The Witching Hour

I want to thank everyone who wrote good wishes for coming through the hurricane unscathed. We did! We lost power just as Monday Night Football was starting which was really a blessing in disguise as we didn't have to listen to Jon Gruden. Fortunately, we had moved ourselves into the downstairs guest room for the night just previously. We have this awesome lantern-radio (also has a flashlight, strobe, and alarm all with a handy carrying strap!) and we lit that up and listened to the game from bed. As the winds increased and the pressure dropped, poor little Stella started shaking like a leaf. We let her sleep in the bed with us. She didn't move until I got up in the night for a bathroom break. She decided she wanted one too--at 2:00 am which they had said would be the height of things. Fortunately, I did not blow away; I was wearing my clown-sized pajama pants with the broken elastic. (I can just see what the reporters would have said as they stood over my dead body.) She didn't get back in the bed with us, so that little trip outdoors must have reassured her that things were returning to normal. (And she hasn't tried to get in the bed with us at all since. Good girl.)

We were without power in the morning but the dude was motivated! He was out the door first thing. "If I don't find a cup of coffee, I'm looting." "I'm pretty sure you can't loot for a premade cup of coffee." Fortunately the strip mall up the street had power. It's funny how you miss the little things when you don't have them. We both kept flipping on the bathroom light when we walked in. When we went out for lunch, we were so surprised to find the restaurant had heat. We decided we could move back into the bedroom since there was no danger the 50' evergreen would fall on the house. So we made the bed with fleece sheets and four blankets. If we hadn't, of course, we'd have been yelling at each other while we made the bed holding flashlights. Instead, our power was back and we were perhaps a little too warm. First world problems, right?

I do hope things will return to normal soon for our friends in NYC and on the Jersey shore. The photos are just devastating.

On this Halloween, let me recount my plans for October:

• See a movie--there are a lot we want to see, but we haven't had a chance.
• Read two books--well, I'm reading two books now The Eyre Affair  and Partners in Crime, a truly horrible Agatha Christie but it's got a lot of little vignettes which makes it easy to read in short bursts.
• Make 75 Christmas cards--no
• Decide on what gifts to make for 23 family members; make seven.--bought seven, okay?

And for November: 

• See a movie
• Read two books
• Make 75 Christmas cards
• Make seven Christmas gifts; I will present you a specific list soon
• Blog every day. Yup, I'm at it again!