snow day

there are some big fluffy snowflakes falling outside today. it's the second snow fall of the season so far, and it's kind of early for snow around here. I'm not a big fan of snow but it is really pretty to look at, and gets me excited for the Christmas season. bring on the Christmas tree.

let's juice

it's Monday and I have a lingering cold with no energy so let's juice. I love juicing but have to admit, it's sometimes a lot of work with prepping all the veggies and fruit, cutting them up and then my juicer is a pain to clean (i'm planning on splurging on a new juicer soon) but oh do I feel instantly better after I drink a fresh fruit and veggie juice. and the twins love it too, so score for this mama.

and so it begins

the floors have been ripped up, walls torn apart, appliances gone.... the house is pretty much gutted at this point.

moving on

after sandy hit temps dropped down into the thirties. no one had power, even in Pennsylvania. we went to my grandmothers but then moved to my aunts house since she had a generator and we needed heat for the twins. Keith and I went back and forth to our house to grab as much of our belongings as we could get out. looting was a feared problem in the shore towns, and we were worried our house would be targeted as well.

with the help from Keith's company, we found a temporary rental. we moved into the temporary rental almost a week after the hurricane hit. the temporary rental is two hours north of our home, but we're warm, safe, and trying to move on.

that second week after the storm was the hardest. week one we were in survival mode and going back and forth to our house and moving our belongings out and trashing the things we lost. it was go, go, go that week, no time to really think just going. that second week my emotions started to catch up with me. the reality of what happened was setting in, the sleepless nights were catching up, and I was just feeling sorry for myself. I wanted to just go home. we rent our home, and we were in constant contact with our landlord as he assessed damage and came up with a plan. we were happy to hear we could come back and that we didn't lose the home, but there was going to be a few months of repairs and rebuilding.

we wont be home for the holidays, but I am grateful we have a home to go back to and that my family and I are all safe.

hurricane sandy

I don't even know where to begin. hurricane sandy was beyond anyone's worst predictions, she destroyed homes, ripped apart our beaches and boardwalks, and took out entire communities. over a hundred people were killed. thousands are without homes, temporary and long term displacements.

we stayed in our home as we were not evacuated. we left our home a few hours before sandy hit the coast. our plan was to stay unless we were evacuated, and if things got bad we would leave and stay with our neighbors whose house sits above ours on a hill.

we watched as the water began to rise and near our house and decided to leave when the water was hitting our front steps and we were still hours from high tide which lined right up with the time of impact. we left out our back door and watched as our house was surrounded by the rising water. we got the twins in safe to our neighbors and then Keith and our neighbor ran back into our house to try and raise as much of our stuff up off the floor. the water was quickly rising and was lapping underneath the house in the crawl space making the house shake as Keith and our neighbor ran through the house throwing things up in beds and counters and lifting things up off the floor. they got out as the water began to hit the front door.

we watched in the dark from our neighbors windows as the water began to la waves up onto the house. the wind sounded like subway cars racing through, and the trees bended in the fierce storm. It looked and felt like something out of a movie, but unfortunately we were living it. we watched as the sky lite up in green and blue as transformers bursted in the sky. some of the explosions were so big and bright it looked like an atomic bomb or what I would imagine a spaceship blowing up would look like. we could hear the siding being ripped off and heard as another neighbors roof was ripped off. we remained calm even though we all were filled with fear. the twins didn't show any fear at all during the storm, the noticed the wind and would just say "oooo windy", but other than that they hung out and watched a movie on our lap top.

we ended up spending the night at our neighbors and just layed there all night awake listening to this destructive storm beat down upon us. when dawn broke the wind died down and there was just some lingering cold rain that gently fell. we decided to get up and see how our house stood and if the water got into the house. when we walked down to our house, we couldn't comprehend what we were seeing. our home was still there but completely surrounded by three feet deep of debris, large 20 foot docks, a large shed, large planks and pieces of wood. the water marks on the house showed the water rose to almost five feet. we made our way over the ruble and into the house where we saw that the water rose to about three feet into the house. there was debris and trash thrown around the house, floorboards popped up all over from the force of the water that came up from below. there was a wet sandy mess that covered the entire floor, rugs and walls. our babies cribs and mattresses were wrecked, our bed, clothes, kitchen appliances all dripping wet with sea water. I was overcome with emotion and just began to cry as I looked at our little bungalow that we made a home.

we then went into survival mode I guess you can call it and just grabbed the babies, dog and our small bag we had packed and all for into the car. I wanted to flee and get out of there and take the twins somewhere safe. we headed to Pennsylvania where my grandmother lives. many of the roads were closed with down trees and wires, but thankfully we don't live far from major highways and we were able to flee and go to my grandmothers. she didn't have power from the storm but her house was safe and her area wasn't as devastated as ours.