Sandy on Green (part 4) - Two months later... still no end in sight

Two months later... still no end in sight.

It's been a rough 2 months.  We're living at J's uncles house about 45 minutes away from home.  My commute in the morning is to take my daughter to my mom's house so she can be picked up by the bus and then I'm off to daycare to drop off the other daughter and then to work.  This is about 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours on a bad day.  Yes, traffic sucks and my commute "home" (aka J's uncles) is worse.  What hurts the most is that my kids are tired of it, they want to go home but I can't give them that.  We can't go home.  Oh and the kids have been sick, I've been sick, the washer and dryer here need to be replaced, there's no plugs with a ground because everything is outdated and I couldn't take a real shower here until last week.  BTW, add in a flat tire, 2 required oil changes, a wedding out of town, family in the hospital, Thanksgiving, Christmas and I'm about to go insane!

I laugh a lot at the ridiculousness of it all.  People at work, home, etc. approach me to ask how we're doing.  I want to tell them things are okay and they're moving along but unfortunately they are not.  Not even close.  Sometimes I actually say "we're hanging in there", sometimes I vent and tell them the truth and they do anything and everything to get out of the conversation.  It's difficult for people to understand, and they're busy... they were only trying to be nice and ask how I was doing... they didn't really want to know the truth.  They want to watch their Sandy Relief concert on TV and donate to the Red Cross and hope for the best.

What I can say is that I've learned a lot so far... and can sum it up in a few words "if you do things the right way, it doesn't mean things will go right".  Or maybe, "Don't hold your breath" is more appropriate... I don't know, you decide for yourself... read below and let me know a good way to summarize what I've learned.

What I've learned...

