So I'm trying to move past the disappointment from our busted vacation. The preparation alone was exhausting...the waxing, the dieting, the bikini fittings, the tanning - it was all for nothing. And that was just Ed! Just kidding... but I did buy a new bathing suit and, man, was that a torturous process.
Now we are home and preparing for Hurricane Irene. Grateful that we never left for ANY destination by air...and grateful that we are all home together. Last night our preparations were in full force. I have to say, I'm feeling pretty proud - being a Girl Scout drop out and all.
Here's what we did.
We pulled the food from our upstairs freezers (we have two!) and packed everything into our basement freezer. I discovered online that packing a freezer full helps keep everything colder. Some people stuff newspaper, sleeping bags, bags of frozen water into the empty spaces. At this point - we have no empty spaces.
If we lose power - that freezer will remain closed the entire time. In the upstairs freezer I have all sizes of tupperware containers filled with water. It will take longer for frozen blocks of ice to melt - better than the little ice packs we generally use in our coolers.
Thanks to a neighbor's great suggestion, we bought a camping stove that we'll fuel by propane to heat up Gavin's food. Gavin is my greatest concern. I have extra Pediasure on hand if things get bad. I hope we won't have to use that camping stove - we are definitely not the outdoorsy type and wouldn't have much of a clue!! Ed and our friend, Drew, also pulled out gas grill into the garage so we can use that to cook during the storm.
It's only raining here now. The boys have had baths. The wash is done. We have more than enough batteries and flameless candles and flashlights and Oreos and Skittles and Diet Coke because, as always, we have our priorities straight. Did you expect less? For once I'm grateful for Ed's hoarding tendencies (which we joke about) - we could seriously live out of our pantry for three months. Love you, honey!
I just have one thing to say - if the earthquake a few days ago and this impending hurricane really do mean the end of the world I will not be happy. Can you imagine the dreadful lines waiting to get into Heaven - the whole world arriving at once except for some choice people? I hate waiting on line.
Oh, and if by chance the loss of internet, TV, and power helps us conceive this third child we've been waiting for - Irene is not on our list of names.
Stay safe, everyone! If you have updates from your town or other helpful tips for preparing for hurricanes, please send them this way!
I am going to share a tip that I just heard from my sister. I think it's a pretty good idea, although I'm not nearly as prepared for disaster as Kate and probably won't do it. Fill a bathtub with water so that in the event of a water outage you can use the saved water to flush toilets. I guess you could also use the water for cooking, and if your bathtub were cleaner than mine you could even use it to drink. - Elayne
ReplyDeleteI have heard the bath tub thing as well. You could use the water for any baths that may be needed, then save the water to flush toilets with. I would just use a wash rag to rinse off with so you don't "use" all the water at once. Also, fill as many containers as you can with drinking water. And buy any bottled water you can find. I believe they recommend keeping at least a weeks supply of water, 1 gallon per person per day. For a family of 4, that's 28 gallons. Make sure you have plenty of gas for the grill, and camping stove. I have heard power could be out for quite some time. And even if you don't lose water, you may want to boil the water just in case.
ReplyDeleteHi
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