Rebuilding One Day at a Time

NJ Governor Christie and President Obama

While my husband and I were one of the lucky ones with zero damage to our home or cars, and only lost power a few days, we were both out of work for a week, which is not a good thing as several days off means losing a lot of money.

My husband will go back to his job tomorrow, but I am at a standstill with my business as I wait for my clients to get their electricity back. So for the first time in four months I’ll be looking for new clients to build my business again until I get my regular clients back for ghostwriting, book editing, promoting/marketing and personal assistance and fill up my week again with 30+ hours of work. As for now, I just have two hours of work this week.

Like a lot of other people, we are in an area where there is limited food in supermarkets, long gas lines and many roads blocked off, so life is very challenging and we are doing our best.

We used to love our Sundays together when we’d take a ride down the Jersey shore, or some other beautiful New Jersey area. But now we have to worry about conserving gas and money. Regardless, we are doing our best and just very happy to have so much extra time together and with our kitties (and damn that little one, Derick, who wasn’t informed about the time change, or the fact that we haven’t had work in several days and woke us up this morning as if we had an agenda!)

One of the highlights of this storm is that I’m so happy with all our New Jersey Governor Christy is doing and his positive remarks about Obama. Prior to this storm, I was not a fan, but I have a new found respect for the guy and I just LOVE the above photo of him with President Obama. I’m now following Christy on Twitter.

I am also happy that I’ve been able to help others in small ways by using my computer to look up information for those who needed it and offer electricity for those who need to recharge their cells. It’s not much, but it feels good that I can at least do a little something.

My prayer and wish is that each new day brings more hope and positivity into the lives of everyone that was hurt by the storm as we all work together to rebuild and get life back to normal. And remember, even if you don’t have the finances to help someone, there are so many positive things you can do: let someone use your computer, offer to clean someone’s yard, call someone to let him or her know you care. I’ve received so many emails and phone calls from people I adore and care so much about which made me feel so loved and happy! Even chatting with cyber friends via blogging and Twitter makes my day.

Good luck and much love to everyone as you try to restore your lives!

The Hurricane That Stole Halloween

 

Our Kitty Derick with SPARKY!

Me keeping warm in front of fireplace at Cranford Hotel

Hot Wheels alarm clock

First my heart goes out to anyone who lost loved ones due to the horrible storm. This was a horrific terrible thing and I hope to never see such a storm again. The stories are just so sad and I keep hearing more and more of them. All the beautiful seaside town boardwalks in New Jersey are pretty much demolished with the exception of our favorite, The Wildwoods because the beach is so far out.

Some of our friends and family have experienced horrible things, but they are okay and I am glad for that.

And even on a lighter note, it’s a damn shame that two years in a row children missed out on Halloween. Halloween is a favorite holiday in our house, but since we knew the storm was coming, we exchanged our gifts a few days before Halloween in case we didn’t have any power (and sure enough we didn’t).

My amazing husband got me the dog Sparky from the Tim Burton movie, “Frankenweenie” (see above) and he’s so cute! He also got me a Sparky shirt (I’ll show pictures as soon as it gets warm enough to wear it! Or did we miss Indian Summer?)

I got my husband a Hot Wheels alarm clock (see above) — it’s mad cool!

So, Monday night, while we were watching, for the third time, “Dark Shadows” the power went out. The storm was beyond frightening. It was swooshing so loud, like an ocean roar. I prayed all night that nothing would happen to us or our kitties.

And we are so LUCKY we did not have anything bad happen to us. I do not take our good fortune for granted and am beyond ecstatic that we got through this pretty much “beautifully” (as my husband’s dad said about his brief loss of power in Whiting, New Jersey – down the shore but much more inland). We also lucked out that without electricity we still had heat and hot water. We kept waiting for the bomb to drop and lose the heat and hot water, but that never happened. And we still had a phone line! Very, very, very LUCKY!

Tuesday the storm ended and we spent late morning cleaning out the trees branches that were all over our yard. It was a great workout. That afternoon our friend Johnny stopped by and I had a beer with him. Even though we have an electric stove, my husband was able to light it and cook us all dinner. By this time the refrigerator was still cold and we had plenty to eat.