1. If you have flood insurance, FEMA does not help you (even if you have National Flood Insurance administered by FEMA).  Don't ask people if FEMA is helping them! Please, it's adding insult to injury.  Oh, and every time FEMA tweets about how they're helping people, a fairy loses it's wings. (shout out to my Liv for that one)
2. The SBA loan that everyone is talking about is just an advance loan to cover what insurance will give you.  It is not in addition to what you will get from insurance.  It's actually a hilarious concept... federally administered flood insurance can't get their act together to get you the money that they owe you so they offer up another branch of government to give you a loan for that money and they charge you interest on said loan.  Don't waste your time... we wasted days speaking with people, trying to fill out paperwork only to be told the real truth.
3. Oil damage will be "cleaned" by insurance company even though "cleaning" it will not leave the home safe to live in.  Yes, they do not care and they will not be back to help you in 2-3 years when the fumes from the oil they left in your foundation are seeping into your home threatening your family's health.
4. Flood insurance will provide an adjustment with a check at their leisure.  2 months and counting, we have no idea what we'll get from them and when.  Oh, and that advance check they promised - don't hold your breath.
5. Flood insurance will not replace items.  They will give you money for the depreciated value of items.  You have to figure out how to find difference somewhere (your own pockets, a 401k loan, a personal loan, credit cards, a home equity loan - see #7, what ever.)  Oh, only bottom cabinets are covered. (LOL) I've heard this so many times I want to puke.  Yea, yea, yea... flood insurance doesn't care about the value of your home.  They're not going to replace your entire kitchen even though the entire kitchen was damaged.  They will work to see what they can do to make your home liveable.  You have to deal with the home value issues later.
6. Mortgage companies stating that they are there to help are only doing it for publicity.  They are not there to help, they waste your time and tell you they cannot help until the federal government releases loan options over the next few months. "Come back to talk to us on January 28th and don't forget to pay your mortgage as that hiatus we gave you... no that won't last and you will have to pay back all your missed payments in one or we'll ding your pretty little credit."
7. You cannot take out a Home Equity loan if you do not have equity in your home.  Of course your home value has gone down due to the storm.  Why would you think that your mortgage company would help in this situation?  They do not care that you are trying to save an asset that they hold a lean on.  They'd rather you go belly up and then there are "programs" they can offer you. Oh, and if you flip out on them in their trailer (where they've been sitting for 2 months "helping victims") it doesn't actually help the situation... but it doesn't make it any worse because they're powerless anyway.... so maybe flip out just to make yourself feel better.  Yea... that's what I recommend. :)
8. If you need rental assistance from FEMA (because you're paying a mortgage and rent at the same time and can't go back to your home), you'll have to call them multiple times and find the right person to speak to as each person has a different way of handling that situation.  Oh, if you want to live in a one-room hotel with your husband and two kids, then you can do that... go ahead, find a hotel and FEMA will reimburse you. (Insert "Don't hold your breath" here.)
9. Flood insurance does not cover relocation or storage costs.  Homeowners insurance does, but you are out of your home due to a flood so they don't want to hear from you.
10. If you do receive a check from any insurance company it will be made out to you and your mortgage company.  Good luck getting the money.  Mortgage companies like to "escrow" the money until they see that there was work done on the house.  So... let me get this straight, you need money to start work, insurance gives you money, mortgage company takes money and holds it in escrow, you have no money to start work but the only way to get money is to start work.... wait a minute... do I see a catch-22 here?  Anyone? Anyone? (read last two words in monotone voice).
11. If you want to try to raise your home and increase the security and value with renovations, you will have to find a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow because that's the only way you'll be able to find the funds... Your good credit doesn't mean squat and the $30,000 that FEMA is supposed to be offering to raise your home... that comes after you pay an architect $6,000 to do a drawing, wait for an inspection and in the end, that $30k actually comes out of the total amount you could get back from insurance.  BTW, to raise your home on Long Island, the cost ranges from $80,000 - $140,000.  There is a rumor that says if your house is flooded more than once in 10 years, FEMA will give you a grant to raise your home.  BAH!  Not on Long Island with these home prices!  Yea, the Katrina homes with values that range from $30k - $120k, sure they'll raise those and give you a few bucks... but not the $400k - $1M homes that were hit by Sandy.  That's too damn expensive.... the feds would rather restore our beaches.  Last comment on this one... if your house floods 3-4 times in two months but you didn't fix the damage from the previous floods, it's not a new claim and it won't help you get your home raised (good try though!).
12. If you do the right thing and report an oil spill to the DEC, it will cost you 10's of thousands of dollars to clean it up (on your own dime) and yes, no one will want that job... they'll keep pushing you off to the next guy.  Oh, and you may even get a fake letter sent to you stating you will be fined $25,000 per day that you don't clean up the mess. Even better, when you get that letter, please read it while sitting in your car in your oil ridden driveway, outside your oil ridden home that you are doing everything possible to figure out how to pay for the clean up.  Please do that because you won't get the effect unless your engulfed in that beautiful environment while reading something that looks like an official letter.
13. If you are displaced and attempting to find something normal in another county that you do not pay taxes in, do not expect to be allowed to enter the county or town facilities (say for instance an indoor swimming pool so you can train for a triathlon).  They do not want your kind there.  There is nothing they can do to help you and by the way... why are you calling them and wasting their time?
14. No one with a job, insurance and good credit will see any of the "Sandy Relief" funds that are pouring in.  Don't hold your breath... just watch the damn concert and be happy about it. 
15. The Red Cross stops by your home every day.  Be there to pick up food rations, cleaning supplies, diapers and such.  Did I mention that you need to be there?  Oh, you can't be there because you work?  Tough luck!  Go sit in your car, in your oil ridden driveway outside of your oil ridden house and wait for that darn truck to come by with supplies you do not need... because that's the only help you're gonna get! Wait? You want a loan?  No... fed doesn't do loans, they only give hand outs... you do-gooder you... trying to be all "I'll pay it back, I don't want a hand out"! Hahahaha.  You make me laugh.
16. Living without a printer, internet access or TV SUCKS!... oh, and I miss my pizza cutter... cutting pizza with a knife sucks too... have you seen my socks? Are they in storage?  And that 3D awesome 55" TV you bought and saved in the storm... it doesn't work without the cables that are in the very back of the POD behind all your other crap.  Good luck getting them.  The TV is better being a bulletin board anyway.  Where else would we hang all of Liv's drawings? Do you remember the time you used to do laundry at the laundromat?  Do you remember that at that time you had all the time in the world because you were single and your job was close and you had no kids?  Yea... I remember that being easy too.
17. Everyone else would have done something better to prevent what happened to your home.  They know better than you... you stupid person who lives by the water!  Why wouldn't you just move?  What the heck is wrong with you?  I know that all the smart people live in the center of the island.  You must be dumb.

