It has been almost 10 years since the NYC blackout of 2003 happened. Growing up on the Jersey shore we lost power for hours every time it rained, but never have I ever experienced days without electricity in the heat of August or ever. I was 21, smoking wasn't yet outlawed in bars, and I was living in Hell's Kitchen. My friend Johnny and I sat on my stoop that day into night drinking over priced beers and making grilled cheese for us and my neighbors. My neighbors serenaded us with sing-a-longs like Kumbaya and Life Goes On on their guitars. We had a freaking blast. Ten years ago I was a carefree bartender, dating a well known Broadway star, a lawyer, the hottest cop in NYC.. forget that the hottest cop on the planet, and living on my own in a 1 bedroom apartment on West 56th Street. Fast forward ten years and my oh my how things have changed. I am married and a mom of two under two; scheming to find a way to move back and raise my babies in Hell's Kitchen. I moved to Washington Heights 8 years ago and it was just last year that Hurricane Irene was a threat to our electricity and I spent about $100 unnecessarily on batteries, candles, beer, and flashlights. Ok the beer was necessary. We only wound up getting a little bit of rain uptown, but I was a bit uneasy about going through a big storm with a seven month old baby. My extended family evacuated to my parent's house in NJ and they lost power for 3 nights and 4 long days. This year, well tonight, Sandy Frankenstorm is going to smack directly into my parents house on the Jersey Shore. Atlantic City is closed. That sucks, right?? It sounds like the perfect place to be! I'd LOVE to be in a big hotel, playing blackjack, drinking martini's while the perfect storm unfolds all around. There's no windows in the casino. It seems so perfect, but if Donald Trump makes the decision to close the doors then game on. This is serious. Everyone in my family has evacuated to my aunt and uncle's house that has the inlet from the ocean in the backyard and the beach two blocks away. They are under evacuation orders themselves BUT... they have a $10,000 hospital grade generator that automatically switches over when power fails, pork chops, burgers, and a full bar so they're having a hurricane party. They tried to lure me and my kids with the tempting promise of late night karaoke in the bar, but there will be chain smoking and I would never ever take my kids to a town under evacuation. The police are driving around on megaphones telling everyone to get out. So crazy! My husband is in NYC and he just called that he is working tonight on his night off (he's bartending) because nobody else wants to work and there's loads of trapped tourists. The hotels are packed. The subways and buses shutdown at 7pm last night and truthfully I am worried about him carrying a lot of cash and trying to get a taxi at 2-3am. Hopefully he won't be drinking with the guys knowing me and the kids are out of town. It is going to be what it is going to be. It's a serious storm heading my way. My best friend in Costa Rica just survived a crazy earthquake where the epicenter was like so close to her town. People in the Midwest deal with tornadoes coming straight for their homes and hope they won't be homeless afterward. My almost two year old is going to have a blast camping at Grandma's in the dark, but I am nervous about my 3 week old baby. I have enough formula for a week, cases of diapers, a garage stacked with water, instant coffee, a full wine fridge, and 3 generations of women who can really cook but I have been put in charge of the cooking. I made homemade chicken/spinach/feta sausages that will go over bow tie pasta/peas/light garlic cream tonight. Mmmmmm!! I grew up with the town butcher who ground my chicken while we chatted about our kids and the chaos. My mom is taking care of Alex. My fabulous 92year old grandma is taking care of Dylan. I'm left missing the hell out of my kids and only being able to kiss them with dirty hands while the baby hogs spoil them rotten. Baby hogs. There are two other new moms on the block where I am staying. The same block I grew up on just with two new families. Yesterday they were taking their babies for a walk together as I was coming back from seriously caffeinating myself at Dunkin Donuts. So we got to chatting and holy shit they were bugging out about this storm: who's on the wait list for a generator, boarding up, evacuating, looking for plane tickets to visit Aunt Whoever