remember that thing that happened to new jersey last year?
that thing that destroyed the coast?
that thing that took the homes of thousands of people?
that thing that flooded most of hoboken?
that thing that most of america watched on tv each night sitting in their comfy homes saying "oh my... that's TERRible" but soon forgot about as soon as the next breaking news happened...



well, this little one didn't forget about hurricane sandy.
he set out to raise money by selling bracelets.

BRACELETS , people!

he lives in jersey city in an area with high elevation, so no house-destroying happened in his neck of the woods. but what he saw on tv moved him. he wanted to help.  but, how does a 4th grader help? he went to the street and worked his butt off selling $5 bracelets. a facebook page might have helped too.

jersey city independent recently reported his story, stating he has raised $3,335!
then donated it to the american red cross

he deserves a big pat on the back, don'tcha think?

cheers to the weekend!

for those of you not affected by hurricane sandy, i'm sure you're sick of hearing about it by now.  you may be thinking that there's too much hype on the news....

but, for every second that some people are getting their lives back to normal, some people are enduring more severe conditions. 

food is getting scarce for some.

clean water is getting scarce for some.

gas is getting scarce for EVERYONE.

store owners are getting basically attacked by looters, especially pharmacies.

temperatures are dropping.

clean, warm clothes will begin to be an issue.

people are being exposed to toxic gas leaks and raw sewage.

homes, businesses, and entire communities were destroyed.

millions are without power, water, and gas.

millions have no access to work, even if they do have power.

despite all the chaos... i'm not going to hide it, after all the devastation,
  even i was thinking about what will happen on election day
 

i'm a democrat, my governor is a republican.

i think we ALL know that democrats and republicans typically don't agree on most issues.

however, governor christie made me proud yesterday after seeing this clip on both The Daily Show AND The Colbert Report:

he's right.  if democrats and republicans can't agree on anything else, they should agree that we need to get our people to safety and recovery before we even think about elections.  life needs to return to normal first.

so, even if you are far away, even if you do or don't care about elections... if you have an ounce of sorrow for those who have suffered with the effects of hurricane sandy, please try to find a way to help:

Donate to the American Red Cross here.

10 Tips from the Huffington Post for donating smart.

CNN's "How to help after the superstorm"

we are currently hosting our friend who lived on a first-floor apartment in hoboken, left before the storm to evacuate, and now is not permitted to return home due to unsafe conditions.  thankfully she got out and is safe, and we can only hope that the worst of her worries is the spoiling food in her fridge and freezer.  we do know that her street got flooded, but we all pray that her belongings are safe!  only time will tell....

we're also one of the few homes in the area with power, water, and gas, and we open our doors to all of our friends to take a hot shower or have a warm place to sleep.

it's the least we can do in such a disasterous situation!

cheers, to hoping things return to normal for EVERYONE as soon as possible!

power is back!

our house did not flood.

we ate a LOT of rice and fried eggs.

(drank ALL of our wine)

we played 1 boring game of scrabble.

but... we made it!  and ate pretty good last night since we had to start eating things that were defrosting in the freezer.   this included 2 bags of shrimp.  so, mr p made a "fancy" powerless meal of shrimp in a herbed, lemon butter sauce... with white rice of course!  this meal would have been perfect if only we had some veggies to go along with it, but we took what we could get!

but first, some photos of hoboken and jersey city





after the power went out, we ate fried eggs and white rice....

now onto the "fancy" meal from last night

Herbed Lemon Butter Shrimp

2 lbs shrimp
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp italian seasoning
salt to taste
lemon juice to taste

in a large pan, heat oil on medium high heat, add butter, chili flakes, thyme, italian seasoning, and salt.  once the sauce is simmering, add shrimp.  bring to a simmer again, cover, and cook another 2-3 minutes, until shirmp is done (pink and curled at the edges).   add lemon juice to taste (i like mine REALLY lemony!!)  serve over rice, and preferably with some sort of veggie, like snow peas or broccoli! (but we didn't have anything like that last night)





bon appetit!

...and pray for those who lost their homes and those who have severe damage to their homes and belongings in long island, up and down the jersey shore, staten island, queens, hoboken, jersey city, and beyond....

cheers!

dear sandy, 

please be nice to us.  this is our first hurricane experience and we want to keep our electricity, gas, and water at least.  we live on the second floor, but it would really not be cool if you flooded our basement. don't beat up on our friends too much either... any of them! in dc, virginia, philly, boston, NYC, practically ALL up and down the east coast where you are supposed to make our lives miserable.  you've already put a rut in honeymoon plans for our friends that got married today, let's make that the worst of what's to come in the next few days.

thanks.

from, your local hurricane newbies who aren't quite sure what to expect.