So in case you've been under a rock, the East Coast of the United States was threatened by Hurricane Irene this weekend. The weather people (whose salaries apparently are a direct correlation of how wrong they are about the weather) estimated that the storm would strike the Northeast anywhere from a Category 5 hurricane to a tropical storm.
I live in a small, rural town, and for the past week, old timers sat on the porches of the general store, sipping their moonshine lemonade from mason jars, strumming their banjos, reminiscing about the other great storms of the last century. (Alright, it was more like standing around the gas station Dunkin Donuts, sipping coffee next to their pickup trucks...we have hit the 21st century).
By the time Irene finally made her second landing near Coney Island, New York she had been downgraded to a tropical storm with 65 mph winds.
As for me, I bunkered in my apartment with Spooky early Saturday night armed with batteries, flashlights, and food that wouldn't go bad. I figured that this was the time for me to relax and do all those things that I say I never have time to do.
* Iron my work clothes (which I almost NEVER do)
* Watch the Bare Escentuals how-to DVD
* give myself a manicure and pedicure
* Finish rereading The Outsiders, which was my students' summer reading, and creating PowerPoints and study guides on it
* Catch up on The Millionaire Matchmaker, which I've been watching for both entertainment and educational purposes. Sometimes I feel like I should be taking notes. "The penis does the picking. He's not getting up off the couch for you!" And I've adopted her two cardnial rules ("No sex before monogamy! Two drink maximum!) as my own.
* Make chocolate caramel apples, which I had for the first time from Gertrude Hawk Chocolatiers. They are Ah-mazing! and I made one for each of my work friends to celebrate the start of the school year. Here's the recipe.
* Scrub the tile floors of the kitchen and both bathrooms on my hands and knees with a wire brush.
* Started tracking my points for Weight Watchers again. So far, I've been doing okay. My biggest struggles are ensuring that I figure out how many Points the things that I eat are BEFORE I eat them. I went to Dunkin Donuts yesterday and had a pumpkin muffin. I went to track it and discovered that the muffin had 600 calories. SIX-HUNDRED! OMFG! The storm was over Sunday night, and, miraculously we didn't lose power/Internet. Unfortuantely, I'm one of the few lucky ones. Trees are down on powerlines all over my area, and driving around is pretty terrifying because there are trees/branches hanging over the roads. the first day of school has been delayed indefinitely because the school itself doesn't have power and it's too dangerous for the school busses to be travelling alot of the back country roads.
What did you do while waiting for Hurricane Irene to arrive?