Thank you kindly for reading... this was actually quite fun to write up.  I hope the sarcasm doesn't scare you too much... my insanity is showing a bit.  I only let it out every once in a while.  Putting it away now... HEHEHehehehe (sounds like evil laugh drifting away).

In the words of Arnold "I'll be back..."

-s

Sandy on Green (part 3)

Tourists and Vultures In the Aftermath of Sandy
We took what we could by hand that morning (Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012).  We returned later in the day to find that we weren't allowed to drive down there anymore even though the water had receded to about 1 foot in the street.  The police were blocking people from driving down as there were too many tourists and vultures (i.e. people who want to see and people who want to take).  My wish of the tide taking the debris out was not granted.  We had even more now... hey check out that jeep in the driveway!

We had taken a few plastic bags and bins so that we could take some stuff with us but walking a mile back and forth with heavy items wasn't really working for us.  We had to wait until the water receded fully and we could see the debris in the road before driving a truck down there.

We went back to my parents house to start making phone calls; insurance company - their phones were out. FEMA, DEC and Waste Oil removal services - no one was ready to help yet.  They all took my information and told me they'd get back to me.  We had no internet access, cell service or cable at my parents house but we did have electricity and heat... unlike most of Long Island.  To get internet access from our iPods, we had to drive up a few blocks into a supermarket parking lot... it was like a haven for access.  Cell service, 4g card, everything worked there.  I don't have a clue why but I wasn't complaining... cell service and internet access were like gold at that time.

Although none of the other service providers (that I actually pay for) were available, we were able to get a POD scheduled to be delivered the next morning at my parents house (at a pretty penny might I add).  The guy on the phone said it was the last one he had on the island and with none of the bridges and tunnels open, it would be a while before another would be available.  Not sure if that was his sales tactic (I was buying anyway) but I did hear later on that people were waiting a month for a POD.

With the oil saturating our house, we needed to do everything we could to salvage what we had upstairs.  The smell was terrible and everything inside and out was being damaged by the minute.  I did what I could at the time, make phone calls and try to save what was left.

On Wednesday we returned to find more debris but less water. Not sure what to do first, we started cleaning outside.  Moving the debris away.  Here's an interesting picture of the flood level in our garage (42").  The lines you see there are markers from previous storms.  The dirt/water line is from Sandy.  The other picture is of the pile of debris we had outside of our driveway.  We just kept on dragging stuff over, hoping someone would pick it up.  The Village of Babylon did, using a big backhoe a few days later.

J went to find a truck to rent to bring our stuff to the POD.  After 2 hours of searching, he found one and we started to vacate the premises.  Family came out to help (my sister, his brother, both sets of parents).  My mom watched the kids for us, everyone else started packing and cleaning; we ate halloween candy and pretzels for lunch as it was the only thing that was available.  We wore masks so that we could breathe and booties so that we wouldn't ruin the upstairs carpet... what good that did as the smell of the oil alone has saturated everything now.

I posted for help on Facebook to see if anyone had any boxes or bins we could use to get everything out of the house but most people didn't have internet access so it was a futile attempt at first.  In two days we removed all of our "stuff" furniture and all from upstairs and then we started the demo.

All I could think about was where were we going to put our stuff and where were we going to live?  My parents had one bedroom open for us.  All of our stuff that couldn't fit in the POD was in their already packed garage.  Our clothes were in their dining room, our electronics in their living room, OH and we had tons of other people living there too because everyone was displaced due to the storm.  My brother-in-law with his dialysis machine, my aunt, my cousins would stop by from time-to-time as they were hopping from house as well.

I can't even begin to tell you the devastation I felt and saw.  I don't think I slept those first two weeks just trying to get organized.  This wasn't going to be a 1 month thing, not even 2 or 3.  This was 8 to 10 months of hell we were facing and I didn't know the half of it.

