Oh Sandy...

As I type this, I am hoping and praying that everyone has their power restored and is starting to put their lives back together from the aftermath caused by that biotch, Sandy.  So many people lost so much, and my heart really goes out to them.

Thankfully, hubby and I made it through the storm with no major damage.  Only our newly re-screened porch suffered an injury {a branch impaled one section in the screen creating a hole}, but seriously…I feel ridiculous even bringing it up because it’s literally NOTHING compared to what some of our neighbors and obviously many areas like the Jersey Shore, Staten Island, Long Beach etc. are facing.

The winds and downed trees really wreaked havoc on our area.  We couldn’t believe the damage just a few houses down the road from us.  Here is a little bit of what we saw when we went outside the day after the hurricane.  {Sorry for the awful quality iPhone pictures!!}

Part of our neighbor's tree that came down on our property...thankfully missed the porch.

 Our neighbor's tree that was caught by other trees...otherwise it would have come down on our property.

This poor house has trees down on their driveway, telephone pole cracked and trees laying on the back of the house.

This tree brought down the power lines. :(

Tree came down right on the front of this house.

The trees you see on the side of the house are actually laying on the back of the house too.

And you see that picture of a ginormous tree laying across the road with the power lines?  Yea, that meant our power was our for 7 days.  It was not a fun experience AT ALL, but we definitely learned a lot during those days.  And I think we are going to be very prepared if something like this ever comes our way again. {But let's hope not.} Plus, we caved and bought a generator.  Once our bank account recovers from that purchase, we are hoping to get it hardwired to the house.  That will eliminate the need for extension cords running all over the place.  Talk about a trip hazard!

And speaking of generators.  Can we all hope to never see gas rationing again?!?!  We couldn’t believe the lengths people had to go to to fill up their cars or generators.  The time before, during and after the hurricane was incredibly nerve-wracking, and we can't forget that is still is for sooo many people.

There are tons of relief efforts going on to help out everyone in need, so please do a little Google search and see what you can do to pitch in!  Every little bit counts towards getting these people and towns back on their feet! :)