Ice-iversary

Over the past week and a half there have been so many times that I have thought of a good blog post, but they never made it onto the computer. Like the day I felt like the only thing I ate was the bits and pieces of the kids food. Crusts of toast for breakfast. Crusts of ham and cheese for lunch. Leftover cold french fries and congealed mac and cheese for dinner. Then I almost posted about Abbey getting her five year immunizations. 4 shots, lots of crying and screaming resulting in a 102 degree temp and a day home from school the next day. Then I was going to blog about our Tumpka Timpka elf on a shelf and how already she has "forgotten" to leave our house and come back to a new spot the next day. This was subsequently blamed on the fact that Jack got a little bit too close to her the day before, and a bit of her magic disappeared for about 24 hours. So many times I have sat down at the computer and then been called away to do other things. Christmas things, party things, kid things, house things. Things. We even passed over the 1 year anniversary of the Ice Storm of 2008 without me blogging about it. The anniversary was actually last Thursday night into Friday morning since the storm itself raged through the night. In case you are new to my blog, or maybe you forgot and would love to relive it with me, you can read about our adventures in ice here and also here and here a see some lovely pictures here and also some more here. This Saturday the 19th is the actual anniversary of when the pipes burst rendering us homeless and rootless for a while until we moved into the comfort of that oh so lovely trailer in the yard. Oh brown paneled trailer of fun, how I do NOT miss you. Well hasn't this been a wonderful trip down memory lane! At least I can say that all of that madness from last year did result in new floors, new walls, new cabinets, some new furniture, and a new found appreciation for our HOME. All these many months later, it is still GOOD TO BE HOME!

Home

On December 12th I threw some clothes and belongings for the four of us into random bags, not quite sure where we were going, or how long we would be gone. It was a strange packing experience. We had to go to my company Christmas party that night, so I had to find Dennis a tie, a dress shirt, his jacket. I remember shivering in the cold bedroom, looking for something that I could wear that fit me and would work for a party. In the end I didn't even care, but grabbed whatever and turned my attention to packing stuff for the kids. The house had that odd quiet quality it gets when there is no electric current running through it. Its true that even when you have everything turned off at your house, you can still "hear" the electricity. All you could hear outside was the buzzing sound of chainsaws, my husbands included, as he tried to clear us a path out of the driveway so that we could make our escape. It was surreal driving out of our driveway, in the minivan with the dented hood and the cracked windshield, all of the trees bent and broken, everything in our world covered in ice. I remember I kept saying to Jack and Abbey, "look around you, look at that, look at this. You've never seen anything like this." It was amazing, and I knew they may never (lets hope) see a storm like that again in their lifetimes.

I never could have imagined on that freezing cold Friday back in December that it would be 3 months before I slept in my bed. That we would sleep at my cousins house, my great-aunts, and spend 3 weeks at my parents, sleeping on blow-up beds and couches, displacing everyone there. I never imagined that we would actually have to live in a big trailer in the yard. But we did. We were gone for 3 months and 3 days to be exact. 3 months and 3 days before I would give my kids a bath in our tub. 3 months and 3 days before I would do laundry in my own house. 3 months and 3 days before I would run my dishwasher, cook a meal in my oven, grab some water from the door of the fridge. 3 months and 3 days before I would plop down on the couch after tucking the kids into bed in their snug rooms. 3 months and 3 days before we would be . . . Home. I never could have foreseen the damage that the Ice Storm was going to bestow on us, on so many people. Even though our house is at last fixed and put back together (better than before I might add), the yard is still a mess. Trees, branches, our broken dead animatronic Christmas deer still under a bit of snow and trees. There will be cleanup for weeks and weeks. The trees may never look the same, every time you look up you are reminded of that December day of last year when mother nature kicked our asses.

But it's all over now. We are home. Home. I tell ya, it is a mighty nice place to be.

How Now Brown Cow

Did you know that I live in a trailer? I'm sure you did, but did you know that these particular brand of FEMA inspired mobile homes are brown, like, everywhere. Brown paneled walls, light brown carpet, brown/white linoleum. And this isn't a nice cocoa deep chocolaty velvety brown, it's poop brown. Oh well, at least it is warm and dry and we each have our own bed (when they STAY in their own beds which is about 1/2 of the time). At home I have a queen sized bed, but now I am sleeping in a double and then the dog jumps up and then a child (usually the big one) climbs in and before you know it I am hanging off the edge and heading to the couch that I have covered with a sheet (because you know, it's not my couch so ewww). But our real house is moving along splendidly and now contains all of its required walls and ceilings. We even have electricity back to 100% of the house, along with 100% working heat. If only the damn insurance company would send that check things could really move along and I may come back from St. Thomas next week to see vast changes. At this rate everything will be in a holding pattern while I am gone and I will come home to the house in the same state it was in when I left.