To be continued...

Sandy on Green (part 2)

Somewhere in the middle of the night between Monday and Tuesday I was woken up by the phone in our borrowed room buzzing. We must have lost power and now the hardwired phone was buzzing on battery; it's amazing the things you hear when you're in a dead sleep! That was the last of my sleep for the night. I jump right on facebook on my phone and realize that there has not be any updates from my neighbors in hours... I think "How could they not be posting at 2am?!?!". Frustrated, I get out of bed, shower, get dressed and proceed to pace around the house until the transportation woke up (my dad with his truck). I literally was pacing the house while they all slowly woke up, got dressed, ate breakfast. I was almost ready to walk to my house. It was only 3 miles away, hell, I could run that in under 30 minutes. Anyway, my dad was finally ready to go around 9am so he drove J and I over to our cars (that we had evacuated to higher ground) and we then proceeded to take the high roads down to our house. We were stopped about 5 blocks away as the flooding hadn't subsided and the police were not allowing people to attempt to drive down. We began walking the rest of the way down in waist high water. I'm not sure if I was shaking due to the cold or due to the shock. It was a mess. Fences were floating down the block and you could see the water line on houses that have never even seen water on their grass before. As we waded down the road, a man ran out of his devastated home to ask for help. "Can you help me pull out my generator?" J ran to his aid while I rudely commented to myself "what the f are you going to do with a generator? You don't even have dry ground to put it on!" But I was happy that J went to help the man. At least he was trying to do something to save what was left of his home. I walked on... the water was getting deep and I was nervous about stepping on something. A dead fish floated by. Then a fence. Then there was a car.. yep, it was crazy... and this was at low tide the day AFTER the storm!

My head was going two ways... on one hand, my rational self was telling me that our house got hit hard. "Expect water in the house" she said. "It's going to be bad" she yelled while my irrational, luck driven, praying self was trying to out do her with "It can't be that bad." "You're a good person and good things happen to good people." I think this is why it wasn't until I approached the back gate of my house and saw the water line around chest high that my rational self won. I took a picture... what else could I do. I turned into the action driven person that I always am. I tried to tell myself to just be there to take pictures, to show what we've lost and later, I could be sad.

But as I pushed in the back gate, and wasn't able to get it to go more than a foot because it was blocked by debris, I broke down. Yep, crazy me came out (much more fun than rational and irrational me). I was screaming at the top of my lungs, crying and pushing the gate.  Then I pulled it the opposite way and was able to get in and see that the thing that was blocking the gate was my daughters swing set. It had floated about 20 feet to end up where it was. To think, it took 3 people to put the thing together and move it in place and now it was just upside down, broken and mangled. I walked onto my back deck and saw the first of the real mess.  The water line was scary.  About knee high in the main house and waist to chest high in the utility room.

I started looking at the debris and trying to figure out what it all was.  Where did it come from?  This stuff wasn't mine.  No, all of the stuff in the driveway and even on my back deck had floated there from other yards down the canal.  I guess we were the storms dumping ground.  Maybe when the water recedes it would clean up after itself. hahahaha, yeah right.

There was something else that I couldn't figure out.  The smell.  It didn't smell like seawater or sewage.  It was worse than that.  It smelt like gasoline or OIL!  Yes, it was oil.  I ran to the side of my house to see if my oil tank was okay.  The one that I could see had shifted about 5 feet over but it didn't look like it was leaking.

I couldn't see the front oil tank so I decided to enter the house first and try to get a view around the front of the house.  This is where I cried.  No more screaming in anger.  No, this was real, full blown hysterics.  I tried to take pictures.  Focus on the pictures. 

Our house was destroyed.  The new room, the new appliances in the kitchen, all of my donations (kids clothes, toys, etc. ) ready to be donated were soaked.  The wainscoting that took J 2 full days of work to get done for Liv's bedroom, destroyed.  But then, I didn't know the half of it.  The smell of oil was intense.  I was feeling sick inside so I opened the front door and saw the front yard.  Oil, everywhere.  Propane tanks and tons of random junk floating in the thigh-high water.  Oh, and a nice huge piece of fencing on my front stoop.  I didn't walk out into it.  I didn't have waders, just my work out clothes and a pair of five-fingers so I wasn't going to try to injure myself but the red tinge in the water told me that our oil tank was leaking, a lot.

