my house, the kennel, and the vet) and took them to my parents. We locked the four of us and the two dogs in their bedroom (because said dogs can’t be trusted to roam and they were panicked at the unfamiliar surroundings and my mother would KILL me if they did damage). We settled in, climbed into bed (I have a KING my parents have a QUEEN – they must like each other a lot more than me and hubby do), the dogs immediately joined us. Kids were scared of the crazy wind and stayed in same room as us. Oldest slept on huge recliner in bedroom and youngest (14) started out in bed with us but soon moved to the floor. Of course I took pictures just for YOU!
They’re cell photos and you have to look closely …:
Two in a Queen plus 2 Dogs:
Three in a Queen plus 2 Dogs:
No sooner did we settle than the CABLE TV went out (which means no TV at all) and no landline phones. But again we had heat, so nobody complained. Too much. Let me say that I got NO sleep. First, Bailey doesn’t relax. Ever. And on the few times she did, I must have dozed only to be caught off guard by her jumping off the bed and having to get her settled again. Buddy, who prefers to start aligned with my husband ended up aligned with me. So I had basically 80 pounds of dog on top of me in a Queen. I woke up feeling like someone had physically beat on me the entire night. My husband took the dogs for a walk, only Bailey peed, Buddy returned and let loose in the bedroom, (Shh! Don’t tell mom, I cleaned it!) so hubby took them back home, fed them (Buddy ate, Bailey didn’t and puked twice) and went to work. Smart man.
For the day on Sunday, we took youngest to her best friend’s (and didn’t see her again till Tuesday morning). But it wasn’t that simple. The three of us drove in my dad’s car to my parents (the world looked like a WAR zone!) only to realize WE HAD NO HOUSE KEYS. Hubby took my set with my car to work by accident. Back to Mom’s, searched for extra set of keys, found none and decided we’d go get breakfast in basically our PJ’s. Whatever. Last minute, youngest finds set of keys. Back to my house. Kids brushed teeth and dressed and we set out to find food. First direction we tried, roads were closed. Second direction we were too hungry to go to diner and we went to Dunkin Donuts, picked up coffee and bagels and back to Mom’s to eat. THEN youngest showered and we headed back home to ::gulp:: pick up dogs, AND CRATES this time, and loaded car with clothes and all things dog (food etc.) and went to Mom’s only to find out THEY HAVE NO ELECTRICITY.
And no I am still NOT kidding. Turn around and go home, deciding if we’re going to freeze we’d rather do it in our own home. Oldest daughter has crates and stuff and she UNLOADS it all again. Meanwhile, I pull over to side of road and call friend who owns kennel, figuring give it one last shot to get dogs comfortable and rid myself of responsibility (bad mommy! but I was in over my head!) And the man I couldn’t own dogs without, answered the phone and assured me he had power/electric and heat (this despite the massive and I do mean massive evergreen tree we saw on the side of the road next to the kennel (man did he get lucky it didn’t hit the place!). So I go around road blocks and bring the dogs who are already in car to the kennel. With that huge relief off my head, we went back home and unloaded MY car, then took youngest around corner to her friends. They have a generator.
Oldest and I went home, dumped freezer (AGAIN), and settled in for day of knitting and reading. First we unpack, and are thinking, OK it’s not THAT COLD, we can do this. So then we climb into daughter’s bed and under covers and spend hours knitting (you should see my blanket!). But by the time a few hours went by, we were NUMB and realized how cold it actually was! I had friends who lived like this for days while all this went on!) We were by now (3 PM) starving for lunch. Hubby brought food home from store (turkey and mayo he said) and just as he walked in, I got a call from a friend. Power on that side of the neighborhood was back on!
Once again, NO I am still NOT kidding! We pack up again and head to Mom’s. And NO, this story isn’t over yet! We sit down to eat and discover hubby did not bring bread, b/c we had bread at home, and nobody took bread from home. We ate turkey and chips. Dry. Didn’t even bother with mayo. Hubby and I both finally took first shower and changed clothes (it’s only been 24 hours but felt like 24 years), and we decide to go to mall. Hubby wants to get out of house and so do we. So we hit mall, where yes I preorder the iPad after all my trying to talk myself out of it, and we try to eat at PF Chang’s but there is over an hour wait. So we head to another local restaurant, eat and back to Mom and Dad’s. Phone call tells us due to numerous power outages, school is canceled tomorrow (Monday) and there’s already no school Tuesday (teacher conference day or something), and then the three of us read and go to sleep early, all in one room.