The kids seem excited about living in the trailer in the yard, and to my amazement never seem to have the urge to go inside the house, even though it is a mere yards away. I guess they don't see the point. There is nothing in there they need, since I have spent hours ferrying countless items, from markers to action figures, to Baby Alive's pack of diapers which was wedged under a piece of furniture in Jack's room, out of the unorganized chaos for them. It seems as if every day there is something else I realize we must have from inside to survive, such as lamps and nice smelling candles. At this rate we may require a moving company when we are able to take up residence in what we call the "main" house. Jack and Abbey seemed at first to think it was a great adventure, a vacation of a sort. Then school started, bedtimes became enforced and it quickly just turned into the "place where we now live". There is a time-out spot there, baths to be taken, veggies to be eaten. Even though I could knock on the paneled wall from the couch and hit Jack in the head he still insists I sit in the hall like at home and read a book while they drift into la la land. I should just refuse, but I haven't had the energy. Unfortunately I think they know that I am pretty much willing to do anything by 8:30 pm to get them to sleep so I can lay on the sheet-covered couch and just veg, cuz you know somethin', trailer livin' is exhaustin'.

Just Keep Swimming

Hello out there in blogger land, sorry for the short posts lately. I can't believe Christmas is only 2 days away! With all that has been going on with the storm and the pipes bursting it just hasn't seemed very Christmasy. So many holiday parties and events were cancelled around here, and there has been so much displacement and uncertainty, but alas Christmas does arrive and no matter where you live and what you are doing it is important to remember the true meaning of CHRISTmas, enjoy your families and have some fun. And so we will. We may be homeless temporarily, but we have our family and each other and so we really have everything we need. I have been extra busy, Dennis is still working 12 hour days and since he has been sleeping at home in the basement while I stay at my parents with the kids we have barely seen him. I really am a single mother now! My parents have been so much help to us, more than you can imagine. We are so thankful and grateful for them, I am sure I couldn't do it without them. ALL of our friends and family have offered to help, and been so kind. It's overwhelming to realize how many friends you have when something like this happens, it brings a little tear to my eye, and everyone knows I never cry (except when water is pouring out from my ceilings!)

But life goes on, I still have to work, and meet with insurance adjustor's, and cleaning crews, and contractors. I feel like I am rushing all around, while still trying to find time for the kids and keep their lives as "normal" as possible. They are doing great though, and have been so good through all of this turmoil. Kids are resilient, although after this experience I think there will be an entire generation of children who will have anxiety every time the power at their house goes off! At dinner the other night Abbey gave a blessing. She said she was thankful for her family, for life and lights, and her friends. Oh, and food of course. I think that pretty much says it all.

So, we are doing fine. I am tired, I miss my husband, but I just keep thinking like Dory.

Yada Yada Yada

So, our power was finally restored after 8 days of cold and dark. I was so excited, I called home and my answering machine picked up and it was the most beautiful sound in the world. I rushed to the grocery store to stock up (because my fridge was emptied) and rushed home ~ home! Joy! I opened the kitchen door and. . . yada yada yada . . . pipes burst, house flooded, back to my parents house.

Home

I never realized how much I love my house. I never thought I would long to be home doing laundry of all things, or vacuuming, or cleaning the toilet. The dishwasher has now been full of dirty dishes for 7 days. I had an actual load of laundry running 7 days ago that is still sitting there half filled up with water. 7 days ago we had all kinds of plans for the upcoming week. A romantic night with my husband at a hotel, a great party with all of my college friends and their families, a field trip with the cub scouts, Jack's first grade conference, Abbey's holiday concert . . . . instead I have spent the week shuttling our luggage from place to place, relative to relative, sleeping on couches, floors, strange beds. The children have had NO semblance of any kind of schedule, bedtime, or vegetable in 7 days. They are cranky and fresh and acting up, and I am quickly losing my patience. I know I shouldn't complain. There are thousands of families in the exact same situation, and unless my house is the absolute last house to be re-connected, I can't bitch. There is always someone worse off. I hear my sister-in-law with 8 kids is staying with her sister in New Hampshire. A sister who also has many kids. I heard the youngest 2 have chicken pox. I'm not sure if this is true, and since Amy is a dedicated reader perhaps she will be able to read this and set the record straight. Good Lord Amy, is this true? Are you really still without power as well, not in your own home and now chicken pox has been added to the mix? I pray this is just an ugly rumor making its way through my family and is not based in facts.

So we are now staying at my parents house who have a generator. I heard from my father a little while ago, they have power! I guess the generator can now come to our house, but the question of whether this will give us actual heat is still up in the air. I don't know about generators, electrical wires, grids or the such. I don't care about generators, electrical wire, grids or the such. I want to flip my switch, turn on the lights on my tree, watch t.v. and I don't want to think about where it comes from. Good grief, I even miss going on my treadmill! I must be delirious.

We Survived The Ice!

Well, we are still alive. We survived the horrendous ice storm of the century in one piece, although the same can't be said for our cars. Yes, my precious new mini-van, dented. But not totalled, everything can be fixed. Unfortunately we have been out of power (so no heat, no running water, no flushing toilet) since 9:45 pm Thursday night. I am hearing various reports of when we will be up and running, everything from 2 days to 2 weeks. I am praying hard for the 2 days. I actually wrote a post on my laptop this weekend, but of course it is still trapped there in my laptop so I will post it as soon as I can. Just know that we are warm with relatives, carting our possessions around in our dented van, and wishing we were home in our own beds. Dennis is working 12+ hour days and sleeping at home in the basement with the dog and an old coal stove. I'll post again soon, hopefully from the comfort of home. And wait until you see the pictures!