J finally arrived then and he waded out in his waders to see the damage.  Surreal.  He took pictures from the front of the house... and the oil tank...

To be continued...

Sandy on Green (part 1)

We had decided to stay in the house during the storm (despite the warnings to evacuate) because seriously... when do the weathermen actually get it right?! At low tide on Monday, October 29th (the day of the storm) the water was up to our front door. J and I knew that it was going to come in at that point so we spent the morning and afternoon moving everything upstairs (or rather everything that we could move upstairs). In the 50 years that our house has been standing, it's never seen water in its first floor. Yea, we're used to the crawl space getting filled up and the garage getting water. We even prepare for this by raising everything in the garage up on cinderblocks and opening the garage door to allow the water in and out with the tide. Other storms cooperated nicely like Irene in August 2011. But Sandy, she didn't want to go with the flow. Here’s a shot of our house at low tide at 10 am, October 29th.

Here's a shot of our neighbor getting stuck on his lawn... btw, in case you were wondering, that's the street not the canal...

Around 2pm we smell something burning and find that the boiler, oil heater and laundry machines were already getting wet with salt water and sewage (so much for the clothes I had in the dryer…). The bathroom/boiler room in our house that was 3 steps down, was already under 2 feet of water. J threw on his waders and went down into the area to turn off the emergency switch. We then proceeded to shut off the electric to the bottom half of the house and J went outside to shut the propane tanks. NOTE to all you "why didn't you evacuate earlier" folks... If we would have left the day before, we would have not known to turn off thes items and our house would have been on fire. Now, let's move on, shall we?

By 4pm, we had turned off all power to the home and were evacuating our house, wading through waist-high water, in fierce wind and rain. It was nice that a block away there were volunteers in motorboats driving people out of the area. Only they weren't using the canals if you know what I mean. Yes, the girls and I took a rescue boat 4 blocks up to where my mom was waiting with her truck. We had already evacuated our cars up to higher ground the night before (good thing too because there were cars and trucks all stuck in the water at the corner of our block). At the time I was freaking out to new levels… I was taking my babies out in a hurricane.

THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO DO!

At that point, we should have stayed put but my dad pounding on our front door said otherwise. In hindsight, I wish we would have stayed. I would have been able to save more stuff and perhaps prevented the other things that occurred but we’ll get to that in a future post.

For now, let's talk about “saving stuff”...

-- begin rant--

So many people that didn’t lose “stuff” in the storm have told me “you can always replace your stuff”. I actually hate that response (sorry people who are trying to be helpful). It doesn’t help, especially if it’s coming from someone who isn’t in my situation. Our stuff is a culmination of our life. We gather stuff to remind us of events, to celebrate times in our life and to reward ourselves for a job well done. When J and I invest in a purchase, we do so in a calculated manner (more because of him than me but just sayin). We don’t just buy “junk” that can be replaced! You cannot replace the couch that took us 4 months to find and 8 months to receive and that we’re still paying off on a credit card! You can’t replace it because we dedicated time to this purchase… time isn’t replaceable! So… for all of you thinking I’m being materialistic… try, just try to put yourself in my shoes (I know you can’t because I know I was never able to do this until now). Try to itemize out all the “stuff” in your house. You know what, just try to do one room… put it in a spreadsheet… identify where it was purchased, what it cost and how long ago you obtained the item. Now imagine that you have to do that for your entire house. Now estimate the time you took to purchase each of these items. Next actually go to the store(s) and buy the items. Now try and tell me that “stuff” doesn’t matter.

