What a life - After the hurricanes.

I guess I'm just not a good blogger. Once the hurricanes past and everyone quit calling to ask about them, somehow I got busy again and not been back to my own blog. OOOPS.

Life has been good. We were lucky in our area to have survived in tact. Other area of our state were not so fortunate and are still recovering, but myself I'm back to work. I'm building a business having left the corporate world almost 10 years ago now. Hard to believe how time flies.

During this hurricane season I was counting myblessings that I didn't have to report for duty anywhere. I work from home and with the internet I can be any place. I could not imagine ever going back to the old life of the JOB world. Sometime I'll write my book and tell about the transition from the JOB mentality to the life of independence. It's possible to break out but it does take some real mind tranisitions.

I just set up a new link exchange page so I'm going to link in my blog. IF you want to link to me you can do so at http://getaT1quote.com click on resources when you get there.

Meantime, I'm back alive and kicking and back to building my business.

Speaking of business, it's holiday season. How are you sending your greetings this year? I found a great new income source and tool for any business at the same time. IF you would like a free demo, fill in the form at http://mailoutcards.com and I will set up for you a free account to mail a card and try out the service.

Well back to my ball game, Bucs are tied at 14 all, I'm a die hard Bucs fan.

UPWARDS AND ONWARDS

Diane

GetaT1quote.com - Best prices and services in T1 lines

Keeping a sense of humor

Good thing us Floridians are tough, resiliant, and have a sense of humor. All sorts of jokes, photo's and things have been going around about the state where we can't count votes, and attract so many storms.

I received the following from a friend, It's a HURRICANE QUIZ :

Editor's Note: In preparation for hurricane season, I have put together a quick little quiz for people on the West Coast (most notably California) who may be visiting a southernstate. (No, Arizona is not a southern state) . .

.1. How are hurricane's names selected?
a. Named after Congressmen who are full of hot air
b. Names of spouses are submitted by divorced people
c. Page 824 in Miami's phone book
d. Hurricanes don't care what you call them

2. What do they call the most severe hurricane?
a. Category 5
b. Red Alertc. Costlyd. OHHHHH MYYYYY . . .

3. If a hurricane Guido with wind speeds of 104 MPH leaves theNorthwest African coast on Wednesday at 7:04 AM and is traveling Westat 16 MPH and hurricane Isabel with wind speeds of 93 MPH leaves KeyWest at 24 MPH on Thursday at 11:32 AM, when would they meet?
a. Tuesday at 3:18 PM, but their luggage would be in Paris
b. Never, Isabel doesn't want to have anything to do with ablowhard like Guido
c. Never, Guido said that there's no place for Isabel to stopand ask directions; she'll probably end up in Rio
d. Trick question - hurricanes don't depart from Key West

4. You're flying in a small, single engine plane. You look up and seea hurricane directly ahead. What's the first thing you think?
a. It's got the right of way! It's got the right of way!
b. This is the last time I fly no-frills.
c. I can't believe she's going to get EVERYTHING now!
d. I gotta change my shorts!

5. A hurricane is dangerous if . . .
a. You get in its way
b. it's had a REALLY bad day
c. you try to stop it to ask directions
d. you do not yield right of way

6. How do forecasters know a hurricane is coming?
a. Hurricanes ALWAYS leave a forwarding address
b. They have REALLY good binoculars
c. Hurricanes LOVE the beach
d. They send out a bunch of small boats and plot the sinkings

7. How can you protect your house in the event of a hurricane?
a. Sell it - QUICK
b. Bury it and dig it up later
c. Cover it with leaves and pretend it's a big bush
d. Duct tape

8. What is the first thing you should do if a hurricane is confirmedto be heading in your direction?
a. Check your supplies for the big hurricane party
b. Air drop a roadmap into the eye, of another area
c. Put out all your trash for immediate air disposal
d. Begin drawing plans for the new house you will soon be building

9. What should you NOT do if a hurricane is coming?
a. Begin those remodeling plans you've been putting off
b. Put the cat or dog out (unless on a LONG leash)
c. Cancel your homeowner's insurance
d. Go on a picnic, to the beach.

10. When is it a good time to evacuate your home?
a. When the water level reaches the roof
b. When your in-ground swimming pool becomes airborne
c. Shortly after your roof is declared a UFO
d. When people ask how you constructed a home without outer walls

11. Where should you evacuate?
a. A nearby lowland to wait out the floods
b. A tall location, like on top of a radio tower or Florida'smountains
c. Anywhere that has a happy hour and free munchies
d. Out to sea on a small craft

12. Why should you not stay close to the beach
a. All the best spots are probably taken
b. Track in too much sand
c. Cooler keeps blowing away
d. Hard to stay put under the 50' waves

13. If the eye of the hurricane passes overhead, you should not . . .
a. stare; it's impolite
b. make direct eye contact
c. offer it some Visine
d. ask if it's seen Dorothy and Toto

14. What happens after the eye passes?
a. Stay very still; maybe it didn't see you
b. It can't see you any more
c. You can expect the nose, followed by the mouth, etc.
d. It winks and waves good-bye

15. What should you do first after a hurricane passes?
a. Locate your computer
b. Determine if your computer is operational
c. Contact your insurance agent about replacing your computer
d. See if your spouse, kids and pets are around; get back to your computer

16. Who should you turn to if you need help after a hurricane?
a. Local government (also blown away)
b. State government (can't afford to help)
c. Federal government (doesn't care)
d. Foreign governments (the Japanese are looking for investments)

17. What happens a year after you're hit by a hurricane?
a. Still looking for pieces of your house
b. Still looking for pieces of your computer
c. Still looking for pieces of yourself
d. The government sees you've started rebuilding; concludes you need no emergency help.

