Dear...

Dear,

Spring,
Where are you? Why have you forsaken us?

Breaking Bad,
I miss you. You were my best friend for a while and I will fondly remember our time spent together.

Hillary,
You can't please some of the people all of the time and I respect the fact that you are trying. Making  history isn't easy. The question remains; is it enough?

Food,
Our love/hate continues. Will I ever have the advantage here? I doubt it but recently I have learned a thing or two so look out.

Business,
Why are you so fickle? I guess that's why I am addicted to your ebbs and flows. I'd like a clearer picture on the future. Could you throw me a bone here?

Blogger,
I have been neglecting you a bit. Someday's life gets in the way so it's not always what we agreed to. I will try to be better about us.

Boston,
I am proud of you. You did real good yesterday. Even in the cold, raw and unrelenting rain. You persevered and showed your mental strength. We truly are Boston Strong.

Key West,
You are so beautiful. Thanks for last week.

Buddy,
I love everything about you. You are the world's best dog. Your loyalty, love and presence are some of the most precious things about home. Thanks for being at my feet every day (even when you don't want to) I'm sure you can sense that sometimes I need it more than you do.


With Much Love,

Candy
xoxo

I've Just About Had It....

"Due to social anxiety and inclement weather conditions, outside is closed until further notice."-

Nick.@SocialExtortion

Those Who Fail To Plan, Plan To Fail

Once again as a Nation we are riveted by tragedy 

This time it was Mother Nature and she delivered a most beastly devastation. The tornado in Oklahoma, an EF-5, on a scale to 5, spanned a mile long and wiped out an entire town with catastrophic damage. The Death toll was revised to 24 with 9 of them children.

Our thoughts and prayers are certainly with them. News videos of the complete destruction, and cars twisted and tossed in piles like jigsaw puzzle pieces in the suburban area's remind us that life is so precious and can be fleeting. It seems residents had less than 16 minutes to prepare for the deadly tornado.

What I took from this "nightmare scenario", is that everybody needs a plan. Experts are warning that a global climate change is upon us, and that nobody is safe from violent storms. They predict that Midwest tornados and storms will get stronger and the Northeast will experience more powerful and violent hurricanes. History so far has supported these claims.

So I decided my family, my staff, we all need to have a plan of emergency, one that we can put into action if needed. We are not strangers to extreme weather, especially here on the East Coast and I think it's time to prepare. As climate changes become more severe, we must adapt to the threat of danger and prepare. It's beginning to become cliche, like a TV sitcom episode about an emergency preparedness drill gone awry. But there's nothing funny about any of this.

This isn't an episode of "Happy Days". In fact these aren't Happy Days at all.

Snow Job

We survived!

The Blizzard of 2013 was not a bust like I thought it was going to be. It was exactly the power packed punch that the media meteorological gods predicted that dumped over 2.5 feet of snow around here. 

The thing is, this ain't our first time at the "historic" storm rodeo.  We are hearty New Englanders  and when it was all over we came out to inspect the impact. Suburban inlanders, like me, handled the snow fall quite well, considering we never lost power in this part of the state. We rode out the storm in the lots of  food, TV, movies and warm comfort of our homes. WE were lucky. 

Our coastal counterparts were not so lucky. Out of power since Friday, flooding and severe winds caused expensive damage to most coastal areas. There were tragedies. Like the dangers of carbon monoxide that tragically took three lives, including that of a 14 year old boy. Just tragic.

So today, we go back to business as usual, but it's nothing usual at all. The freezing rain that is falling right now reminds us of the dangers of two feet of snow topped off with freezing rain that turns to ice. Especially on our roof tops. As I said, we are used to this and I have to say the state handled this storm beautifully. The Friday afternoon driving ban made things much easier for travel when it was lifted by 4PM Saturday and the media and the Commonwealth kept us updated as the storm progressed. 

As for me? It's off to work now. See that snow bank above? 

I gotta go shovel it. 

Up And Running.....

No more than 30 minutes ago, I joined the real world again. My power was finally restored and I'm grateful that we survived with barely a scratch. My town was very hard hit with wind, leaving in it's wake power outages and lots of downed trees all over the place, but now that the power is restored I feel anew. I can hardly complain. After three days of no power, I was finally able to put a TV back on and see what happened around me.

Look at New York City and New Jersey. Oh my.

NYU was clobbered and almost all of the dormitories were evacuated due to power outages and flooding. The school will remain closed until Saturday and classes will resume on Monday. Frick is fine, thank God. She and her roommates took the train on Sunday to New Jersey, hours before the rails were closed for the storm (inland not the Shore) to stay at one of the roommate's home. The family has 2 generators, and while they lost power and are still powerless, Frick reports to having generator power and having a ball. They are being treated like Queens and last night she text me, "Porkchops on the grill and macaroni and cheese! Can't get much better than this." I am eternally grateful to that family for watching over my baby girl during the Hurricane.

Frack is pumped...
Day three and no school and I'm thinking that he is liking this. The downside is that Frack's super excellent Golf team was scheduled to play in the State Championships on Monday, but that has been postponed until next Monday, which gives him a few more days to get prepared. GO WILDCATS!

My store never lost power, My Guy's office never lost power and all is well here in the aftermath. Driving to work, I see more and more fences, trees and power lines down, and I'm grateful that my home survived quite well. I'm thinking we are on the road to normal. That new normal I told you about.