--end rant--

Now back to the original story. So, we leave the house in the middle of the storm with no idea what would happen to our life that we built. Liv will tell you that the evacuation was “scary” and that she was “freezing the whole time” and that she “got wet with cold water” which all is true. I had Ella in my jacket so she was pretty much covered but Liv is much bigger and she just had a hooded sweater on because we didn’t think to bring her winter coat out. So, J was struggling to hold her and hold up his waders (oh… btw… I walked in the friggin cold water without waders but my fivefingers worked well :)). He handed her off to me in the rescue boat but there was no blanket to cover her from the wind and rain. I unzipped my jacket to try to loop her into Ella and my warmth. At this point (you mom’s will understand this), I was SO ANGRY AT EVERYONE who agreed to take MY BABIES out in the storm. Liv was freezing and terrified! All of this could have been avoided if we just remained in the house and stayed upstairs. Yea, we wouldn’t have power… but we wouldn’t have been in a life threatening situation either! I was thinking the kids were going to get hurt. I was nervously laughing with the volunteers that boated us out of there telling them to hurry before a tree fell… I think they thought I was crazy… they’d be right about that. I was crazy for listening to everyone else who told me what to do to protect my kids and not trusting my parenting skills and ever so trusty gut. NEVER AGAIN will I allow that to happen. Ok, so that rant is over too… (insert nervous lol here).

In my mom’s truck I realize that I lost my phone… wonderful. I go back into the storm and try to remember if I left it in the suitcase or in the house. I call J with my mom’s cell and he finds it in the house. Now, I was able to explain that situation in 3 sentences… I’ll tell you the frantic nature of this situation was to new levels. I was absolutely in a state of “LIVID”. Is that even a state? Well that’s what I was… angry, enraged, incensed… yes all those states too… bottle them up as one and throw in an Alka-Seltzer, shake it up and KABOOM! Yep, that’s how I was. The phone was the tipping point. (Side note: there’s a word for the fear of losing one’s mobile phone. I heard this on NPR one morning. It’s called “Nomophobia”.... I think I have this.)

The next few hours are a blur to me. I shower to get the filth of the seawater, oil, sewage, off of me. I try to get warm. I attempt to “move in” to my mom’s house. I attempt to console my children but the tough ol’ me was not there… I was out to lunch… missing in action… The terrible feeling of not knowing what was happening back at home was grating on me. I was simply not a nice person to be around. In hindsight I’m upset by this. I am pride myself in being rational at all times… although I may get loud… I’m still rational. I don’t think I was rational after this so when my mom started in on me with what I “shoulda” done… I went APE on her (is that a technical term?). Ok, another rant but it will be short. Let me explain to you who have not been through terrible situations (I say this in jest as I know everyone has been there one time or another). DO NOT EVER (never ever) try to explain to someone what they should have done when they are in a state of “LIVID”. That will only make them go “APE”. You really must be stupid if you think that suggesting what they should have done or could have done better will actually help them. Even the use of “should have” or “could have” should be means for hitting you over the head with a blunt object. K, I’m done… I think we all get it now.

The power flickers a few times at my parents’ house but it doesn’t actually go out for an extended period of time. We’re there with my aunt as well as her house was in the flood area too. Her kids are displaced as well but they all found "high-ground" to stay. I’m attempting to find out what is happening back home by logging into Facebook and pinging my neighbors. Around 5:30 pm, my neighbor across the street sends us this pic… the water has hit the top step. You can tell because the doormat is floating away in the picture. This means that it’s in the house… and it's not yet high tide.

Then we go dark.