The Next Month

Boy how things change. Storms have passed and I've finally ventured out to check round and fortunatley found most of my area intact. Driving across north Tampa, most of our power has been restored, you see signs down, broken trees, and debree but nothing really MAJORLY bad like our poor friends to the south and north. I know there are many areas around here that have been flooded and I feel bad for them. Comparied to the other parts of our state I feel truly blessed.

Now.. 2 storms Frances and Jeanne passed directly over us. What a difference though.

With Frances we had company and we all sort or were glued to the tv and really focused on the storm.
Frances also was noisy and LONG...days long and the winds howled. The news only gave info mostly effecting our area so our company didn't know what was going on in their area about 70 miles away.

With Jeanne we had only myself and my father in law. Our other friends decided to stay home and watch from there. With Jeanne also, the week before I found an EXCEPTIONAL new product line to add to my business and I was totally engrossed in showing the product to as many as I could because in the back of my mind I knew if I lost power, It may be weeks before I could share so I spent the entire day on the phones and online, so didn't pay as much attention to the storm other than to see the winds and rain out my office window.

FORTUNATELY, I did not lose power OR cable OR phones, so I got to stay online and on the phone the entire day. I found my mental state much better than being focused so much on tragedies and the scary storm also those I showed my new tool to were EXCITED and blown away that something so simple, could be so powerful and help them in their business.

Should you have a business or want to use a tool that will make your life much easier, feel free to write me or go to my own site at http://mlmblonde.com/contact and fill in your information and tell me you want me to demo this new product to you. It will take 5 minutes of your time and I can guarantee it, if you see this and use it, it will DEFINITELY improve your customer renention and referrals for you no matter WHAT you do. It's too cool. (just put a note on the form that you want me to show you the demo, so I will know )

ANYWAY back to the hurricanes, people are sending all sorts of funny jokes, one of them I saw our state moved up to ND, another I saw a big cloud over our entire state with a note as to us being under it, I've seen our state renamed to the Plywood state, another graphic with our state under sheets of plywood.

Today someone sent me the following ways to KNOW if you are a TRUE Floridian which I will post here:

At least they still have a sense of humor!!!YOU MIGHT BE A FLORIDIAN IF..........

You have more than 20 C and D batteries in your kitchen drawer.

The freezer in your garage is full of homemade ice.

You flinch when you are introduced to a person named Charley, Frances, Ivanor Jeanne.

You find yourself dropping words like "millibar", "convection","hunkerdown", "eye wall" into everyday conversation.

Your pantry contains more than 10 cans of Spaghetti Os.

Making coffee on your propane grill does not seem like an odd thing to do.

You are thinking of repainting your house to match the plywood covering yourwindows.

When describing your house to a prospective buyer, you say it has threebedrooms, two baths and one safe place.

You are on a first-name basis with the cashier at Home Depot.

You are delighted to pay $2 for a gallon of unleaded.

The road leading to your house has been declared a No-Wake Zone.

You decide that your patio furniture looks better on the bottom of the pool.

You have the number for FEMA on your speed dialer.

You own more than three large coolers.

You can wish that other people get hit by a hurricane and not feel the leastbit guilty about it.

Three months ago you couldn't hang a shower curtain; today you can assemblea portable generator by candlelight.

You catch a 5-pound catfish. In your driveway.

You can recite from memory whole portions of your homeowners insurancepolicy.

At cocktail parties, women are attracted to the guy with the biggest chainsaw.

You have had tuna fish more than 5 days in a row.

There is a roll of tar paper in your garage.

You can rattle off the names of three or more meteorologists who work at theWeather Channel.

Someone comes to your door to tell you they found your roof.

Ice is a valid topic of conversation.

Relocating to North Dakota does not seem like such a crazy idea.

You never have more than $20 worth of meat, and frozen foods in your refrigerator at any given time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The jokes are sort of sad but true. It's a good thing we Floridians have a good sense of humor. After all, we can't vote right, as we can't punch those little "chads" . So they gave us electronic machines, with computers that can't count. We messed up the last 2 nationwide elections down here, and now we've weathered the past 4 direct hits from hurricanes.

We're weathered but TOUGH. So back to the drawing board, I've got lots more demos to do to help others before I hear the NEXT one is headed this way. Last time I turned on the TV, Lisa was going away and I have not heard further if Mathew is coming along, but this weekend it's a beautiful mild and sunny day out, with light breezes.

Unfortunately I WISH we would get a little stronger breeze to knock down the broken branches way up in the oak tree that are hanging by just a thread. Can't put my car in the one driveway safely till we get those down, and of course we are on the WAITING list for at least a dozen tree companies. Unless your tree split your house in half, you are NOT a priority in hiring tree labor in Florida....so we have to wait till our # comes up or the branches up there get SHOOK down as they need a buckt truck to get to where they are.

On a positive note, at least we have a new mail box and the debree from Jeanne has already been picked up. That a good thing.

The other funny thing that happened in my city, is our BRILLIANT city manager decided to "COMMUNICATE" with our community daily to let us know what's happening in cleaning up the messes. Well our city was NOT hit all that hard. I happen to be on the crime watch with a neighbor. The CITY voted without telling us, that the crime watch people can be COMMAND central for their neighborhood. Well that SOUNDS good, but what it really means is they drop off 200 PLUS copies of what's happening for us to walk around to EVERY house in the subdivison, which is 4 streets each 3 blocks long and 2 side streets, a task that would take 1-2 hours a DAY.

They wanted us to deliver these DAILY like you get a newspaper (do I look like newspaper delivery???) LOL

It would be one thing if our neighborhood was devastated and no one had power and we all needed the information quickly, but instead it looked like repeated information each day.