Mom’s bed is harder than a brick and I still get very little sleep. Wake up cranky the next day. Hubby went to work. Oldest and I go home, get change of clothes, look up movie times, find out there’s nothing we want to see, and decide … another day of knitting and reading. No sooner did I get back to Mom’s when friend called and asked me to drive her son to another friend’s, so back out for a trip. Returned to Mom’s and read – this is the good part of the day: Read Larissa Ione’s Ecstasy Unveiled (book 4 in her phenomenal series – and wait till she guest blogs!) until Agent called. Asked for revisions on new proposal so she could send it out.
I was NOT going to lose days because I had no Internet. Head back home, picked up laptop and headed to mall and Starbucks for coffee and Internet. Made the changes, tried to send … laptop had 24% battery left and wouldn’t send. Ran to Mac Store with OPEN laptop and begged for a charge (my house has no electricity for days, yada yada) and they let me send. Success! Headed back to Mom’s, but on the way, I get a phone call …. POWER BACK ON at home!!!!!
Seriously? Must go see! Head on home and discover yes we have power. We have cable. We have landline phones! Luckier than a lot of my friends, let me tell you! So … guess what? Back to Mom’s, pack up entire house … At this point, I’ve lost count how many times I’ve done this … load up car and back home. Unpack car. Spend next hour unpacking bags and things and making home feel more like home again. It’s cold but slowly getting warmer in the house, thank goodness. No unexpected surprises post power failure to deal with except at my mom’s house, some issues I’ll need to take care of this week.
As of this posting, school started again today except for maybe one Elementary School with too many road closings to allow for attendance. Many roads, trees, etc. still down. Power still out at a lot of places. It’s crazy. Might as well have been called a hurricane. Except it wasn’t.
Just the 2010 Nor’easter from Hell!
Hope you all fared better than me!
And if you haven’t seen or heard from me lately, not anywhere on line, this is why!
*****
The winners of a copy of SAVIN’ ME by Alannah Lynne are:
Katie (Comment #4)
Jenn Hall (Comment #7)
Please contact Alannah with your email address at: Alannah @ alannahlynne.com (no spaces!).
Carly Phillips would like to take 100% credit for all her stories but the truth is, Carly’s strength is writing family, emotion, funky elderly people and animals. She couldn’t plot her way out of a paper bag, which is why she smartly found her plotmonkey pals early on in her writing career. Thanks to their support, Carly is now a NYT Bestselling author of 23 plus novels. Because writing doesn’t keep her busy enough, Carly is also a wife, a mother of one preteen and one teenage daughter, the primary care giver of her soft coated Wheaten terrier and an expert carpool mom.
Destiny
Dirty Little Secrets
Once Upon A Valentine
Through The Night
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Wow Carly, that’s crazy! Too much hectic stuff going on, with no power. Glad you managed to survive it all. Kudos for not going crazy. So glad everything is getting back to normal. You and your poor family!
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I see a book coming from this.
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Somehow I don’t ever see wanting to relive this stuff in a book, LOL!
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I’m glad you are all okay and your life is back to normal. I must be living under a rock because I haven’t been paying attention to the weather back east. I had no idea all this was going on. My bad. I was wondering where you were because you haven’t popped in and commented.
Thanks for the laugh this morning and treating us to another one of your adventures. I for one would love to see a pic of this blanket you’re knitting. Any chance you might post one here in the Jungle?
Take care all,
Cher, still chuckling
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Wow. Your weather saga beats mine. But the trees and power lines hanging in the street are still hanging in the street here in some places. I had power. Lost cable Mon night thru Tues am. Had to bring the car in after it sustained mysterious body damage and the body shop had no power! Still none yesterday. Only a couple of blocks away. The worst: no traffic lights in the neighborhood. Scary.
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It’s still just as bad here. Crazy!
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Wow Carly! Your luck is not good with the weather and travel. Like the others before me, I see a book coming out in this.
