my hurricane hero.

so. that was some crazy weather huh?

we are all ok here. our power stayed on, our basement stayed dry, and our trees stayed firmly planted in the ground. (well, there is that one that is now bent somewhat menacingly over the neighbors driveway...) the roads in our neighborhood are covered in leaves and twigs and pinecones, which is very much preferable to them being covered in water. we are extremely lucky and feel so so so blessed to have come out the other side of this storm with such a boring account of it.

the only little bit of Sandy-related excitement around here (which is still so so minor comparatively) happened last night when we noticed that something wasnt quite right with one of our basement windows.

we figured that its generally not ideal to have several inches of water accumulating in your window wells, so Mark decided to brave the storm outside to remedy the situation.

i, of course, remained inside the warm, dry house while Mark and his bucket bailed the water out of the window and checked on the state of all of the outside things like trees and shingles and whatnot.

Mark's only real comment about his up close and personal experience with Sandy was that it was really cold and wet out there. i'm just really glad i wasnt the one who had to do that. he was quickly recuperated from his misery with a hot shower, a glass of wine, and a good book.

my husband: a homeowner, my hero, and hurricane-wrastler extraordinaire.

**UPDATE**
my coworker snapped this picture of our regular route to work this morning, just to give you all a little bit of perspective as to what all we were so blessed to be missing out on through this storm:

lessons learned: drywall.

so as i mentioned last week, i spent my (gorgeous, sunny, HOT) weekend in the basement attempting to tackle the mountain-o-junk, our disorganized office area, and its less-than-functional closet. i made progress on all of those things, but none of them are quite done yet. because in order to truly finish any one of those projects, we had to take care of the elephant in the room: the moldy corner.

this corner of our basement got wet last fall during the hurricane. it was the only part of our basement that got wet, and we were happy to ignore it for a while. but this past weekend, i decided that it was high time we got around to fixing that, since it needed to be done if we wanted to paint the office. the hubs helped me with the icky demo parts on Friday night, but since he already had plans to be super busy all day Saturday working in the master bathroom, the rebuilding part of this project was going to be all me.

 this is what i learned from my first solo foray into drywall.

1. defective downspouts are never a good idea. this is especially true during a hurricane.

2. water in the basement + drywall = wet moldy mess.

3. bleach water will kill mold. it will also discolor your carpet. beware of drips.

4. dehumidifiers are da bomb-diggity. extra bonus points if they came with your house for free and have saved your basement multiple times in the past few weeks.

5. cutting drywall down to size is empowering and awesome. dont be embarrased to jump up and down and squeal with delight after you make your first cut.

6. don't get too cocky about your beautiful drywall installation. chances are, you forget to replace the insulation first and now you have to take it all back apart and start over.

7. always cut insulation from the kraft paper side. its easier and much less itchy. (and when your husband tells you this, just pretend that you knew that all along... you just like a challenge.)

8. you can push as hard as you want, but that screw is not going anywhere if your drill is set in reverse.

9a. your husband may tell you that taping and spackle-ing is simple and easy and that you'll have no problem with it...

9b. your husband is a liar. as soon as you proudly show him your handiwork, he will tear it all apart and tell you to try again tomorrow. to his credit, he will also apologize, which actually does help a little considering he just smashed all your drywalling hopes and dreams against the rocky shores of reality.

 10. if at first you don't succeed... just get your husband to do it.

still on my office/basement to-do list:
- finish spackling/sanding the corner.
- paint.
- install baseboard?
- get a new desk.
- move the futon into the office.
- put some boxes in the attic.
- figure out what to do with the zillion CDs we own.

hurricane weekend.

I Really Meant To...
stock up on bottled water and non-perishable food.
But Instead I...
stayed FAR away from the grocery store. did not feel like getting trampled!

I Really Meant To...
stay home and hunker down through the storm.
But Instead I...
drove to a friend's house to watch the UFC fight. and then drove home again after.

I Really Meant To...
find the flashlights and make sure they had batteries before the storm.
But Instead I...
searched for a flashlight for 20 minutes the day AFTER the storm. (for something non-hurricane related. we were fortunate to have power through pretty much all of the storm.)

I Really Meant To...
clean up all the leaves and twigs that fell in our yard.
But Instead I...
played catch with the hubs in our yard.

I Really Meant To...
make dinner and have a quiet night in.
But Instead I...
went out to eat and to the movies. (Our Idiot Brother = pretty good for a laugh. not recommended for young kids.)

probably not some of my best and/or brightest ideas ever, but i dont really regret any of them. we had a good stormy weekend, and we were extremely blessed and fortunate that the only thing we lost was our cable. (although according to my brother, that might qualify as a major loss)

my thoughts and prayers are with those who are still without power, those who sustained major damages, and with the families of those who lost loved ones to Hurricane Irene.