Frankenstorm

We are smack dab in the middle of experiencing our first hurricane! Hurricane Sandy, dubbed "Frankenstorm", moved her way from the Atlantic to the northeast starting last night/this morning. All metros and public transportation in the DC area was shut down today, and the hub's work was shut down today and tomorrow, too. Every time the lights flicker, I expect them to stay out, but so far they have come back on! We have never prepared so much for a storm in our lives. We are used to tornados in Oklahoma, where you duck and cover for maybe ten minutes and you are good to go! Hurricanes, we're learning, stick around for much longer than that - like, days. Here's a funny list of all the ways we tried to get ready for Frankenstorm if she does her worst and knocks out our power for days:

-loaded up on canned goods - meat, soups, beans
-bought 4 gallons of water
-aired up our air mattress and stored it (off the floor) in the basement, "just in case" a tree falls on the house
-put the pack-n-play in the basement
-put sheets and blankets in the basement
-baked bread, 20 tortillas, and 30 empanadas in the past 24 hours
-loaded up on the important food groups, like Cheese-its and M&Ms
-filled pots up with water
-filled 2 Brita filters with water in the fridge
-bought 4 flashlights (we had none)
-bought a ton of batteries
-bought a solar-powered rechargeable crank emergency weather radio, that doubles (or triples?) as an LED flashlight and cell phone charger (what?!)
-kept our phones plugged in all day, just so they are on 100% battery if the lights go out
-made grab bags of all our food in case we need to take it with us downstairs
-put batteries in the baby's sound machine so he can continue to sleep peacefully if the power goes out rendering the AC adapter useless
-did all of our laundry
-washed all of our cloth diapers this weekend and switched over to disposables, in case we can't do laundry for several days

I can't believe all the work and prep we've put into this! All that to say as well, that I'm thankful for our technology that can forecast crazy storms like this. I've never had so much warning for a storm. We are living normally so far but are trying to expect the unexpected, or maybe I should say, expect the expected?