Things like THIS: (My commenst follow in brackets)

1 We do NOT have to Boil our water. (HMMMM ok so what's new. I would think I would NEED to know if I HAD to boil my water Not the other way around. SO what if I didn't know and boiled it anyway...nothing lost)

2. IF you have damage, you need to make temporary repairs till the adjuster comes (DUH like who would not cover a hole in the roof?)

3. School is closed on Monday ( HMMM why did I need to know that on WED)

4. For those without power, they are working on restoring it. You will see trucks in your neighborhood when they are working on yours (DUH)

Anyway you get the IDEA. Our brilliant city manager in an effort to communicate decides we should all run around the neighborhood giving these sheets out daily (and who paid for all the paper and copies....taxpayers). NICE GESTURE but not too much thought in it. When I called and mentioned I thought it was a LOT to ask people to run around for 2 hours every night delivering information that is outdated before they get it. They told us WELL we have one watch that an 87 year old lady delivered over 200 by herself.

GEES I was thinking, that's NUTS. I guess when you're 87 you probably have a lot of time, or one of those carts to ride around in. I don't have an extra 2 hours a day to deliver one sheet of paper to hundreds.

Back to the drawing boards.

The worst is past (WELL ALMOST)

We survived another one, and feel so lucky and blessed. Millions are without power but ours stayed on and for that I'm thankful.

When they eye came over I went out and picked up branches. I saw a big one that was above my suv, hanging by a thread but it has not fallen yet. I moved the car next door, and will have to deal with that but other than that nothing major here. Tomorrow I will walk around the neighborhood. I did see a few big limbs and trees down.

The storm has passed us. That is the good news. The bad news is that is presently stalled and sitting in the gulf. We just hope it won't come back.

Watching TV there was lots of damage, flooding, trees down on houses and stuff in our city, so I feel very fortunate that we have nothing but tree limbs again.

Well.....hope that ends it. ....but there is also Lisa we're watching...YIKES this is nuts

It's coming here this time

Went to bed last night about 2. I've been so busy with our new product line and working online that I've missed most of the updates. When I went to bed, it was projected to go north of us across the state.

I got up about 9 AM, and turned on the tv. The wind is whipping around but unlike Frances that just howeled, Jeanne is just whipping around but not howling. Jeanne so far has been quiet.

I had a call from my daughter in Minnesota who saw on tv the storm is coming our way. I guess it is, but I think like most in Floirda that watched the last 3, it's almost like sort of an "OH WELL" what next attitude. I have to admit I have the same attitude.

I'm counting my blessings for the power right now.. .. at least i can be online. They say wind is picking up again and they eye is coming our way. They are showing things that are falling down all over, in my area. My trees are blowing and whipping around, but other than that it's like a big rain and wind.

I remember thinking the other day, I was thankful they just picked up the tree limbs that Frances knocked down. Our entire neighbor hood was full of piles of tree limbs last time. Since they got picked up this week, we now have a place to pile the new ones falling down now for another few weeks. I guess I'll be out picking up the yard again later this week. Hopefully I will still have a yard.

Looks like it's still a Catagory 1, and it's headed our way. Center is around Bartow right now which is basically about an hour or so to the east of us. IF I keep power I will keep this updated so those of you around the country can know we're still alive and well in Florida.

Upward and onward
Di

GEEEEEEEZZZZZZZ

That is how I feel with this weekly or ever other week hurricane. This time I'm totally unprepared, have not gotten out anything special, like the normal junk food. The last 3 hurricanes must have added 10 pounds to me, as I bought up crackers, cookies, snack food that does not require refrigeration. This time, this silly Jeanne looked fickle. She went north and then up into the atlantic, then did a complete circle to take aim at Florida.

Looks like now, it is going to hit the poor folks at Ft Pierce again.

HOWEVER, watching the TV now for the first time in days, I can literally FEEL the response of the others in the state, that feels just like me. APATHETIC.

People are calling in to ask questions about Can they go to the gator game first, when the east coast has been ordered to evacuate. They don't want to miss the game. The last question they called in this channel to ask if the game scheduled in an hour would be put on instead of the weather. People have watched the warnings, how to get ready, what to do, what to buy so many times (almost every week for almost 2 months now)...that they are tired of hearing it. I know I am.

I have so many flashlights, batteries, and so much frozen water in our big freezer from Charley, Frances and Ivan, that I didn't need to do anything in that line. After Ivan, Hubby was fussing at me to take out the water bottles so that he could find the real food, however, I told him no point in doing it over and over, just leave it in case we need it next week. SORRY to say I was right.....but it saved me having to do it over.

Looking for the positive in everything the good points of this one:

1. Hubby brought home several dozen plants he just put in the ground this morning, we don't have to worry now about watering them enough.

2. I don't have to buy tons of water, cause I already have the freezer full, same with batteries, radios. I also have not unpacked my imporant papers that I put into plastic.

3. I dont have as much to pick up cause I didn't put everything back from the last 3 things.


Seriously though this is getting kind of nuts.... and I'm so sick of watching hurrican projections I could have been a meteorologist.

Totally unreal

I'm just not believing this junk.... I hope others are not like me. I was told Jeanne is coming now.
I'm so tired of watching these things come...it's getting old

Our side of the state has prepared now for 3 of these things and it's getting old, so this time I will just ignore until it gets closer..watching for 5 days and having people run around evacuate, come back , go away , come back, it's getting totally crazy.

My business has been so crazy the last week, that it's been nonstop with phones ringing off the hook, to the point I have lost my voice, and have to whisper. It's been sort of wild and unbelieveable, since we found this little silly product that helps people with their business, no matter what the business is. It's been so nuts this past week, that I literally was surprised to see more of this nonsense.