Sandy's Not So Dandy

It seems I can remember a time when I thought living on the East Coast was truly a weather blessing. Sure, we get belted with snow in the long and hard winters on the East Coast, but if you live here, that's what you sign up for. We also get glorious, sweltering summers, like the one I am looking at in the rearview mirror right about now. I also remember, years ago listening to National news reports about frequent earthquakes on the West Coast and severe storms, twisters and flooding in the Midwestern parts of the country. I used to think that stuff only happened to other people. The ones out there. Not us here in the East.

But over the past couple of years our luck has run out. It's like payback for all that good weather karma, and we really are making up for lost time, fast. In the past two years alone, our region has been hit with devastating, severe storms, tornadoes (virtually unheard of in these parts) and ice storms more frequently than  previous history will tell. I, myself, have been affected by long lasting power outages at least three times to date. Last week we even had a "4.5  on the Richter Scale" earthquake.

So it should be of no surprise to me that yesterday, it seemed like there were millions of "Chicken Little's" running around the area, cleaning out the Home Depots of batteries and water in preparation for today's Tropical Storm Sandy. I was one of them. Gone is the warm and cozy feeling of hunkering down for a day off with family watching the storm. The fun has been replaced with worry and aggravation over the prospect of long lasting storm effects and the costly damage to homes. And I'd rather not even think about people's safety. It's not so fun anymore.

Preparing for severe weather has become a competitive sport around here and some become the envy of the neighborhood with their storm prowess. Personally, I'd rather be popular in the neighborhood for my grilling prowess, but who's complaining? This has become our "new normal" and I've got to ride it out and say my prayers. Sandy, please spare us all your wrath. These frequent Tropical Storms are messing with our lives and our livelihoods. Last year Halloween was CANCELLED, and if this continues as it's supposed to, this year is not looking promising either. Have you ever? Rescheduling Halloween?

This "new normal" just isn't normal at all. I pray that everyone rides out Sandy's wrath in safety. May the "force" of storm preparedness be with us and not the force of the storm. Please, not the force of the storm.

I'm Powerless

I woke up Sunday morning thinking this whole storm was a bust.

I didn't see any serious weather outside my window, really.

Anything that looked treacherous. "What a bust!" I announced and sort of chuckled at myself and the weathermen who were documenting every second of Hurricane Irene.

That was three days ago and I should have known better because I have been without power for three days since.

I have to be grateful, really. No one is hurt. Everyone is ok, we have food and we have money to buy food and each other to keep company. Half of the town I live in has power and half does not. My little store has power and Internet today and I'm back to work.

BUT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, WILL SOMEONE PLEASE PUT THE POWER BACK ON SOON BEFORE I LOOSE MY FRICKEN MIND.

I've never experienced this for this long before. If you'll indulge my selfish whims for a moment:

Things I'm freaking out over:

• No TV. You know I'm having withdrawal. Three days and counting.


• Cold showers. Are you kidding me? No, just no.


• No Air Conditioning. No Internet. And did I mention NO TV?


• It's fine during the day, but when the lights go out all bets are off. Candlelight begins to become less romantic.


• We have a generator, but it's keeping some food cold in the garage refrigerator and our sump pump working in the basement. We plugged in phone chargers and a lamp but nothing major. I'm actually JEALOUS of my friends who have power.


• I feel completely discombobulated and disconnected from my life. You begin to question how dependent we are on the modern conveniences of electricity. If this is a test I FAILED.

I'm off tonite to a hotel. Screw this.

Last I heard, power will be restored by Saturday.

Just A Few Things

• I missed Glee last night, so no recap today but I heard it was a tear jerker.






• It has been raining for at LEAST 6 days straight. I'm beginning to think that this is our destiny; these cold, misty days. I heard on the radio this morning that the watermelons are exploding on the vine in these here parts of the country. Does that paint a good picture?






• Arnold fathered an out of wedlock child. Well color me an idiot! I was still rooting for them to work it out.






• My Guy is away for a few days and it has been a Real Housewives MARATHON around here. I watched the Real Housewives of New Jersey on Monday night. What is wrong with those people? The question is what is wrong with me for watching it? But I can't stop and I watched them all, Orange County, New York and Jersey. I have issues.






• Great Boston Bruins playoff game last night. I'm beginning to think we may be able to pull this one off.






• Frick is getting her driver's license tomorrow.(we hope) Another fabulous milestone that confirms the fact that I am OLD.






• The Prom is Saturday and it will be a crazy weekend with the kids asking to stay out all night at the house that is known for letting the kids drink alcohol. So what do I do? If I think about it, I know I can't prevent the inevitable under age drinking that is going to take place, but do I need to put her in a situation where it is encouraged? And an overnighter? "But everyone else is staying overnight." Famous last words: "I don't care about everyone else."






• This weather is cutting into my business. Happy people spend more money. The omni-present rain does not make people happy.






• I ate half of a sugar-laden cupcake last night and this morning I feel like sh*t. Sugar is overrated.

The New North Pole

Yeah, not much else going on here except for another 16" of snow over the next two days.
This expresses my sentiments exactly.

Even the kids are praying for NO MORE snow days, if you can believe that. We have had so many this month, that they are considering getting rid of April vacation. Are you kidding me???

I heard Santa just bought a new place down the road. Says he thinks this is the place to be....the new North Pole.

Can't say that I blame him.