It may or may not be apparent that Frankenstorm and its impending doom will rain down upon us shortly.  Since a warm, gentle breeze knocks out our infrastructure these days, we are pretty much planning to be without power for days.  This weekend was spent preparing for Hurricane Sandy with the following To-Do List:
  1. decide whether you wish to call it Frankenstorm, Scare-icane, or The Ghost of Irene. 
  2. charge cell phones and electronic devices; fill cars with gas
  3. praise husband for that generator he made us buy after the last storm
  4. throw a case of water in the freezer because the entire area has bought every bag of ice from every convenience store.
  5. go to friends' house to help them with their generator when they brought it out to test it and could not get it started
  6. go to Home Depot to replace the pull rope for the friends' generator after your husband broke it
  7. remember that you broke that handy oil lamp last year; go to three stores trying to find another one
  8. realize that not only do stores not have oil lamps two days before a hurricane hits, but also they do not carry oil lamps at any time during the year; also: many store employees do not know what an oil lamp is
  9. give up and get ice cream instead
  10. order oil lamp on amazon.com; by my calculations, it should be here shortly after the power is restored
  11. spend hours talking to children about what will happen to Halloween, a source of great concern; prepare for a week without school
  12. watch up as many shows on the DVR as possible
  13. look up recipe for Cake Batter Ice Cream
We honestly have no illusions that we will have any electricity next week after Monday night, so we'll see you on the other side.  Stay safe everyone.