This silly Ivan they say is still spinning rain in Texas now.

Weather out has turned cooler at night a wee bit..so you would think thes things would go away. Our state is tore up, people are homeless and these things keep on coming. Don't know when it will end.

OMG not AGAIN!

Here we are a week later, and it's been a whirlwind of a week, almost like I have a hurricane of the BRAIN. I was introduced in the past week to a new tool that is so exciting. It's a tool that can be used by anyone anywhere in any business, or even within families.

It can grow any business, or help people communicate with family and friends. I've been wrapped up in setting up this new branch to my home business and also sharing it with a few so they can use it in their own businesses. It' s so exciting that my phone has been ringing off the hook and I have not turned on the TV in days UNTIL .....TODAY

YIKES

I was on the call with a local area friend, who told me the rain here today ws REMINANTS of IVAN. I was HUH, Ivan literally destroyed North Florida and Ala, and went up to play havoc with GA & some of those states but I assumed he had died off. Evidently this is the back side rain from that.

In addition the new one Jeanne, last time I heard was not going to be a big deal, cause she was supposed to go out to sea, and so was KARL, the one behind her.

I figured I had enough of this waiting and watching so went back to working my business. I've been going non stop now for a few days with this new product cause it's SOOOO Fun and exciting.

NOW....looks like back to the stinking TV .... to see what's up...and found out we have a long list of characters here, as behind Jeanne and Karl, comes LISA, and looks like Mathew. Geez what is going on.

Mathew is my grandson and he IS a holy Terror so I hope this storm named after him does not take after him.

UNREAL.

Well I'm going to keep an eye on it but not too much spare time to worry about it for now. I have to get back to setting up this new product I have and sharing it with people, so I can help them build their business.

Back to the drawing board

Looks like we will squeak thru here

The past 2 days we watched with baited breath, as Ivan wiped out the poor folks in the Islands, and parts of Cuba. We were fortunated that Ivan started going North WEST. Yesterday the newscasters stated shifing their programs to say we were pretty much going to be safe in Tampa Bay.

In the back of my mind, I kept thinking, that's what they thought in Punta Gorda. Charley was the storm the TV casters named for Tampa Bay, only he shifted 3 hours sooner so we were fortuante. I kept thinking that I was not ready to let up my guard and put the faith in the stories quiet yet as the storm could sift at anytime. They were predicting a northeast turn but for later on.

Today is Wednesday, and Ivan has emerged into the gulf. Right now he's 300 or so miles to the southwest of us, and I'm starting to finally believe it's over for our area, but praying for those folks up in the panhandle, Al and Lousiana as this is appears to be the target Ivan has in mind right now.

Weather in our area yesterday was sunny and beautiful. This morning we woke up to a nice day also, but as the day has progressed the sun disappeared, and now it's overcast with a few little drizzles, not really rain. It's just sort of a drab looking day with a slight breeze.

For Tampa Bay, I think we're finally safe from this horrible storm, yet as we begin to breath a little easier, the weatherman now says there is yet ANOTHER tropical depression forming in the Atlantic that has been upgraded to a tropical storm. I believe they said this one is named Jean.

All I know it this is getting pretty old. I've lived in Florida for almost all my life and never do I remember this many storms back to back.

Ivan did help me get more organized, put important papers in the safe deposit box, and pictures into plastic tubs, and get my closet cleaned out. I almost do not recognize my closet and my office, it's so much more organized. Give me a few months and I'm sure it will look more normal.

Watching

Storm seems to have slowed and turned to the west north west so again we wait and watch. If this track holds strong for long enough we may be lucky again, but only time will tell.

The weather stations predict this storm will turn eventually to the north east which would be back our way, but we're hoping it will be farther away where it will blow out, nor not come here. I would not wish this storm on any one.

Schools in our area are closed tomorrow, and courts are closed until Thursday. They announced this on Friday since it was a weekend, and if Ivan does come this way they will need the schools for shelters. Guess they did that too early, tomorrow would have been fine for school. Now they will have to watch and see about Tuesday.

Today was a quiet day. I watched the Bucs lose their opener. Hubby smoked up several different meats for us and neighbors as we were planning ahead for the storm. I also worked on catching up some notes to my customers.

I was thinking how much I really accomplished with this storm coming. I did things I had been putting off forever, got all our photos organized and into a plastic tub and cleaned out my closet, and got all the important papers together, and created a spreadsheet with all the important numbers. So in that respect, the storm really helped me get on top of things I've been putting off.

The 11 PM news just came on. They now say it's likely this will be a couple of days away from effecting the weather here, and most likely will be hitting landfall in our panhandle. While it would be great if it didn't come here, I sure don't wish this storm on anyone. It would be nice if it could hit the gulf and just blow out.

It's really funny how people create shortages. We have no gas rationing but we have shortages cause they paniced and our county has used 3 times the normal supply of gas. People are filling up not only vehicles but cans as well. In addition, due to flooding the traffic is horrendous so they burn more gas.

So we wait and watch and watch some more.... and pray.

What a day

We started the day a little on the nervous side, watching this storm that was growing into one of the most powerful EVER.

Rumors were running wild that they were "rationing" gas. It was not true and the news media confirmed that still people seem to go nuts when they think they can NOT have something. They also tell you to fill your tanks of your vehicles, so that never helps.

We decided to go out, and get some extra batteries and some plastic to put on the windows. In the morning when we left, the storm had been upgraded to 150 MPH, so certainly beared taking seriously. We passed several gas stations on the way that had plastic bags over the pumps saying out of gas. It was strange as you would see some out, then others with long lines, go a little further and see a station with no bags and no lines.

