Monday, August 29, 2011

Earthquakes and Tornados and Hurricanes.. Oh my!!


source

I guess a few natural disasters can definitely give you a huge reality check. 6 days ago my girlfriend and i had just finished taking our boys to the park and thought to go back to her place for lunch. We were chatting over by the computer when all of a sudden the shelves and desk started to shake. She had thought her vertigo had kicked in or that it was simply all in her head. Initially i thought it might have been a huge freight train ( thoughts of the movie "Unstoppable" featuring Denzel Washington and a runaway train) passing by her house (she does live near train tracks). When i realized that I too was shaking while nursing Tristan. We couldn't both be loosing it, could we? Our kids were so preoccupied with their cars and trucks they hadn't even noticed there was any sort of commotion.

I suggested we check on Facebook; what better source is there for instant updates on the happenings of the world? Eyewitness news was checked afterwards. Several friends had already posted and my girlfriends father who was so panicked confirmed that we were actually feeling tremors from a 5.8 quake that hit Virginia right here in NYC. We felt like idiots analyzing the source of the house shaking rather than grabbing our boys and fleeing. We definitely weren't alone, many people told stories of being in their offices and their chairs rolling away from their desk repeatedly and thinking they were exhausted or someone was pushing their chair. The idea of an earthquake was the furthest from our thoughts.

Photo of Huricane Irene approaching via  nytimes.com 
4 days later all anyone could talk about was Hurricane Irene and how on Sunday the 28th she was going to wreak havoc upon the East Coast. Facebook was flooded with Hurricane posts and Eyewitness News was doing 24 hour coverage. Airports and towns were evacuated and for the first time ever mass transportation in NYC was shutdown. At one point there were even a few tornado watches. People Filled their tubs with potable water, joined last minute shoppers on crazy supermarket lines for essentials {not sure the chocolate cake we picked up qualified} and tried to put together an emergency "GO" bag. I think the best thing that came out of this was many families realizing how unprepared they may be for an emergency and making a change for the future. From Coast to Coast we should make sure all precautions are in place for the rare occurrence.

 Ironically i stumbled upon an article Sunday afternoon in the September issue of Parents Magazine "Are you prepared for an Emergency?" that i think is worth everyone taking a look at .

        Dr. Wendy Swanson lists steps needed to take in an unexpected emergency { For full details see link}
  1. Create a communication plan {Teach your children phone numbers of family members, Choose a location for family members to meet, Designate an out of state contact etc.}
  2. Assemble a Kit {Stash cash (no electricity, no ATM), water, food, first-aid kit, important documents, flashlights etc.}
  3. Know your neighborhood {Contact local fire departments to inquire about threats to your neighborhood such as streets prone to flooding etc.} 
Hope this was helpful, our kit isn't fully complete but I'm glad that we've started a conversation and have started collecting these important items.

xoxo Dellah

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Hooray I'm Finally Blogging......better late than never i suppose

I've been contemplating starting a blog for over a year now and I've always made excuses as to why it couldn't be done. Would it be good enough? I haven't written anything significant in so long. How would I find the time within my day to day grind? I'm working on finishing up my masters while disguised as Susie homemaker with a 10 month old baby boy(today) getting into everything. Keeping my 6 year old entertained now that his swim and tennis lessons are over (Yes we are mourning the end of summer) is tougher than I thought and he's driving me crazy with his new addiction to the Wii. I have to make sure we get out of the house.When i started getting serious last week, my hubby said "Well it's official you are a stay at home mom; you're starting a blog".. I thought I should maybe be offended because I am so much more than just a SAHM but I know he was trying to be funny and i couldn't help but laugh out loud!

I'm so type A, more so type annoying because I kept letting the idea that my blog wouldn't be visually appealing keep me from actually committing to doing it {bear with me if there are any mistakes and I may need to brush up on my grammar}. I had a friend tell me "It's like dating a good looking person who doesn't have anything meaningful to say..how long will you really be interested?" So I figured why not get the ball rolling since, us New Yorkers are stuck at home with no mass transit due to Tropical Storm/Hurricane Irene. I'll touch more on our unpreparedness for such random weather tomorrow.. Earthquake, Hurricanes and Tornado watches within a few days of each other...New York is way cooler than OZ. 

Until tomorrow,

xoxo Dellah

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