Irene & Me: A love/hate story

Well, hi! I've missed you, blog friends! Irene kicked our (electrical) butts which meant no lights and internet for a good 4 days. Then, since our basement-level abode was dark as a dungeon and I didn't have Dora the Explorer to help me occupy Andrew, it looked like the INSIDE of our place was hit by a hurricane too. All of this goes to explain my blog silence -- not that my feeling the need to nap every day didn't hurt as well.

The worst part about not having internet, though, was that I wasn't able to thank wonderful author Susan McCorkindale (see previous post about 500 Acres and No Place to Hide) for her generous offer of a signed bookplate to the winner of her book giveaway. A huge thank you to Susan for not only being hilarious and awesome (read her books!), but very kind.

But while not having electricity/internet was a pain in the butt because of the above and we lost basically all of our refrigerated food, there were some wonderful things that came out of Irene's wrath. First, we spent a lot more time playing outside than usual and we made like pioneers at night and went to sleep with the sun at 8 (sooo refreshing!) Andrew slept in bed with us each night and it was so nice to have family cuddle time. And we actually got a lot of good use out of the Twilight Turtle we just bought (right). Going to bed with stars and the moon projected on the ceiling was so peaceful and the turtle was a lifesaver when I needed to see Andrew in the pitch-black.

That said, after the earthquake and hurricane in one week, I'm wishing for a milder fall and winter. Let's cross our fingers. Until next time!