Everywhere we went, stores were starting to board up and it was a little freaky looking at all the buildings covered with wood.

We went to Home Depot, where is was hard to even get a place to park. There were hundreds and all in the wood department. They were well stocked with D Batteries, and some heavy duty flashlights, but not much else to do with hurricane preparation. Wood was limited to 10 sheets per customer and was flying out the door as fast as they pallets came in. Once people waited in line to pay for their wood, they then had to go get their trucks or cars, and line up outside to collect it. Lines inside and outside were both very long. We were glad we were not there for wood.

We got some supplies and my hubby went by this dept that has some silly thing that goes on a pressure washer for $50 that he picked up. I was thinking that was a waste, because at the time, we didn't know if we would even have a pressure washer or anything left next week. Guess I've been watching too many news reports.

We had put batteries in our radio and found out that it didn't seem to work well. I had not used a battery radio in years, so decided we should go look for a better one in case we lost power.

Of course there were NONE at Home Depot, so we drove out to Walmart. There all the radios were gone but one or 2 big boom boxes that took C Batteries so that was out. I have not seen any C batteries in any store in days. Seems all the stores have plenty of Double A's and D's, but NO C's. We stopped at a KMart we passed, again NO radios and NO C Batteries.

Along the way we passed up many gas stations with Bags or lines. Finally we decided to go to the mall and see if the streets were opened yet. Along the way we found one station with only bags on ON pump and NO cars, so we stopped and filled up the truck, then went to the mall.

We went to Sears electronics figuring they would have radios but they did NOT. They did have plenty of flashlights that took A and D batteries, for anyone looking for them. None of the stores we visited had any camping type supplies left, no propane, no lanterns.... the shelves were bare. We went to several other stores in the mall, all the same, empty shelves for hurricane supplies. Finally we ended up in Radio Shack where I found ONE radio. It was actually very cool, in that it had a flashlight, radio and dog leash in it, and ran on double A batteries, so I snatched it up. Surprisingly they had 2 packs of C Batteries, which I almost bought, but hubby reminded me we didn't have anything now that ran on C Batteries (LOL) . Our flashlights or Lanterns all run on D's or AA.

From there we decided to go home. Normally we would go out to eat, as we eat out a lot, however, in the back of my mind I thought we better eat from our freezer. I saw all the waste from Frances, where people and stores had to throw out tons of food, and that was sad.

All said and done, I have enough batteries to last me 10 years, if the storm does not come. I also have enough water for the rest of the year, most of it already in the freezer so it would be cold. My hubby is fussing about having to dig thru water bottles to get to the real food.

Checking the news, they were starting to talk about a slight turn to the west, which would be good for our area. I decided to make a pitcher of strawberry dacquaris and just chill. I drank a few and watched TV something I don't usually do much of.

After that, I decided to clean out my closet, which would make a great safe room as it had no windows. I found stuff I'd not seen in years. My closet is actually 13 x 9 so there is a lot of room in it. More now that I cleaned it.

These hurricanes are really taking their toll. You sort of sit and wait, and wait and wait. Then when you do NOT expect it, they turn and hit you. When you expect and prepare they go away. Really crazy. I remember thinking about all the people and thousands and thousands of $$$ they are spending on things they may not even need.

On our way home earlier, I saw one house all boarded up and it had words on the wood that said " BRING IT ON CHARLOTTE" . Charlotte was crossed out and then it had FRANCES and then that was crossed out to say Ivan. I remember thinking that I've lived here all my life and waited many times on storms that didn't come, but NEVER remember a Charlotte. I was wondering if maybe the people had moved here from another hurricane zone.

Charley from last month, devastated many of our little towns. Putting that in perspective, there was an approx population of 90,000 where it came in. About 2 hours north, in the Bradenton/Sarasota area the population is 120,000. Another hour north is US...... and our population in the bay area is about 2.4 million.

If you think about that, just the sheer devastation that hit the South Florida area will take years to recover, but if it had been here, you would have 100 times or more the mess. That is very scary.

The 11 PM news is good news for the first time in days for our area. Seems the pressure areas from the east are driving Ivan west, which may make it pass us by out in the gulf. that's good news for us but bad news for the panhandle.

I don't wish this storm on my worse enemy. So we wait more and see where it is going tomorrow morning.

Saturday Morning

Woke up to another beautiful day. Sunny and a little breezy and perfect for a day at the beach. The thing with these storms is before they arrive the weather is beautiful.

Checked in for the latest forecast. Looks like Ivan is being steered by a high pressure area over the Atlantic, which has held strong and pushed the storm a little to the west. If it continued in that pattern that would be better news for the Bay Area, however, not so good for the panhandle of our state.

The bad thing is the storm appears to have slowed a bit. As it approaches Cuba, if it remains on course but slowed down, it will be going into the gulf but farther out so where if it remained that way, we would get more tropical force winds similar to last weekend with Frances. Those winds were enough to down many trees, flood the area and have several million without power for up to a week.

The other side of all this they say, is there is a low pressure area coming down from the mid north west. If the storm slows long enough in the gulf for this to come down, then it could make it do a DIRECT turn into Florida the same way Charley did last month. So basically no area of the west coast is safe, which is making everyone very nervous. People are panicing, linking up 200-300 deep to buy every piece of plywood in the stores, batteries and anything hurricane related is in short supply.

We're going out to buy a new radio after lunch and see if we can find some plastic sheeting for the windows. Nothing like last minute. We're also going to go look for gas.

Off we go.

Tampa Bay Area - Friday afternoon

I was beginning to really feel like my life has been on hold the past month, with waiting and waiting and watching one storm after another. It's getting very tiring.