On Halloween we ventured out to see how the town was doing. It was like a ghost town, but other towns nearby like Cranford had electricity so we had a late lunch at a diner. That night we celebrated Halloween at The Cranford Hotel, one of our favorite places, with dinner and some autumn ales. We sat by a fireplace and it was super cool.

This morning we ventured out again and had Mexican for lunch. We felt like pioneers trying to find a restaurant open that wasn’t too crowded. Some restaurants had people lined up outside the doors. (And don’t even get me started on the gas lines — it’s crazy!)

Tonite we went out shopping and when we got home, the power was on! But it will be a long time before things get back to normal. Streets are still closed. I haven’t heard from any of my clients, so I am unsure about work. I’m also unsure about what roads are blocked off so I don’t know what I can and can’t do.

I thank our President, the electric companies, the policemen, firemen and everyone else involved in making New Jersey safe and back to normal again. We’re not out of the woods but each day looks more promising.

Waiting for the Flood

My husband and I are still milking the Halloween season for all it’s worth. The storm still hasn’t hit us yet, so we took a drive down to one of our favorite New Jersey towns, Keyport, to check out the waterfront.

Keyport, New Jersey

Gloomy and overcast.

Hubby and I enjoyed some lunch, laughter, great conversation and good beer at McDonagh’s Pub

Soaking up some more Halloween spirit

And we ended our day by doing some antique shopping around the town. We love this place, Vintage 78s: www.vintage78s.com

Then we took a short ride looking at homes and then a quick stop at Dunkin’ Donuts for some coffee.

Our biggest concern is that we hope tree branches don’t fall and hit our home. We just had a lot of work done to our house and it looks like a brand new home even though our house was built over 100 years ago.

From the most recent radio reports, the storm should end by tomorrow evening.

I’ll definitely lose some Pear Tree business (www.peartreeenterprises.com). Since I finished a major book project my entire week was going to be based on marketing and promotions and with the storm no one will be around to do business with.

But on a positive, if we don’t lose power, I’ll be able to work on my own two books I’m writing. Otherwise it will be a day of relaxing and waiting it out.

As one who always has my planner filled to the hilt, it is kind of refreshing to take a “whichever way the wind blows” approach — literally!

To everyone in the area, stay safe!

Will the Storm Stop the Great Pumpkin?

Looks like New Jersey may have a repeat of last Halloween — the Nightmare Before Halloween — when a massive storm ruined the holiday: lots of rain, power outages, and many disappointed children.

My husband and I have a tradition of going to Tarrytown, NY every year around Halloween. Not sure if that will be in the cards this year. So we’re been making the most of it in other ways, listening to lots of fun Halloween music, driving around looking at Halloween decorations (while the weather is still stable and warm). Tonite we’ll go out to dinner and look at more houses. They always go all out in our neighborhood. Perhaps because we live very closely to two homes where Charles Addams, creator of The Addams Family cartoon lived. And there’s also Wychwood which is just five minutes from our home.

Movies we watched during the past few weeks include: “Psycho”; “Nightmare Before Christmas”; “Dark Shadows (2012)”; “I Married a Witch” and many episodes of “Tales of the Crypt” and “The Munsters.”

I also got to wear my “BOO!” shirt and Halloween socks.

So in spite of the storm, I’m milking my favorite holiday for all it’s worth because before you know it, life will be all about Christmas hustle and bustle. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Christmas, but would prefer if the hype waited until after Thanksgiving and not given an immediate halt right after New Year’s Day, when everyone can finally settle down and relax a bit — and could use a little more Christmas! (In our house, we continue to celebrate Christmas until late January, then gear up for Valentine’s Day!)

While my husband was at work today, The GREAT PUMPKIN decided to come to our home early, bearing Halloween goodies.

The GREAT PUMPKIN said the storm wasn’t going to stop him and that Halloween is ON! You may just have to work around it a little bit. So be careful and start squeezing some fun in before the lights go out. (Oh, that is when the fun starts, actually!)