An Epic Tale of the Nightmare Before, During and After Halloween or Why I Stopped Blogging for "31 or 21"*

So I'm here to tell you I have one HECK of an excuse for the disintegration of my end of "31 for 21."

I wish it weren't so.

Let's take stock, shall we? In the last eighty-six hours I have:

-Gone to Costco for party supplies for our little Halloween shindig and filled an entire refrigerator.

-Because (forshadowing here) nothing says "Power Outage!" like a full refrigerator, right?
I took this photo for the insurance company. I don't normally document my refrigerator, by the way.
But look at the giant, gorgeous hunk of brie. For my beloved cheese plate. It breaks my heart.

-Baked forty-eight pumpkin cupcakes and lovingly frosted them with cream cheese frosting.

-Watched, through the living room window, snow fall hard and quickly on trees full of golden, orange and brown leaves. Something is wrong with this picture.

-Heard the snap, like gun shots of trees falling all around us (PLEASE DON'T HIT THE HOUSE PLEASE DON'T HIT THE HOUSE).

My poor neighbor's tree.


-Answered call after call from guests who "couldn't get out of their driveways" or who were "afraid to go out in the storm."

-Watched little Ellie's shoulders slump and her lip quiver with the question "Why isn't anyone coming to my party?" [Insert stab to my heart here.] Ellie has been talking about and planning this party for weeks and weeks, every day it's "Hey guys I have an idea for the party!

-Cringed as the lights flickered, once, twice, went off, came back on and finally, off.

-Remembered, once again, how there are few things in life more cringe inducing than the ominous thud of your house's power going off. As if I needed reminding.

-Felt uneasy as darkness falls. It's going to be a long, cold night. Put socks, hats, two sleepers and extra blankets on the babies in their swings (it's too cold to put them upstairs). Check their cold hands every three hours as the temperature in our house slowly drops to 48 degrees.

-Made the decision with Erin that we could not spend another night in the house without heat and began the stressful process of trying to find a hotel room in the most densely populated state in the country boasting half a million people without power.

-Found a hotel room! Thirty miles away. Sigh.

Of course the kids thought it was a party. Our hotel had a pool! And room service! They got to eat pizza and watch Spongebob in bed. Halloween Party? What Halloween Party?

Someone in housekeeping had a lot of fun cleaning our room.


-Spent first night in hotel room. SO MUCH FUN WITH BABIES, by the way.

-Returned to house in the morning to throw away roughly $1000 dollars worth of rotting food (and don't forget the deep freeze which really comes in handy when, you know, buying in bulk.

-Driven back to hotel room for more "Spongebob."

We basically skipped Halloween. We were told by the hotel management (when they saw the kids) that there was a neighborhood a few blocks from the hotel where they could Trick or Treat but that just felt, I don't know. Weird. Then I got an email from our town that Halloween had been postponed for next week. So I didn't feel too bad. Did I mention Leo's school was closed Monday through Wednesday and is finally just reopening tomorrow?


-Woke up Tuesday morning to the news that our hotel would not be able to extend our reservation past the initial two days despite the fact that they assured us, upon check-in, that we could stay as long as we needed (No, I'm not bitter about this at all, why do you ask?)

-Paused to realize the babies were five months old! By second night, babies seemed to enjoy hotel bed.

-Made hotel manager find us a new, comparable hotel room.

-Drove the kids thirty miles to Ellie's school (where Leo used to also attend after-care and where they graciously let him go too on Tuesday so I could move our belongings without the "help" of four kids), first stopping at Dunkin Donuts to get lunches for the kids (I can't even believe I just typed that). Felt like circus sideshow as I hauled all four children into Dunkin Donuts to buy bagels with cream cheese (aka lunch).

-Felt concern that Lucy doesn't seem well. She has a low grade fever, which I learn when I stop at the house to check her temperature. Did I mention the interior of the house was 45 degrees? Harry doesn't seem great either. He's got that hacking cough that won't go away. Called doctor to make sick visit appointment.

-Needed to return to hotel to move our things to "new" hotel but first take babies to the doctor. Ta-da! Twin ear infections. Because there just wasn't enough going on.

-Rushed back to hotel room to pack room while Harry provided soundtrack. Nothing says fun like throwing your family's belongings into shopping bags as fast as you can while a sick baby screams in the background.

-Arrived at new hotel. Use term "hotel" loosely. Feel disgusted by the fact that while we may have been assigned a "non-smoking room," just walking through the hallway gives me a sore throat. Decide we cannot stay there. Put things back in the car and drive nervously back toward home, willing, praying, hoping that somehow, the power came back.

-En route to pharmacy to drop off babies' antibiotic, call neighbor, to check if, on the off chance the power has been restored.

-Learn the power was restored sometime around 4 p.m., right about when I was hauling bags into (and quickly out of) the Bed Bug Inn.

If I have learned one thing this year, it is to not take electricity for granted. Oh and heat is also nice. I realize, it could have been much, much worse. It was roughly four days without power. But there is just something very disconcerting about being displaced from your house and daily routine.

And after this year?

All I want for Chrismakah is a generator.


*With thanks to the illustrious Newark Star Ledger for the "Nightmare Before Halloween"