By the way, Happy St. Patty’s Day! :Irish1: :Irish2:
I need to take my MacBook to the Apple store, its starting to peel on the sides and i tape it down. lol.
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Wow. Macbook abuse?
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lots of hugs to you, Carly. You write so vividly, I can really imagine what’s going on and the multitude of trips back and forth.
Janelle…I just read your post from yesterday. We totally need to get together asap! I’ll be your friend!
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I feel bad for all your weather related problems and would also like to see it in a book. I live in the south and am oblivious to all weather except the rain or cold here. I gather that I should be thankful and not complaining about our weather compared to what some of the country’s experiencing.
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OMG defintely book material. :Irish2: :Irish1: Happy St. Patrick’s Day. Just take a deep breath. Just think spring will be here soon with nice warm breezes and flowers. On the plus side at least you didn’t get any water into the house.
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Carly, Carly, Carly…I love you, but I am laughing my ass off. I know, it is not very sensitive, but you just have a way of writing the worst possible situations in such a way that they bring laughter. I had tears rolling down my face, seriously. I haven’t laughed like that in a while. Thank you for the laughs dear friend, and I hope you never have to experience another Blizzard and or Nor’easter from Hell like this again. I think you should prepare for occasions like this. Have some stuff packed, just in case. I am so glad you made it through, and you did get to spend some quality time with youngest.
I got my first knitting lesson yesterday, and my teacher said that I caught on quickly, but I think I messed up and don’t know how to fix it. Oh well, it was only day 1 after all. I think it is gonna be a scarf. Have a wonderful day Carly! Enjoy the sunshine. Happy reading and writing. I like Larissa Ione, can’t wait to meet her here in the jungle.
Peace and love,
Paula R.
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Paula, the knitting is great isn’t it? Learning to understand mistakes takes a long time. I can barely do it but I am getting much better. I also find googling things and watching videos helps!
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Thanks for the advice Carly. I was just thinking yesterday that I needed to google some stuff, so I could at least sound and look like I know what I am doing.
Peace and love,
Paula R.
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After all that I forgot to say…Happy St. Paddy’s Day!!!! :Irish1:
Peace and love,
Paula R.
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Good grief! What an “adventure”!! Glad the power is back and that there wasn’t any severe damage to your house/car, etc. At least you had Mom’s to go to!!
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Remember the old saying, “Be careful for what you wish for?” You do have the best adventures.
Maybe it is time for warmer weather? It was 74 in Reno yesterday. 
Happy St. Paddy’s Day :Irish2: :Irish1:
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Carly you are such a hoot and I could see us getting into some realy trouble if we lived by each other. My cousin a I would have those crazy things happen to us all the time when we lived by each other. I could be 20 years before something like that happened and then we live by each other and it happened all the time.
I was laughing so hard here at work they wondered what the heck was going on and I all I could do is laugh thought I was going to pee my pants. LOL
It would make a great book, you do have a way of telling us this story so we really keep up with it. Thanks for the great laugh today sorry you had such a hard time with all the running around and trying to get things done I hope you are enjoying being back in your bed with your babies.