in California, and ladies... you can't run. Or can you? You'd really rather visit your husbands distant German aunt with a newborn in another city than ride out a 36 hour storm?? Really?? I was concerned if I'd be able to flat iron my hair before the power goes. Am I not taking this as seriously as I should be when the storm itself is out of my hands? Am I going to be the dumb ass mom who ran out of formula, who's milk went sour, and who was left serving her toddler cold chef-boy-r-dee straight from the can because I don't have a generator, more than 7-8 days worth of formula, and because my gas stove has electric igniters and won't even work with help of a match?!?! No way. The liquor store that is about 6-7 city blocks away up the road vowed not to close. Livotti's, the Italian Market next door, purchased a $5,000 generator and is up and running no matter what. So I can always be the dumb ass mom hitting the store in a hurricane or it's aftermath. But that's unlikely. The rain will stop, the stove will light, and by the time my 31st birthday arrives next week Sandy will be a storm of the past. Actually the media wants us to panick and spend a lot of money stocking up . They are being so dramatic Fox5 has freaking Geraldo covering the mess. Geraldo! They can totally manage to scare those who aren't even scared. I am not scared. I am confident we have a safe house and that we have enough supplies inside of it. As long as a tree doesn't fall on top of it we're good. Today one of the husbands of the girls I ran into yesterday was outside with their brand new generator. They made the wait list. They decided to spend at least $1000 (probably more) on one. If I owned a house on the Jersey Shore I would have had a generator too. He wished me luck and I wished him the same. But I have all of my bases covered. I may not have a generator but.... I have 4 unopened toys hidden in my dad's car for Alex. I'm on my first glass of wine now while I start this blog and the babies nap with GG. Dinner is prepped. Sausage is cooked. All I have to do is boil the water and nuke the rest. Come on Sandy, show us what you got.
 |
| Monday morning GG and the babies. |
 |
| We had to start coloring BEFORE the blackout because PBS had to inturrupt EVERY single cartoon for non breaking news storm coverage. How the hell do I explain that to my hysterical crying almost 2 year old!?!? NOT FAIR PBS- Dinoseur Train should have been left alone!!!!! |
 |
| Homemade spinach-feta-chicken sausage with peas over bowtie pasta in a light garlic cream. |
8pm Monday HURRICANE SANDY HIT THE JERSEY SHORE
 |
| The view out my Grandmother's third floor window of what was a busy two way main street, Silver Lake, and park= 8th Avenue Belmar, NJ. |
 |
| The backyard where our pool was yesterday |
 |
| My Uncle's car was lucky it didn't float away like Wayne's next door did |
Monday Night
The surge hit. The wind is so loud the whistling is scaring Alex more than the creepy shadow puppets my brother and I keep projecting on the walls. The sky is lighting up like the 4th of July. The radio says in the next town (Colts Neck) there are flashing lights in the sky due to transformers blowing up, but this looks like a really crazy lightning show. Or UFO's incoming. Either way I have to entertain Alex and my shadow puppet animals need a LOT of work. My shadow puppet falick symbols are totally up to par. #StillGotIt
Aunt Rose and UnclemRonald's $10,000 generator got water in it and failed around 9pm. Their dock is on their neighbors lawn. Their fridge is floating and their bar is under water. GG doesn't know her house is 1/3 underwater and will be 1/2 underwater within the next few hours. The ocean on one part of town met the river on the other part of town as tsunami-like destruction washed out Belmar, NJ. My beach house and town is not recognizable. Last update from Uncle Louis was that Wayne next door's car just floated away. Uncle Louis is in the house riding out the storm alone. And still, here we are a few miles inland, my Mother Judy spooked that this is one of the Blessed Mother Mary's predictions and the world is absolutely ending. She is ranting about this nervously with a ghost light candle thing over her face and it's getting creepy. My dad is freaking about about the gutters and water coming in. My babies are warm and cozy by the fire. And we may not have electric or cell phone service but we have our homes, good wine, a radio, a gas fireplace.... and each other.