On Friday afternoons I go to a Jazzacize class, and I almost skipped it but decided to force myself to do more than keep my eyes glued on the tv. So I walked to class, and it was good to get out. Only 4 people showed up so I guess the rest were out getting ready again for the storm.

When I got home, I decided to go to get some more "STUFF" to prepare. I know it's kind of nuts. My husband tells me we cant find the food for the water bottles I've been throwing into our big deep freeze and he is very right. I told him if I'm wrong and the storm passes or does not come our way, then so be it, I'll never have to buy bottled water for a year. IF I'm right and we lose power at least we will have cold water for a week or so. I HOPE I'm wrong.

EVERYONE in the bay area is taking this storm seriously. All the stores are empty. Three are lines 40-50 deep waiting in line for plywood. Supplies are dwindling and stores are stating to look like war zones. I went to one store to look for extra batteries, and they were about all gone. I got home and put some batteries in my radio (that I never use) and found it really did not work good, so tomorrow I am going to go out and look for a new one. I do have a wrist one that I wear when I walk however, I would be the only one that could hear that so I thought that would be rude.

I went to the grocery store and bought more snack food, water and diet cokes. All the time, I keep thinking how NUTS this is, but it's comforting to be doing SOMETHING. While I was out, I tried to get gas for hubbys truck, but there was none to be had. All the stations had plastic bags over the handles so I decided not to waste gas driving around looking for it, since I have to go out tomorrow anyway.

My neighbors finally got back their power from Frances today (YIPPPEEE). They were out for 6 days. I kept thinking how hard that would be to be without power 6 days in this heat. Also, I kept thinking in the back of my mind, and wondering.... if they were to have power back to enjoy for a weekend only to lose it again. How horrible for all those saints from electric companies that came here from as far away as Michigan, to work 18-20 hour days restoring all the power, and then see this HORRIBLE IVAN looming in the distance. It seems never ending here.

I remember thinking when I checked out of the grocery store, that these stores are really making a lot of money selling batteries, water, and plywood....yet the groceries LOST a ton too last week, when all the fozen foods and meats had to be thrown out. I was sick to see the waste, yet NONE of the food was donated ... I guess because corporations were afraid of being sued. Yet it did seem wasteful to see them throw out loaves of bread. They consider anything not canned or boxed, perishable ( even the bread). Thinking of all those without food, it made me sick to see the waste.

I don't want to watch the TV anymore yet it's hard NOT to turn it on and watch to see how much time we have this time before the monster lurks. In my county, all schools are closed again Monday and UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE they say. While I'm sure the kids LOVE that, it's certainly not easy learning with so many distractions.

They told us on TV if we had weekend plans to go and "ENJOY" as the storm would not be here at least till Monday. I was thinking GEE how can you go ENJOY when there is no gas to be had, and traffic is slowed to one lane on many flooded roads, and then you waste tons of gas trying to find gas. NOT at all a fun place to be right now.

I watched one Talk show this afternoon, and on it a poor lady called in worried to death. Due to the storms she had not worked for 3 weeks, and was worried about NO INCOME. She said she was concerned about being behind in her house payments and not having money for groceries and supplies to bunker down. Many people that have jobs outside or weather related were unable to work. No work, No pay. Again I counted my blessings for the fact that I am NOT dependent on a JOB for my income, having build residual income over the past years. http://trueteamwork.com That is a blessing when times like these come along.

With many people totally flooded out of their homes on our rivers, roads flooded, and seeing lakes where there were NONE a month ago, the last thing we need is more rain OR storm surges. The weather patterns are very very strange. There have always been hurricanes and storms, but NEVER EVER have there been 3 back to back like this, without time to even recover from one without getting slammed with another.

I've had friends and family tell me to "GET OUT", yet where do you go? I'm much better where I am than trying to flee with no gas, and then having the storm follow me. When you live in a state with MILLIONS, dumping them all on the road to evacuate, clogs the roads, and then how do you get back to return to your homes?

Getting out, sounds like an easy thing, but it's a very big decision. I'll stay and take my chances. I also have other relatives and friends that live in mobile homes or low lying areas so they end up leaving to come to stay with me.

So..... we can only now wait again and keep on praying this too will miss us or go back to a tropical storm.

Stress is starting to set in

I'm beginnning to feel like my life is on hold. Every place I look or go, people are starting to stress out. Having sat and waited and watched the past 2 storms, then breathing a sigh of relief when they were gone, only to now learn another is lurking worse than the other 2, is starting to take it's toll.

With each storm, I learned how unprepared I really was. Yet, in the back of my mind I'm thinking how can anyone ever be prepared for this stuff. Here we go again as they started evacuating the Keys about 6-7 hours south of me.

With a state that's been hammmered everything is in short supply. Gas it like gold, and just starting to come in again. Milk and perishable foods were thrown out from grocery stores that lost power and new supplies just starting to dwindle in. In the back of my mind, I was thinking why buy them, when they would only have to be thrown out. I've been buying up water, and throwing it all in the deep freeze. I also have neighbors on the next block that have been without power now going on the 6th day.

Just THINK about that. No lights, no tv, no way to store cold food, do laundry or learn about the next monster coming to hit us. I've been freezing up ice now as fast as I can and delivering to them each day so they can have a way to store something to drink.

My husband has been having fits cause it's hard to find our food in the big freezer as I have it packed shut with water bottles. We were blessed to have kept our power the last time, however, watching the crews go as fast as they can, when millions are without power, you have to know it's going to be LONG LONG TIMES.

Florida in September is still HOT HOT HOT, 90 degrees and muggy. Think about that. No fans No way to plug in things. We tried to prepare better with a generator but there is not one to be had any place in the state.

