Bracing For Hurricane Sandy

We live in Western Pa which is way across the state from the coast but yet, we're getting warnings of bad, bad weather in the next few days.  We've been told that our power will go out. 
Now, we've had warnings like this before and most times, I take the attitude of "I'll believe it when I see it" simply because most times, we get very little of what is actually predicted. 
In this case though, I'm taking the "better safe than sorry" route.  It really does sound like we're going to get hit with it. So I've been preparing for the worst....

I'm stocking up on water.  Since we have well water, when the power goes out, we have no water. I don't know about you and I know it's a psychological issue that is in my head, but as soon as the power goes out and we have no water, I start craving water.  I realize that it's the whole "want what you can't have" thing and I realize that I'm not really so parched that my throat feels like sandpaper when I swallow.  It's in my head. I know it is but  I just can't help it.  So, I'm making sure that when our power goes out, I will be able to consume as much water as my brain wishes.  All empty bottles are filled with water.  Gosh, I'm thirsty now just writing about not having water.

 Hubby is kinda rolling his eyes about me and the water thing but he has this way of never outwardly making fun of me. Instead, he just kinda gets this grin and then ignores what I'm doing, hoping that if he doesn't say anything, I'll either stop or it will go away.

But he is the one that became obsessed with flashlights.  This morning, I got two of them out of the cupboard, just to check to make sure they worked.  He insisted that we buy fresh batteries for them and then proceeded to get all of the flashlights out of the cupboard and get them in working order.  Now, in my head, I'm thinking, "there's only two of us. How can we possibly use more than two flashlights at a time?" .  I'm also thinking "should I tell him this or should I just see how he plans to use all these flashlights at one time?"   Perhaps a toolbelt strapped around our waists with all of the flashlights in holsters?

So, being the incredibly inquisitive person that I am and also fully aware of the saying "curiosity killed the cat" I asked him.."umm...there're only two of us so why do we need more than two flashlights?"  He stopped pulling the dead batteries out of the flashlight he was currently working on and with that little grin of his, he proceeded to put the unfixed flashlights away in the cupboard.  He never said anything more but I knew by that look that, with my words, he suddenly realized that we only really need two flashlights.  We have six working flashlights now with extra batteries and I'm glad that I was instantly able to stop his obsession.
                                                 
Also, to prepare, hubby wanted to use some of his 5 gallon buckets in the garage to store water in so that we can flush the toilet.  The only thing is, hubby has accumulated some 20 or so 5 gallon buckets which are sitting everywhere in the house garage and also his other garage and every single one except 2 are being used to hold something or other. So I donated two of my plastic bins that I use to store my wool, to the toilet flushing cause.
The bins will hold enough water to flush the toilet for a few days at least. 

The only thing I'm worried about now ... I just talked to our good friends, who are also our neighbors, and they are doing absolutely nothing to prepare for the storm and the power outage. Linda is unconcerned and said that as long as she has milk and cereal, she doesn't care....She loves her cereal.

I told her she needs to save up water so at least they can flush the toilet.  Linda said back to me, "now that I know you have so much water stored, we'll just come up and use your toilet." 

I'm thinking maybe I need to donate two more of my plastic bins to the cause.

Other things that I've done ...
*downloaded 3 audio books from the library, onto my ipod, so that I won't be horribly bored in the evening.
*cleaned the dustbunnies out of the fireplace so that we can fire up the gaslogs to heat the first floor.
*move the gas grill to the garage so that we can make coffee and cook food.
*dug the paperplates out of the cupboard, cuz  I'm NOT washin' dishes during an outage.
 *Put some containers of water in our freezer in the basement ...just in case I run out of drinking water, this will be thawed by the time that I would need it.

 And speaking of freezers.... when I was rooting around in our freezer, making room for the containers of water, I came across this tupperware bowl which was filled with an unknown substance.  I don't remember putting this bowl in the freezer so needless to say, I had no clue whatsoever what the frozen substance was. 

So I brought it upstairs and set it out to thaw a little and then stuck it in the fridge to finish thawing overnight.
To our delight, once thawed, I discovered that it was BEAN SOUP!

I know this picture looks really disgusting but it was pure delightful  goodness when heated up for lunch.  Probably the best bean soup I've ever had in my life! 

Not only don't I remember putting it in the freezer, I don't remember making it.  I remember a few months ago looking for that bowl and wondering what happened to it.  I don't think it's been in there for more than 5 years or so .....

If we die tomorrow from eating 5 year old bean soup and I miss out on experiencing this big storm that I've spent so much time preparing for, I'm really going to be angry. 

But seriously, we are lucky to live far enough away that we won't be hit nearly as badly as those who live close to Philly and the coast.  Here's hoping and praying that everyone from those parts will weather the storm and come through safely without too much devastation.  It's a scarey thing this weather.

If, over the next few days, you order from me but haven't heard back, just know that most likely, our power is out.   I'll get your order out as soon as life has turned normal again!