 |
| Cheers! |
TUESDAY AFTERNOON- the aftermath
Alex got bundled and played in the leaves and puddles. Whoever stayed on the block is busy throwing uprooted trees and branches onto the cemetery property therefor avoiding a $500 per house tree cleanup service. It's cold even with the fireplace and oven on. The temperature has dropped 20 degrees; from the 50's to the 30's. Central Jersey is predicted not to have power for the next 7-10days. My parents have Verizon cell service. The neighbors next door have Verizon too and no service. Figure that out. At&t is down so I have no cell phone service or Internet on my iPad. I called Carmel car service at 5am with a weak signal to take us home and they're out of cars for today. Tomorrow me and the kids are booked to have a car service take us home. The boys are napping and again it's day 2 of drinking a pint of wine in front of the fire. Obama is on the radio talking about the nurses who carried the newborns out of NYU hospital yesterday and the firefighters in Queens. Crazy images I'd love to watch on tv, but I am listening to the radio and living like its the 1940's. Obama comes to NJ tomorrow. Will he turn on the electric?? Maybe my cell phone??
 |
| Dad and Alex taking out broken branches |
 |
| Alex is my favorite first responder! |
TUESDAY NIGHT
Alex is officially scared of dark because of Sandy Frankenstorm. I've opened his first hidden toy; the etch-a-sketch. We made homemade play dough earlier when it started raining. We got Peter Luger hamburgers from Brooklyn defrosted in the freezer ready for tonight's dinner with potato chips. The water in Belmar, NJ is still 5-6 feet in the streets and past front doors. GG may have to come to NYC with me and the kids tomorrow. It is so cold. This will be my second night in a row staying awake through the night holding my babies by the fire. #sandy #survival
NOON ON WEDNESDAY Carmel showed up on the dot to get me and the kids out of New Jersey.
THURSDAY Diapers.com overnighted my diapers and formula because now I am freaked out about not having 2+ weeks supply at all times. I ordered a box to donate to my church's collection and put together some clothes to send too. I can not believe that this happened. GG stayed to be closer to her house, she would not get in the cab and come to NYC. She and my parents are freezing and running very low on supplies.
FRIDAY my 31st birthday
SATURDAY my Grandmother thinks at 92 she can get a good paying city job because she is going to invent a furnace that can withstand hurricanes by using submarine technology. My dad, the most unhandy man on the planet, made a makeshift heater by hanging plastic painter's tarp in the entryway's and seal off the living room with the fireplace from the rest of the house. HEAT AT LAST. He also used the rest of his gas to find an open Home Depot and came back with torch lighters to keep use of the stove/ grill and flashlights that take AA Batteries since D batteries are impossible to replace. HOORAY!!!! GENIUS!
SUNDAY My Dad is in crazy pain after coming down with a terrible case of shingles. He's one of the 5% that can get it more than one time and the stress of Sandy brought an outbreak at the worst time. THANK YOU LORD for us not being there or my kids probably would've caught chickpox. Rumor has it power will be out until Wednesday in Central NJ. My husband's going back to work tomorrow. I spent my night snuggling with my babies a little longer and holding them a little tighter as you never know how bad a storm can be until it hits. We are so so so so so so so lucky and will be spending time in Belmar eventually helping to clean and rebuild GG's home and help in the neighborhood in any way we can.
 |
| There's NO place like home and we are lucky to have one. |
 |
| Brothers! |
 |
| I usually make 2 and freeze one before it cooks but this time I made one and donated the other to my neighbor hosting friends from downtown who were evacuated. |
MAMA'S MEATLOAF
5 pounds mixed meat- veal, pork, beef (or go ahead and use turkey if thats your thing)
2 large onions
4 grated garlic cloves
3 eggs
4 pieces lightly moistened bread
1 package onion soup mix
handful chopped parsley
a good squeeze of ketchup
dash hot sauce
splash milk
Preheat oven to 350. Mix together well. Break up the bread into little bity pieces. Mix again. Form two loaf's. Drizzle ketchup over the top (or raw bacon if you want to go there) Bake 1 hour.
 |
| Mama's meatloaf is no joke mmmmmmmm!!! |