This morning I went out to put tape on some of my bigger windows. I didn't do that last time, but this time I felt led to tape them up. When I went to the one side, I found that we did have some of the siding come lose, so hubby will have to fix that today.

Even the waiting, the rains keep coming every day. Poor people that live on the rivers are FLOODED out of their homes and have to take boats to salvage things. It's flooded everyplace. The water has no place to go. Again I've been thankful to be at the high end of the county, and have been dry but getting around any place, lots of roads are shut down to one lane due to flooding, so it's not easy getting around. Better to stay home or walk.

Sad part, when all this is over ALL of us everywhere in the US will be paying for the damages. The federal government is in our state, with FEMA. they are taking applications and helping people with rebuilding their homes, and getting trailers or temporary living space. The entire state is a disaster.

Even those with no damage, have been effected in that these storms are taking their toll on us all. It's very very stressful and nervewracking to sit and wait, sit and wait and then wait some more. There is only so much people can do.

The poor electric people have been working 18 hours a day. Companies from as far away as Michigan have sent in crews to help rebuild. The man hours have been tremendous. In the back of my mind watching all of this, I'm wondering if it's all in vain. IF Ivan comes, all they have just done, may have to be redone.

They just announced all schools will be closed on Monday. I just saw the forcast and it is NOT good they way it looks now. Please keep us all in your prayers everyone.

People have asked me to come visit, in other states. While I do appreciate their offers, it's an impossibility. My husband would go out on the emergency crews for our county, and I'm not leaving him and our dog. We also have family members that would evacuate to our house. So we will batter down and pray. Latest weather report just showed it being pushed into our state again. This is so unreal.

Here we go AGAIN

I just can not even believe or fathom that after 2 storms 3 weeks apart, we are not looking a the potential of another one worst than either of the other 2, and as early as next Monday or Tuesday. Ivan seems to really be destroying some little countries and is a wicked storm.

I was concerned about living without power and damages from the last 2, but this one looks like power would be the least of our worries. I have been watching some of the stories on TV an am very nervous about this one.

After fighting traffic yesterday to get out, I am counting my blessings that I do not go to the typical 8-5 JOB. Many of my friends and family wonder why I don't "WORK" as they do, driving to report for duty, but right now, I am THANKFUL I didn't listen to them years ago when they told me I was nuts. Right now, if everything blows away, at least my income would still come in as it's not dependent on a nuts and bolts job to report to, so that is the least of my worries.

Last night I spoke to a nice guy online that was a victim of Hurricane Andrew, which was the biggest storm anyone had seen at that point. He gave me some great tips about putting all my important papers and photos, into plastic bags or tupperware. I thought that is a GREAT idea so I'm going to organize some of that stuff and to that. That might not be such a bad idea to get me a little organized anyway. It's something I've been "meaning" to do for a long time anyway.

I had a call from my daughter in Minnesota, who things we should sell and move up there, and buy a home where we can all live at the same place. I'm not ready to leave Florida yet. The way I see it they have weather problems no matter where you go, from tornados, to monsoons, to earthquakes.

Right now, I'm just really sort of sick of hearing of storms, and getting stir crazy cause I don't want to get out into the traffic. Our state allowed the area to become much overdeveloped in my opinion. Years ago back when I was in school the area they now call "New Tampa" was a literal Swamp with cypress trees and water. Developers came in and put some sand in there and built, and built and built. Now before the storms traffic was horrendous that way during rush hour.

Since Frances, water from the old swamp went over the road bridge in one direction causing damage, so now those poor folks that have to drive in to the city to work, have a 2 land road for thousands and thousands and thousands of them to commute each day. That was part of what I experienced yesterday going to my acountants and I certainly would not be patient enough to do that every day. YIKES. You sit for several minutes, a light changes and 3 cars go thru, so you wait some more.

All I could think of was with gas supplies running low, stations out, evacuations, all that wasted fuel with these giant gas burners certainly was not helping the situation. Unfortuantely for me, I gave my little Toyata to my kids back last June, and bought a Buick Rendevous that only gets about 17 MPG in the city. I don't use much gas as I don't drive every day but in a situation like this, makes it rough if you can't get gas or supplies.

At this point all we can do is hope and pray...as news just said storm was upgraded now to a CAT 5 and may be headed again to Florida. This is NOT good.

Life Afterwards

Right now, it seems as if the storms will NEVER end. News just reached us that it's possible the next one Ivan is headed our way and certainly NOT welcome.

I'm sort of in a daze with my head spinning. It's hard to believe how life has changed. I was blessed to have survived the last 2, I had power and other than a few downed branches was very fortunate, still life as we know it will be forever changed. It's the waiting and waiting and then one storm after another, that sort of makes you crazy.

Today I had to go out to my accountants office as well as to the store along the way, to get some propane and be better prepared this next time. The trip would have been a normal 10 minute drive, instead today traffic was the worst I've ever seen it, and it took well over an hour to make the trip one way.

One 6 lane major roadway, was flooded and closed off, causing horrendous backups. The Federal Agencies also set up an emergency center and took over the entire parking lot at the mall. Gas is in short supply as the tankers could not get in to fill the gas stations, and then the roads look like a parking lot instead of roads as all traffic is a crawl. It was bumper to bumper and not moving well at all. I can't imagine what the poor folks did that had to go to work in stuff like that. I'm so spoiled, working from home online, I never usually go out in traffic. Just today being in it once was more than enough for me.

I stopped at several stores, thinking I would buy some propane for a camp stove we had to keep on hand just in case we needed it for the next go round. Watching our neighbors without power, made me realize how unprepared I really was. Unfortuantely, there is no propane to be had in the city.

