Just for Laughs...The Alpaca Song

It's been a while since watching this. Makes me laugh every time. Enjoy!

After the Storm

Lately I have found myself saying, "Before the hurricane" or "After the hurricane"

It was such a big event around here. It's weird to think about it.

Life has changed. Slowly it's all getting back to normal.

The school buses that were used to block the major intersections were cleared yesterday.

Most of my town got their power back this weekend.

Schools are scheduled to open tomorrow after 2 weeks of being closed.

My sister, Andee, got her power yesterday.

My dad's shop got power on Saturday.

My husband's school also got power on Saturday.

Still hoping that Tara gets hers back soon and she can come home.

All in all, we did fair very well.

Our town is a few miles from the beach so we didn't have the water damage that the beaches had.

We had wind. LOTS of it. But overall, we're all fine.

I took a ride down to Sea Girt beach yesterday. It's one of the only beaches that you can get on right now without being a resident. The houses looked great. They lost the boardwalk and the sand was piled up very high. Kids brought the metal detector hoping to find some long lost treasures.

Not much luck, but we did find lots of shells and SEA GLASS!!!! It's been a long time since we came across sea glass on the beach. Recycling is great and all....but it totally ruined the fun of finding sea glass.

Then we were headed to watch the Manasquan football game. I drove through the blocks close to the beach. It wasn't the beach front, but as close as we were allowed to go.

I had seen pictures in the newspaper and online, but nothing prepares you for it when you see it first hand. It was so sad. I cried. How can you not? Although, I cry at everything.

Garrett was in the back seat and just kept telling me to drive away because he was going to have nightmares. This was a nightmare for so many. Street after street looks like this.

 

The towns are strong and things will be ok. It's just going to be a long haul for many.

Looking forward to the kids getting  back to school and on a normal schedule.

I hope all of you are safe and warm this Sunday morning!

-Leanne

Power

I have read recently that it is the electricity that is out, not the power. 

The power to help people has been abundant lately. The power of the Jersey Shore is strong.

But we are wounded. And if you had seen me these past few days, you would question how strong I was. I started to fall apart. I am thankful I have my home. We could have lost it when the giant old tree fell. We live a few miles in from the ocean so we did not have water damage. Hundreds and thousands of people here have lost everything.

My parents taught us girls never to complain. And so I try not to.

It's not always easy. But I keep pushing through. But when you can not provide heat, food, a warm bath and a light to read by for your kids, it's hard. When it SNOWS after a horrific hurricane reshaped your landscape, it pushes you to a new place.

Friends and family have opened their homes to us these past 10 days.

We have had fun spending time with everyone. But not being warm in your own home is rough.

The boys and I heard that our church was looking for volunteers.

So we headed over there. It was just nice to feel productive.

It is a help center full of donations for people that lost everything.

 

 They have also been serving meals every day to people that need it. Feeling a bit like a charity case myself, we enjoyed a nice hot bowl of home made soup. We then put some labels on blanket kits that had been made up.

We were only able to help for a little bit because Chase had other plans (like screaming and running up and down the pews)!!! But we did something and it felt good.

My grandmother loved that church and I thought of her the whole time we were working.

There was a big white box full of supplies sitting in "her" seat.

She would be happy to see all the kids there helping out.

We left the church and started to drive home.

And then.....I got a call.

Electric Company trucks from Alabama were on our road!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And they promised to stay until our power was on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And then...........we had electricity. ahhhhhh

I felt like a new person.

Maybe MomMom was watching us :)

Unfortunately, my sister Andee is still without power. She has a woodstove, hot water and tv, but I hope for her and her family the power is back on soon. But we've heard that the sub station was flooded with salt water during the storm and has to be rebuilt. 

My husband's high school is also still without power. He is the principal and so you can imagine this causes a lot of rescheduling, problem solving and worry.

My parent's family business is also without power.

This storm has had a terrible impact on work and we are all hoping that things will be ok.

People are out of work, no paychecks in sight. Awful.

So right now, my home is warm. My kids are happy. I am happy.

But so many people are still cold, hungry and at a loss.

It's truly unbelievable to take in the impact of what has gone on around us.

It's so wide spread and I realize that so many are much much worse than we are.

I keep telling myself to be thankful. I am.

Thank you to all of those around us that have opened their homes to my family, offered hot showers, provided coffee every morning (THANK YOU MOM AND DAD!!!!!!!!!!), raised a glass of wine in cheers (maybe too many times!), played cards, laughed, lent candles, flashlights and batteries, brought generators and gas from Pennsylvania, my husband for putting up with me and hugging me when I completely lost it, my kids for being amazing through this all, not complaining and having fun with friends to pass the time, my sister for having tv and letting us watch football, friends for letting me do laundry at their house, and every one that has offered nice thoughts and prayers through this blog. I was able to read the comments on my phone and I appreciate it all.

Please keep everyone in your thoughts. This isn't over. It's going to be a long haul for most.

I am beyond thankful to have electricity. Now it just has to STAY ON!!!!!!!!

-Leanne

Really??!!!???

10 days now without power.

This is what we woke up to today.

i think everyone at the jersey shore is going insane.

yarn along from the jersey shore

Hi from the jersey shore. i am trying to make this post from my phone. we are on day 9 without power. as much as we have tried to stay positive and thankful, i think i am losing it. my dad secured a generator for us last night so we had some lights, tv and our electric fireplace. The temperature is 39 degrees right now. We are freezing!!!!!

My beloved beach is destroyed. our towns are in a state of disaster. our children are now missing two weeks of school. my husband is doing his best to help his students staff and family. my dads business has been greatly effected. But the posotive side of this all is you realize how much our friends and family mean. People have opened their homes for a hot shwer, coffee, laundry and warmth. We will be ok.

Of course have been knitting and reading through this time!!!!!! 

i finished reading The Orchard, a memoir. Now I am reading The Light Between Oceans.

i knitted a hat for charity, fingerless gloves, chases sweater and now working on baby legwarmers in alaca. i will try to add a photo, but not sure if it will work from phone.

I know many of our followrrs have been praying for us. keep it up!!!!! we need power!!!!

We are OKAY!

Hi it's Andee! We are okay and so are the alpacas.

Besides having no power and lots of trees downs the farm and all of us are doing great.

Our internet service comes and goes so I am making this very quick!

Hopefully soon we will have power and will give a full update.

Say It Ain't So!

She's on her way!!!!!!!!!!!

Water? Check

Food? Check

Candles? Check

Flashlights? ummm kidda. 

Knitting project lined up, pattern printed and yarn ready to go? CHECK!!!!

Hope you have your priorities in check. :)

But in all seriousness, I do hope that we are all ok. Sounds like we're going to get hit hard here on the Jersey Shore. We're a few miles in from the coast so hoping the flooding isn't too bad here.

I worry about the winds. Hoping the houses, barns and alpacas stay on the ground.

Yikers. This could be a bad one.

Hang in there East Coast. We can do it.

Knit away!!!!!!!