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Carly, I can definitely sympathize. I was also hit with the storm but in a different way. I went to visit my little brother in Miami for the weekend and watch my dad compete in a triathlon. So I start out leaving Friday night from LGA and what a surprise the flight is an hour delayed and takes an extra hour in flight to land. So after a full day at work and approximately 5 hours in airport/plane, I arrive in Miami at 12:30am and proceed to visit with my brother and watch him work at a bar/lounge. This translates into 5.5 hours of sleep (too little for me). Next day I get up early and have breakfast with dad and friends and have a leisurely day at the beach, no complaints there. We then decide to go back to the hotel early because my dad has to leave by 5am to get to the traithlon site, so this translates into a 4:30am wake up call and 4.5 hours of sleep (sensing a pattern lol). After triathlon in the morning we decide to grab lunch and then walk Lincoln Avenue (great shops and restaurants if you have never been) and kill 2 hours before I have to head to the airport for an 8pm flight. Well I decide to check and see if there are any delays since I have been fielding calls all day from my friends to learn that they have a) no power b) trees down and c) damage to their homes. So now I see that all the flights before mine have been delayed or canceled but by some miracle mine is still on schedule. This lasts until about 5pm where I check back and low and behold, we are delayed an hour, check back again, delayed 2 hours, check back again, delayed 3 hours, check back again and see that the flight after mine is canceled, which means that in all likelihood mine will be as well since approximately 3 flights had gone out ok that day out of the 6 scheduled before mine. So we leave for the airport and hit traffic (of course) bend some minor traffic rules and get to the airport with 15min to spare before boarding to learn the kiosks aren’t working, so now I have to wait on the lovely line with all the other pissed off passengers to get my ticket. And what does the ticket person tell me, oh your plane has not come in yet, we think it is still on time but wont be able to tell you for sure until we hear more, and if you don’t get out tonight we cant flight you back home until WEDNESDAY
. So I go to the gate and wait, and wait, and finally learn our plane has arrived (miracles of miracles) and get on the plan and proceed to sit for an hour and when we get in the air learn our plane is not landing until 2:30am. Actually end up arriving around 3am and don’t get to bed until 4am. So total sleep for 72 hours = 13.5 hours. And then when I try to drive home I learn the highway is closed and that trees are down at my apartment LOL. Needless to say, I definitely felt like I had a “travel with Carly” moment. 
hopefully everyone is safe and sound and enjoying the nice weather (FINALLY)
Happy St Patty’s Day :Irish2: :Irish1:
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Oh man, I’m so sorry! Good thing I wasn’t there or you could be blaming me, LOL!
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We have been heating up… High 70s… Congrats to Katie & Jenn on their wins! Happy St. Patty’s Day All!!! :Irish1:
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Carly, I really tried not to laugh as I read your weather troubles, but you put such a funny spin on it I really couldn’t help but laugh…lots. Glad you have power back and really hope your weather troubles are over for the season. I do have to agree with so many others, this would be great in a book.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone! :Irish1:
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Glad things are getting back to normal, weather looks promising here in the midwest, but the cold is not gone yet… Happy Paddy’s Day to you and all.
:Irish1:
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Dang, Carly! And they say the weather is rough in Oklahoma. I’ll stay here, thanks!
Happy St. Patrick’s day to all! May you live as long as you want and never want as long as you live.
:Irish2: :Irish1:
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:Irish2: :Irish1: :Irish2: :Irish1: :Irish2: :Irish1: :Irish2:
Carly, you make me laugh. Now, I realize while all this is going on it is not the least bit funny. Thanks for telling a great story that could make me laugh!
Someday you will be able to look back at this and laugh! I’ve had a few adventures that aren’t nearly as terrible now as when they happened! I’m still here, healthy and enjoying life which makes me a survivor. 
I hope you are having a good day today.
:Irish2: :Irish1: :Irish2: :Irish1: :Irish2: :Irish1: :Irish2:
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Unlike a Hurricane, this storm did not have a tropical beginning, which is why it’s not classified as one. Blame it on El Nino though.
You really need to keep some empty plastic storage containers handy in the winter and throw the stuff from the freezer outside when the power goes off.
Will the house insurance cover the loss?
And have you considered investing in a generator?
:Irish1:
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Donna
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Carly-are you sure that you didn’t make this story up and tried it out on us before you put it into book format??? Are you writing your memoir’s by chance? BTW you must live near where I grew up(Rye,NY). Loved it there. Let us know how you like the new iPad(now has WYFI and bigger HD).
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LOL, seems you may have some wonderful sparks for an electrifying book. We fared a bit better. I live north and west of the city, and usually when we watch the weather, the bad weather is north and west. Sorry to say, I actually cheered when I heard the real bad weather was south and east. Of course we had 24 inches of snow, so it was not all that great. I used to live in LI in Cutchogue. Now I am about 10 minutes away from Woodstock.
Hoping your day is blessed
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CRAZY couple of days Carly! But so glad you’re back home and hopefully SPRING has sprung as beautifully there as it has here. (Unbelievably gorgeous out the past few days.)
Question–did you consider taking the food out of the freezer and leaving it in your garage? Not kidding. If you bag it up and then put it on shelves or something in the garage, it’ll stay colder than the original freezer was. lol!