After the storm

Irene was kind to us.

Power shut off for about 30 seconds twice late Saturday night, but that was it.

No flooding either.  Some areas of Brick are experiencing flooding, but thankfully not us.   I haven't even seen my neighbors pumping out their basements either.

My friends up in North Jersey didn't fare so well.  Flooding in their homes and not being able to even get out of their neighborhoods because of the flooding. 

And no power to pump out their basements. 

This is the Patriots baseball stadium in Bridgewater, NJ

When Irene was a Category 3, we were going to evacuate.  We were going to my MIL's house.   But as Irene downgraded we decided to stick it out.  I'm so glad we did.  MIL lost power Saturday night and it just came back on this morning (Monday). Also she couldn't get out of her town until later Sunday.  I would not have been happy being unable to get back to our house to see how we fared.  

Also had we evacuated, I wouldn't have been here to get a ride in the back of a police car around 12:30 Sunday morning!

LOL  That sounds more exciting than it actually was. 

I'm part of our towns CERT Team (Community Emergency Response Team) and 3 of us were asked to come to Police HQ around midnight to help with the expected overflow of calls, power outages, opening shelters, etc.  And since we were asked to come in what was believed to be when the storm was going to be bad, they came & got us. 

I didn't know the back seats of police cars were molded plastic benches.  OUCH!

What we ended up doing was napping in the "war room" because the storm, as it hit us, wasn't that bad.  Sure we had lots of rain & wind, but no damage & no panicking.  

Now it's Monday.  I have a few beach writings to do, but thankfully they all understood it was going to take a few days because of Irene.  My husband is off all week so I we decide to take a quick ride to check out the beach.

This is what we found

Closed.

I'm hoping that they're closed only because they haven't really checked out the ramp & stairs and that they will be opened back up tomorrow. 

Brick Beaches are closed today for clean up too.

So today I'm back to work, so thankful that I work from home and that we have power & internet and no water damage. 

My thoughts go out to my friends & family and others up & down the east coast who are suffering the effects of Irene, even though she's long gone. 

OH and a side note, my video storm feed made it on Fox 5 in NY! :D

Watch the Hurricane

As long as I have power you can watch these live feeds from Brick, NJ

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/brick-hurricane-2011

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/Hurricane-Irene-Brick-NJ

Hurricane Irene

Really hoping this isn't the last time I get to walk on the beach in Mantoloking. 

Is it ironic that Irene means PEACE

And yet a Hurricane named Irene is about to destroy a good portion of the Eastern Seaboard.

I am just about 3 miles from the ocean - by the yellow dot.

I'm not sure if we're going to evacuate or not.

We're watching the weather channel very carefully and will leave either if they tell us or if it looks like it's going to be nasty.

Lots of good thoughts going out to everyone affected by Irene, that bitch.  

Win a Free Beach Writing!

Today, Thursday August 25, 2011, Cape May Rocks is giving away one of my free custom beach writings!  Check them out!!

Cape May Rocks Contest

If you've wandered to my page & it's not August 25, 2011

You can go to my shop & purchase your own beach writing!

MY ZIBBET SHOP

MY ETSY SHOP

Past writings I've done.

 Stick figure families have an additional cost.

 Shells are free though, just let me know if you want them!

 This one is one of my favorites!

 Click on this one to get a closer view of the 6 cats I drew for this customer!

 The holidays are coming!

 Look for this in a necklace soon!

Earthquake aka My dogs are useless

Here is Becca the "Beltie"  (Border Collie/Sheltie Mix)

And Odie the Jack Russell Terrier

These dogs are very good dogs.  

Be aggressive near me or the kids and Becca will rip you apart

Odie will annoy the shit out of you with his bark

They ARE vicious!

But apparently they are useless at predicting earthquakes!

Yesterday afternoon I was sitting at my kitchen table putting up my training schedule for September.  I usually work up in my office, but I NEED a new desk chair that does not hurt my back so I moved to the kitchen table.

I'm at the table, Jared is napping on the couch and Dalton is out cutting the grass.

Suddenly I feel woozy, like I'm going to pass out, I am rocking back and forth.  

Then I hear the glasses in the hutch RATTLING.

That is when it dawns on me that it's an EARTHQUAKE.

An EARTHQUAKE at the Jersey Shore.

ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME????

