Abney Fridays

I am noticing here at the Abney's that we are accumulating a lot of "traditions" on our Fridays....
The first started awhile back when I began to realize that Kid B (Cole) was going to OBSESS about computers. Now while I like to let my kids "lead" in their interests, this one was/is a LOT and I need an occasional break! So I deemed Fridays "computer free Friday" meaning Cole could NOT talk to me about computers on Fridays... It works, sorta ;-)

Kid A ( Drew) also some how started pimping me for some sort of food option after school on Fridays... Whether it be McDonald's, Rita's or a trip to Ikea for meatballs he ALWAYS asks (and gets) some sort of "special" food thing on Fridays :)... which isn't too bad a tradition because at least I don't have to cook!! Hey look ANOTHER break for ME on Fridays... (silver lining)
We also have dubbed Fridays "lazy Friday"...We usually put our PJ's on early and are complete bums... even the dogs join in :)

 And lately I do a lot of this....

I like this tradition! No pressure, no demands, no obligations... I need it after a long week ;-)
NOW to the latest tradition...Not sure how, when or why it started but it has and doesn't look like it is going anywhere ANY time soon.... "sleep in Mommy's bed Friday!!" which of course follows into "sleep in Mommy's bed Saturday!" ... which then .... oh hell let's call it "sleep in Mommy's bed WEEKEND!" And this is what it looks like..

It aint pretty but you know what?? It's sorta growing on me :) At first I didn't really like the idea. I love having my bed to myself (well sharing it with the dogs and cat..so not really alone) but when you think about it...how long are my boys going to want to sleep with their Mom?? They are growing up sooooo fast sometimes I want to stop time (but don't worry, that feeling doesn't last long!) sooo I am quickly learning to embrace the "Abney Family Bed" tradition and I don't really care what day it falls on .... But come to think of it what day does Christmas Eve fall on because this might mess EVERYTHING up!!
Oh well! Go out there and start some traditions...and enjoy :)

Our new normal... Thanks Sandy ;-)

Hurricane Sandy came knocking on Monday Oct 29, 2012. We were ready. Or so I thought. Spent the day before getting flashlights, batteries, food, did laundry and made sure everything was charged up. I even topped of gas in my car. Now that's prepared!!!

Drew has been having stomach pain on and off for a week before the storm...but Monday he was a mess (of course!! why not?!!). Throwing up and miserable. I put in a call to his doctor thinking she would just say ride it out and come into the office the next day... NOPE.. she was worried. Appendicitis she thought... great :(. And all this at around 4pm....storm getting stronger... Off to the ER we went( sooooo grateful Kelsey was here to help with Cole...THANKS girl!!). We needed blood work. I was worried how Drew would handle it...but that kid surprises me all the time.. Watched them draw blood the ENTIRE time.. (I couldn't do that!!) And only cried when they left the line in.. not happy about that part :(

 BRAVE BRAVE BRAVE!! And thankfully the results were negative for appendicitis...PHEW!! Now we just had to drive home in the height of the hurricane... only 1/2 mile, but it was pure terror. Branches blowing and falling everywhere..power lines had already started to come down.. Something I don't EVER need to experience again. Once was plenty, thank you :)

Back home with a kid who at the very least was not going to have his appendix burst, I was thrilled to sit down to dinner and a glass of wine.... we still had power :)... 

7:19pm that all changed. Lights OUT. Storm picking up. Flashlights on and listening to the radio. Our tree out front came down around 10pm taking down additional lines... this was NOT good, but the kids LOVED the headlamps! 

Candles lit and it was puzzle time...

Now it wasn't too bad the first day or two... School was canceled all week (boys were thrilled!) and so was Halloween (not so thrilled...but we ate all the candy we had!)...2nd year in a row! Our dear friends the Lombardi's tolerated us almost EVERY night for dinner ;-). I truly don't know how we would have made it through without them!! THANKS GUYS!!.. Friends came by with candles, batteries and food..THANKS Grace, Donna, Carly and Amy!!... And thank you to all that checked in on us.... but being in a cold house during part of the day and for the night REALLY wears aways at you..kwim?? The house hit 54 degree and by day 3-4 I was ready to lose it :(..

Certain things became our new "normal... Solar lamps and solar chargers... and although I was grateful we had them...it was getting old.quick.

Cue our lovely neighbors!! Long story but their kid's friends got power back and lent out their generator... We came home one cold night and they were all outside setting it up...and then said.."throw us a plug!"... THANK YOU Corrine, Mike, Bob and Mrs Harney ;-)!!!

 OMG!! It was not a big generator but enough for a lamp, phone charge and an hour or so for the space heater to get the chill out of the air :-)

I can't begin to explain how this ^ "lightened" the mood... literally!! And while things were feeling a tad better at the Abney house things outside were not so good... Gas lines.. no gas... no food.. still no power in a TON of areas..People had to lock up and chain their generators because others were stealing them... people were having the gas 

syphoned from their cars .... fights in the gas lines... ugly stuff :(

 The news from PSE&G never was good...We were scheduled to be back up Nov. 9th!!!!!! Holy CRAP!! Nov. 9th!!! Gas was getting harder to come by for the generator and the thought of going 10-12 days without power was insane!!!

We ended day 6 without power with Drew still feeling yucky and no progress on our tree or power lines... I lay on the aero-bed with both boys, dogs and cat trying to stay warm, Drew was up complaining about his stomach...as I try to settle him back down....all of a sudden... beep... beep (microwave!).... and a few lights flicker on... NO WAY!!! 1:50 am on day 7 we have F*CKING(excuse my language)  power!!! JUMP out of bed and this is what I see... (yay open fridge with it's lights on!)

YES!!! What a HUGE relief...But still so odd because our tree was still down with the power lines across the road... but I'll take it!! The boys woke up and once realized that power was back up, went right back to what they were doing at 7:18pm Oct 29th.... COMPUTERS!! We even had internet!! Life was good!!! And even better when the WONDERFUL Kastrati's came and took my car to get gas!! Now things were really looking up!

The crew from Florida came by to clean us up and reattach the lines...Yay FPL!!...many neighbors were still out..

I just wanted to hug and squeeze them but I would rather have not spent my first night back with power in jail for sexual harassment ;-)...Turns out we had a bad line coming into the house. we were lucky that we had power at all once it came back up... they asked us to shut off the house while they fix it and I have never been happier to oblige....almost 7 days without power, I think I can handle another hour or 2!!!

So now as we SLOWLY get back to normal.. kids back to school...house warm..filling the fridge with food, I look back and feel we have all learned so much from this experience.

1. I have AMAZING friends!!! (but I sorta knew that already!)

2. We all know how to make "stove toast" and sorta like it!

3. I can now get a room from 54 degrees to 61 degrees using pots of hot water.. and I'm damn good at it if I do say so ;-) and 61 degrees feels WAAAAAAY warmer then 54... just sayin'

4. We NEED a generator... It is now officially on my Christmas list along with empty (or full!) gas cans.

5. And I will NEVER(ok maybe not never..) complain again about doing laundry, vacuuming, running the dishwasher, the music and/or tv being too loud and I PROMISE to all my dear friends that know I normally keep my house cold, I will CRANK the heat for you all and even myself and the boys every now and then!!

Peace people... I hope you were and are safe and warm...Now lets get ready for that Nor'easter coming our way!!! On to a NEW normal... :-)