Storm Prep Central

First off....budget....yeah......When you are stuck having to buy stuff for an major weather event, the budget somewhat goes out the window.  We are buying stuff that was NOT planned at the moment.  No choice. 

As of last night's news, there is a high chance that we will sustain a "direct hit" from the storm.  All news programs are telling people to prepare for "extended" power outages.  Lots of flooding. 

Now, please remember....people in this area are REALLY touchy about this stuff.  Hurricane Irene in August 2011, and then the freak snow storm in October 2011, left people without power for days and days (we lost power for 5 days per storm).  And while the power company is "confident" they have it all under control....most people don't believe it will be any better this time.

Most of CT "missed" Halloween last year.  The storm came on Oct 29, then no power until Nov 3 (for us).  Some people didn't have power for 10 days.  Most places just cancelled Halloween.  And there is a pretty good chance that it is going to happen again.  While the worst of the storm should have passed by then, most people probably won't have power. 

The joke around here is that kids get as excited from hearing the power trucks outside as they do about Santa!

With all of that said....we are just about ready for the storm.

1)  Cars filled with gas.
2)  Full tank of propane for the grill.
3)  Fresh batteries in flashlights (and all flashlights together on top of the fridge).
4)  Lawn furniture and kid stuff that is outside has been picked up.
5)  Some food (G-man when to the store, and didn't really buy enough....so I need to go back).
6)  We have city water and we never lost water before....so not really worried about that.
7)  Going to the library today to get fresh reading material for everyone.
8)  All medications are refilled and readily accessable.
9)  Working on laundry today so we will have plenty of clean clothes.
10) We have car chargers for our cell phones, so we will be fine there.

Stressing about this isn't going to help.  Just getting the ducks in a row will be a huge relief.  By tonight, we will be as storm ready as we can be.

The best thing about this go around is my good friend recently moved to a house with gas stove!  So the joke is that everyone is going to her house for dinner.  But seriously, we already said we would pool resources and make dinner, deal with kids, etc. She lives 5 houses away....so we don't even have to drive.  She offered to take my kids if school is out, and my work is still open.  So that is great.

I am hoping that if we do end up home for a few days....I will get some major cleaning and decluttering done!!!