Ya, I know...it's been a few days....

lots going on. Tim got a job offer on Friday...still waiting to hear whether his security clearance is good to go or needs to be reactivated, etc. The new timeline has him leaving the first week in Sept. At least he MIGHT be home for our 13th anniversary, right? LOL

It's been all over the news, but Tropical Storm Fay (upgraded to hurricane by the time it gets to us) is on the way. For some odd reason I'm REALLY freaked out by this storm. Called the management of our apt complex and they pretty much said we're on our own. (great help! :rolleyes: ) We're in a non-evacuation zone, so even if there were a cat 5 hurricane we wouldn't evacuate as a storm surge (the wave from the ocean that will cover land) shouldn't reach us. (oh yeah, VERY comforting)...so if it goes bad we'll be stranded on the middle of Pinellas County, Florida (a peninsula, right across the bay from Tampa, west coast of FL, Gulf side). No one seems really worried, but last time folks were this lacksidasical (sp?!) about a tropical storm turned hurricane it pretty much destroyed Punta Gorda, FL....(closer to where my dad and step-mom live, and my bestest pal Jen and her parents live). We only have windows on the south side of our apartment, and one of those is a pretty shoddy slider...the window bangs around in the frame already, so I don't count on that providing much in the way of protection. We only have one room in the house with a door (aka not a metal bifold door) and it's not really big enough for us, but we could squeeze in if we needed to. We get water delivered and have 15 gallons (give or take) of drinkable water and I filled the empty 5 gallon jugs with water from the bathtub for drinking (boil and drink if necessary), flushing the toilet, washing up, dishes, laundry, etc. Already did all the laundry and put it all away. Same with the dishes. Cooking up 6 chicken breasts tonight so at the very worst we'll have fresh cooked meat for a day or two. Got batteries for the radio and flashlights. Will bathe the kids tonight and then clean out the tub and fill it up with water before bed. Have first aid kit already. Have dipes and wipes for Ginny (and extra besides). Have some plastic silverware, paper plates and cups to use if we run out of regular dishes. Apparently the power tends to go out with these storms and can last 10-14 days if we're lucky. :shrug: Not looking forward to no AC...yeah, I'm a spoiled domestic goddess! Meds (mine) already put into my med container to last for 2 weeks. Stocked up on toilet paper, got a gallon of milk (and got powdered milk with Ginny's WIC vouchers last week), another loaf of bread, freezing stuff in the freezer (jugs of water...they'll last longer than ice cubes will if we need to move things to our cooler). Granola bars, cereal, popped a few bags of micro popcorn and will bag it up and store it tonight.

At the very worst we'll be decently prepared. At the best, I'll have wasted water freezing jugs and filling the 5 gallon jugs and bought a few extra things. Filled up the gas tank in the VUE...no electricity, gas pumps won't work. We have no means of cooking, at the moment, because we can't grill here due to fire code regulations. There IS a "community" grill outside for residents to use and we could get some wood to burn to cook if necessary...though I imagine with 350 units and about 4-5 grills there'd be lines to access it. We sold our big tent a few months back, didn't see any use for it...now I wish we hadn't. It might be cooler outside in a tent than inside the apt should the power go out for any length of time.

Got extra dog food for Scoots, the gerbils have had their home freshly cleaned and have finished rearranging the bedding and hay to their liking. We're all healthy (well, I'm seriously having a major anxiety attack about this storm!), and we have a plan to be able to go to my dad and step-mom's house, or even Jen and her parents house (the back up to the back up plan) should we be without power for too long and they HAVE power...Pam and dad have storm shutters for their house, a pool full of water, etc. I'd feel safe there, except they aren't equipped for kids and I'd be wigging out that they'd break something, yk?

May even go so far as to pack a bag with clothing for 1-2 days for all of us JUST in case...not sure it's necessary, but at the very least this storm will give us a lot of rain in a short amount of time (aka flooding...and we have a pond to the south of us, literally 50 or so feet away from our screened in porch? We're ground level apt), and winds up to 95 mph, says the weather channel on TV. I'm prepared to shove my family and animals into our master bedroom walk in closet (pretty big) and even toss out the extra stuff on the floor in there to make room, throw J's twin mattress down on the floor (we can put it against the inside of the metal bifold doors to protect us if necessary)...it's the most interior room we have, the biggest without being huge, and it's already got clothes in there, and we've got 5 5-gallon jugs of water right outside the closet and in the bathroom, toilet in the very next room (the closet and bathroom share a wall), can grab meds, food, first aid kit, water, dipes and wipes for G, wipes for keeping ourselves clean, etc...we can stuff it all in there and be okay for, well, as long as necessary. I dug our "cube" cooler out of the storage area outside and put it towards the front so we can grab it quickly and easily if need be. The queen mattress (air mattress) can be secured against the sliding glass doors. We can nail blankets and stack furniture against the other windows if the wind gets really bad or a window breaks. Charging up both our cell phones, Tim's MP3 player (it gets FM/AM radio on it), charging up my laptop now. Even registered with Red Cross's Safe and Well program...(look up Tim or Stacy Wheeler of Clearwater, FL for an update if things get sketchy down here...we'll do our best to lyk what's going on through that or by phone). Boiled a dozen eggs, peeled and put them in the fridge (high in protein!).....peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, pasta salad, spaghetti, all in the fridge already...will cook that chicken tonight and add that to our stockpile of food. We don't have much in the way of perishables due to finances being what they are, but we'll be fine for about a week, if necessary.

I just feel like I'd be a totally irresponsible parent/person if I didn't take some precautions for our family. Tim's not worried, but is going along with my need to feel okay about riding out a storm that could get bad or end up nothing but a few rain showers and wind.

4 flashlights

18 light/glow sticks (got them for 25 cents for a pack of 6 weeks ago on clearance at WalMart....so glad we got them, now!)

Foods...veggies, fruits, tuna, noodles, beans, rice, granola bars, cereal bars, baby cereal for Ginny (has lots of the nutrition she needs and she LOVES it!), Raisin Bran and Rice Chex for eating/snacking on, crackers, peanut butter, jelly, marshmallows, fresh bananas and apples and a few veggies tucked in the fridge, fruit juice.

15 gallons of bottled water. 20 gallons of refilled 5-gal jugs with water from the tap (flushing, washing, etc). First aid kit, clothes and dishes done. Toilet paper (don't want to run out of THIS if we're without power and no one is selling anything because their computer systems are all run by, you guessed it, ELECTRICITY!. Lots of books, several board games and cards we can play...

Can you tell how anxious I am about this upcoming storm/hurricane? I've been through blizzards in NH (even drove THROUGH one and made it out alive, no worse for wear!), tornado's in OK (mere minutes before we drove through Oklahoma City the city was decimated by a tornado), tornado's in OK where we lived (Ft. Sill/Lawton) Flooding, hail, winds, rains...we've been there and one that. I've even been through hurricanes in NH and while bad, they weren't THAT bad. This is only expected to upgrade to a category 1 hurricane when it hits the Tampa Bay area so it shouldn't be more than lots of torrential rains and powerful winds. Hopefully no trees will fall near us (or on us, JUST kidding!).

So, if you don't see a new post from me within a few days, we may very well be without power and thus without internet access, obviously, but feel free to call my phone or Tim's and we'll have it with us.

So, wish us luck, folks! (and for the rest of you Floridians, KEEP SAFE!)