Ok, my Dad is a very smart guy and likes to pass along all sorts of odd information, because of this I know a fault line runs through Northern NJ, but still.... an EARTHQUAKE?????

I grab Jared & we run outside.

THAT is when the dogs wake up and and start barking.

Really???

Taken from the National Geographic website

Accounts of similar animal anticipation of earthquakes have surfaced across the centuries since. Catfish moving violently, chickens that stop laying eggs and bees leaving their hive in a panic have been reported. Countless pet owners claimed to have witnessed their cats and dogs acting strangely before the ground shook—barking or whining for no apparent reason, or showing signs of nervousness and restlessness.

Added 8.25.11 
Animal Reactions at the National Zoo

Not my dogs! 

I'm on a mission

Let's face it, the MTV show Jersey Shore is still a hit. Like it or not.

And for some reason I seem to think if I can get one of them to follow me on twitter, it will generate a TON of sales, and even though I love my day job, I wouldn't be against being a full time beach writer!

Snooki has almost 3 MILLION followers, Pauly & Vinny have like 1.5 MILLION each.  

So tweet them about me.  my twitter name is beachwritings 

Here are their Twitter pages

Snooki

PaulyD

JWoww

Deena

Vinny

The Situation

Ick even going to the situations twitter page makes me feel icky.

Can't believe Snooki had sex with him... makes me want to hurl.

Anyway, if they can be famous for doing what everyone else has done for 100 years in Seaside, only they figured out how to embarrass their families and make a ton of money, you guys can make me famous by helping me to get them to talk about me!

Love you!

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - The Wicker Chairs

Hi Everyone from RoadKill Rescue!  Thank you for stopping by!  Make sure you check out my Custom Beach Writing & Sea Glass shop through the links on the right!  Thank you!


Back in June, while walking my son to the bus stop, I noticed my neighbor was throwing away a set of wicker chairs and a wicker ottoman.  I walked passed them on the way out and stopped to check them out better on the way back.  Other than some wear and tear, they looked just fine.

At first I left them there in the street, waiting for the bulk garbage pick up....

biting my nails...

my husband and sons pick on me for "garbage picking"

"Was that the garbage truck?" I said to myself, as a bead of sweat rolled down my forehead..

"Ahh the hell with them!"

I ran over and got them.

They're a little beat up, but otherwise just fine.  

 

The plan was to get new cushions and then spray paint them to match the cushions.  Because YOU KNOW if I painted them first, I'd NEVER find the right cushions.  

So I tightened the straps and measured for the cushions.

24 inches by 24 inches.

Ok, easy enough to remember.  But money is tight, so I'm going to wait a bit.

Mid to late July I started looking for cushions.  I was in Lowes and saw the cushions were marked down.  

But no cushions in the size I need, crap.

I look around a little bit and really can not find any 2ft square cushions.

FINALLY I find ONE in Home Depot, $40

SHIT.

and it's ugly.

(actually it was the color of shit)

Ok so a few days later I wander over to another Home Depot.

THEY HAVE PRETTY 2ft sq CUSHIONS!

$30 a set

Ok that's better but still more then I had free at that moment so I leave the store, but not before noticing they have a TON of the ones I like.  Ok, great!  I'm hoping within the next 2 weeks to have some extra cash, maybe they'll be marked down!

Friday August 12 I do have some extra cash, husband says "spend it on whatever you want, you earned it."

Losing the weight I've lost and quitting smoking definitely has earned me some mad money.

Do I go and get a new purse? Nope

New clothes?  Nope

Manicure/Pedicure? Nope

No, I run over to Home Depot and get the cushions!

Yeah me!

Even though it's almost 2 weeks later, the cushions are still $30 a set, but I don't care, I'm getting them.

I picked up some spray paint and a "cheater" as the husband calls it.  It's a thingy for the spray paint cans that makes it so you can just squeeze the handle, not press down the button.

So here I present to you, the recycled wicker chairs my neighbor threw away!

 I didn't notice until we put them on the porch that the one needed a wedge under a leg, so that is done now.  But I love them so hard!  I hope my neighbor doesn't see how awesome I made her chairs & want them back!

I'm thinking a set like this would cost around $400 brand new, with the ottoman (not show, still hiding in the backyard because it's too big for the porch), and I paid all of $75 between the cushions, spray paint & tax.

Not too shabby if I do say so myself!

MY SHOP

ETA - I did it again, check out my new TV cabinet!  5.2.13