Updated Diary of a Refugee 2012

We're home! Our place had no power for a total of 7 days, luckily we were able to spend 5 of those at Ash's place.

Day 1: Monday, October 29th
In Long Island, Superstorm Sandy produced up to 75 mile-per-hour gusts. At our place, we lost power around 2 p.m. on Monday, and for some reason it clicked back on around 5:30 p.m. I cleaned the entire apartment after the power went out. We cleverly ordered pizza for dinner before our neighborhood lost power. We were in high spirits and James entertained us at night by singing and dancing.

Day 2: Tuesday, October 30th

Getting up with James at 5 a.m. on Tuesday morning in the dark was not fun. I started getting bored and antsy so we took a walk around the neighborhood. Kevin stood in a long line for some Dunkin Donuts coffee. That evening I started getting cold and we knew the temperature was dropping. We had cold spaghetti for dinner because our stove is electric not gas. There was less dancing Tuesday night and more huddling for warmth. I wrote more about Monday and Tuesday here.

Blackout dinner: Cold spaghetti by dinner

Day 3: Wednesday, October 31st
Wednesday afternoon we drove up to Ash's house. We heard news of the devastation in the area for the first time. We saw crazy mile-long lines for gas in New Jersey. It was Halloween so we dressed up James and let him run around. Ash's parents are also staying with her because they lost power. Ash made us an awesome hot meal for dinner.

Those are not tiger feet!

Day 4: Thursday, November 1st
Ash didn't have to go to work today, but because she had 5 noisy people staying with her she wasn't able to sleep Wednesday night, and spent some time making up for that on Thursday. I got up with James at 5 a.m. and we did our thing, and Kevin got up a little later and went hiking in Sterling Forest. When he got back, Kevin, James, and I walked around the main street, but most places didn't have power so we came back without actually going inside anywhere.

In Ash's backyard

Day 5: Friday, November 2nd
Ash's birthday! Sadly, she had to go to work so we missed her for most of the day. We tried going to the main street again, but places still didn't have power so we went to the grocery store and picked up some supplies and birthday goodies. I wrote more about Ash's birthday here.

Chilling with Ash on her birthday

Day 6: Saturday, November 3rd
Kevin tried to get gas, and despite waiting in two lines, he wasn't able to get any. Now we were worried that even if we got power back, we'd have no gas to actually get back. I didn't worry for too long though because Ash and I had plans to go to a spa and get sushi. Yay!

The Clous squeezed into the guest bathroom (Ash thought it was funny)

Day 7: Sunday, November 4th
This morning was  the end of daylight savings.  You know what's worse than the end of daylight savings with a toddler who will want to get up an hour earlier according to the clock? The end of daylight savings when you're a staying with a friend because you lost power in a storm. True story.

James coping with the end of Daylight Savings time

Kevin successfully got gas in the morning, so he relaxed by going hiking in Sterling Forest again. We walked to Main Street again and this time some of the places were finally open. We got a call from our neighbor that power came back, but we decided to stay through the day to spend more time with Ash. Kevin, Ash, James, and I went to Pennington Farm.

Ash trying to train James to be a stair gargoyle

Days 8-9: Monday, November 5th- Tuesday, November 6th
And on Monday we were back in our place with power, heat, cable, and internet! Hurray!

No one is happier than Harley. James chased him every day yelling, "Cat! Cat!"

Tuesday was a normal day with no natural disasters.

Days 10-11: Wednesday, November 7th- Thursday, November 8th

Except, then the Nor'easter hit us on Wednesday, and we lost power and heat in the middle of the night. It was cold in our apartment without heat, so Thursday afternoon James and I went to stay with my mom. Of course, the power came back as soon as we got to my mom's. 

At Nana's on Friday

Days 12-13: Friday, November 9th- Saturday, November 10th

Kevin came to get us on Friday and I was home for a few hours before I left for Girls' Weekend on Saturday morning.

In 13 days, I was able to be at home with power all day for 3 or 4 of those days (depending on whether you count last Friday or not since I could have been home but wasn't).