To be continued…

Race Log 2011 - 2012

Date	Race Name	Race Length	Time	Pace
1/9/2011	Winter Run Series - Heckscher (w/Gina)	5k (3.1 Miles)	31:32	10:08
1/16/2011	Winter Run Series - Jones Beach	5k (3.1 Miles)	27:45	8:55
5/8/2011	Elizabeth T. McNamee Memorial Run (w/Liv)	5k (3.1 Miles)	52:49	17:00
10/15/2011	Shelter Island 5k (w/Liv and Ella)	5k (3.1 Miles)	48:22	15:34
11/24/2011	Garden City Turkey Trot	5 Miles	51:54	10:23
1/8/2012	Winter Run Series - Heckscher	5k (3.1 Miles)	31:00	10:00
1/16/2012	Winter Series, Robert Moses	5k (3.1 Miles)	30:18	9:46
1/29/2012	Winter Series, Jones Beach	5k (3.1 Miles)	27:48	8:58
4/22/2012	Mini Mighty Man Triathlon	¼mi swim/6mi bike/2mi run 12:28/20:31/19:48	56:13	n/a
5/13/2012	Elizabeth T. McNamee Memorial Run (w/Liv and Ella)	5k (3.1 Miles)	41:57	13:31
6/3/2012	Belmont Stakes Blue Ribbon Run	5k (3.1 Miles)	27:50	8:59
8/5/2012	Smith Point Sprint Triathlon	500M swim/16k bike/5k run 24:39/38:57/29:51	1:36:32	n/a
8/19/2012	Babylon Classic Dirty Sock	10k (6.2 Miles)	58:22	9:30
10/7/2012	Divas Half Marathon	13.1 Miles	2:21:03	10:47
11/22/2012	Garden City Turkey Trot	5 Miles	49:00	10:14
12/2/2012	Join the Voices (Central Park)	5 Miles	47:00	9:24

2012 - Year in review

I thought about blogging today after having a good race yesterday. I read through some of my old running posts and realized I missed posting! It's been so long, I don't know where to start. On the running front I did a two triathlons this year. Sprints only but it was really fun learning to swim the "right" way. I actually was getting the hang of it before the season ended. Still TBD if I'm actually going to pick it back up in January for training. I'm finally getting back to running again and realized just yesterday that I still do love it. It took a while getting back from the 2nd pregnancy, 50 lbs. is a lot of extra weight to carry around! But yesterday's run was nice because I actually felt strong and not like I was running on jelly legs. It was a 5 miler in Central Park. My first NYC race too thanks to my friend Missy who had me sign up for her team. It was a race to support reasearch for Brain Cancer and Missy's Aunt GG lost her battle to brain cancer a few years back. I think this is the first "cause" I've run for that was for someone in particular (other than the Lupus walks we did a ways back for my brother-in-law). Everyone kept telling me that Central Park was hilly; and yes, it was. But it still wasn't as bad as my 10k in Sydney in 2009. Now that was hilly! 90 degree inclines (ok I'm exaggerating but there were 13 inclines and one was a staircase up to another street so I'm not totally off the wall!). On the family front, Ella is almost 15 months old, Liv is 5 years old, we had a great year full of exciting activities and trips. We travelled as a family to Washington DC, Baltimore, Paradise Island - Bahamas, Italy and Disney World in Florida. It was an amazingly busy year with J traveling and Ella going through all her baby changes. She's a crazy kid but she's adorable too. One minute she's being all lovey dovey, hugs and kisses and all the nice stuff; the next minute she's biting you, screaming, jumping off the couch, scaling a table... yea, she's a crazy kid but I love her all the same. Ella started walking at 10 months old so her "crazy" has been around for a while. She scares us with all the times she hits her head, I see a helmet in her future... even our "non-restrictive" Montessori day care center recommended one. Oh well, she's perfect in every way. :) Liv is in Kindergarten now and is growing up so quickly. She's beautiful (if I do say so myself). She's going to be a real heartbreaker when she grows up ... and now I sound like an old man. As Liv would say "no really" she is beautiful and she has a good heart which makes me so proud of her. She also has a great sense of humor and is really into drawing, coloring, painting, crafts, etc. She tells me she's an artist and she's going to be either an Art Teacher or a Kindergarten teacher when she grows up. Well, I'm kinda happy that her aspirations moved up from being "a giraffe" when she grows up (circa Halloween 2010). The home front was great all year but unfortunately 27 Green was hit really hard by "superstorm" Sandy at the end of October. More on this in the next blog. The story is quite long but interesting and something I don't think we'll ever forget. On the work front, I'm finally back working with the team I love (well, sometimes love is a strong word when they're not delivering on time but hey "love" it is for now). I traveled only to NYC and Boston for work so it was a slow work travel year. BUT I did win a "Rock Star" award for a project I completed back in April. This year I had around 5 different bosses as well... I wonder how they're going to figure out my review come April... hmmm... Well, TTFN. I'll start on my Superstorm Sandy post soon so you can get a glimpse into the world of the people who are still dealing with the aftermath of this tremendous storm. -S