A friend called from a city an hour south of me, and we were talking. She was on the way to Walmart to buy supplies to for the next one and to repair some things this one did. She told me she would check down there and called back to say she was able to buy me some propane down there. Guess the people that way didn't buy it all out like up here.

So I decided to go to the grocery store to buy some things that we could eat without cooking, like crackers and snack foods, which I could live on for a few days if need be. The grocery store looked like a war zone. Shelves were bare. There was NO milk at all and very little bread. Signs were up on empty aisles that said to come back in 2 days, truck was expected in.

Remember now, in my area, we did not have major damage. Across town and to the south of us, rivers have risen and they are flooded out. Without power, many of our grocery stores had to throw out the fresh and frozen foods and have not restocked. Now with the potential of another storm, many smaller retailers do not even want to accept deliveries thinking they may lose them too.

Just take a minute to think about that.

Here, Without any MAJOR damage, we can't get milk, bread, gas...things we all take for granted. Thinking of the poor folks from Charlie, they lost homes and every single thing they had. Many are still in shelters, or camper trailers and there are no stores to even go to.

Life in Florida right now is no picnic. Of course, this is a tourist state. Fast food is still open, Hotels are still open and amusement parks. I'm wondering where they are getting their supplies. Maybe they have a better source.

Life goes on. People do what they have to do to keep going. I truly feel blessed to have had power thru this and no major damage. With 2 storms aimed this way in less than a month, being able to say that is a true miracle.

Now we wait and wonder, what next? Please keep the state of Florida in your prayers.

OMG I thought this was over....

I feel like I'm living in a daze with my life on hold. I'm thankful that I have power, and the little things like food & water, gas for my car.

I went out yesterday to take to dog to the Vet. There they had no air and it was hot and muggy. The grocery stores had no power for the freezers and had thrown out all the meat and frozen foods. What waste, it was very sad to see people that have nothing and then have all that good stuff thrown out.

Then today......turned on TV, to see that they are now thinking Ivan wants to pay our state a visit. Believe me, he is NOT welcome.

I learned from the Charley and Frances that I was not as prepared as I should have been so decided I would prepare better.

End of Frances

Well, it's all over and we survived another one.

I ventured out to take the dog to the vet's office to have some stitches removed. It is about a 20 minute drive. All in all, I saw a lot of tree limbs and leaves down, a few fences blown over, signs and even a metal roof crumbled but really no major damage. For this I was very thankful.

The storm as it hit our area had been downgraded to a tropical storm. I can't imagine if it had been 2-3 times that. My neighbors on a few of the blocks remain without power. If any of your are in Florida and have power, look around your neighborhood and share some ice and drinks with them.

Now the aftermath, rivers are overflowing into people's homes, and many are under water. Many will be without power for quite a while. Can you imagine, NO lights, NO Air, NO refrigerator, and NO TV?

When I got to the vets they had partial power but no air conditioning. Next door was a big grocery store with NO Power. They had to throw out all the meats, and freezer stuff and even bread. What a big waste. I asked why they could not cook and donate to the shelters or people without food, but was told they would not because it was too much risk that people may get sick and sue them.

No matter what, all of us will end up paying for this storm, in increased insurance costs and costs of supplies. Even Gas stations sold totally out of gas. It's sad and scary. People ahve to watchout for price gouging and stuff crooks that rush in to sell them repairs.

Now.... all this is over and people are trying to return to the normal life, fix broken things but yet, on the horizon, all eyes are on the next horrible storm.. IVAN. All we can do at this point is PRAY...

I was hoping this would be the END of my hurricane blog so I could get back to building my business. I will be working again this week, but again with one eye glued to the TV. AND also have to get to the store and get better prepared just in case. I didn't realize till the storm was almost on us how unprepared I really was for long term, of possible no power to cook with, and food that didnt need cooking.

Realizing that now, I will be shopping better this week, and also looking for propane for the camp stove as well as trying to find a generator for emergencies. Unfortunately, there does not appear to be any generators available locally right now, but hopfully we can find the propane.

Well I HOPE this is the end of my hurricane blog. I was going to learn write about building a home business when I stated this blog, and what it really takes to build a business. As soon as I catch up with my backlog in my business, I'll get back.

Please everyone keep our state in your prayers. It's not an easy time to be living in Florida.
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Aftermath - Monday Night

I walked the dog around thru my neighborhood last night. Our subdivision fared very well and all the neighbors I spoke to were counting their blessings.

Just about every home, has piles of leaves and branches already out for the trash collection. A few had bigger limbs and some with weaker trees had some larger branches broken which most were out cutting down and piling up . Two homes in my neighborhood had small trees or limbs fall on their homes, again majorly with no damage to speak of.

The first block had no power on both sides of the road. My first thought on seeing the open windows, was that they were simply enjoying the breezes as there was till a strong breeze about 15-20 MPH, but talking to neighbors along the way I realized they had no power on that street, and one side of the next one over, as well as the far street.

It appears a transformer blew late Sunday night. We remember hearing a loud explosion about that time, and all our lights went off for about 30 seconds and came back on. At the time, I remember thinking that was a loud explosion for a light bulb. Our street light had gone out so I thought that was the noise, but found out instead it was their transformer.

As I looked around, I just really felt an overwhelming feeling of gratitude. In our area we are all the highest point of our county. Our city has done an excellent job of keeping storm drains open and running so there was no problem here with flooding as in the rest of the county.

I ended up talking to several neighbors without power. Most had moved their frozen things across the street to their neighbors. I went home and got out some of the blocks of ice I had frozen to share with them.

In a hurricane they tell you to save water, get batteries for radios and stock up on canned goods and things that you can eat that do not require refrigeration. I bought several cases of bottled water. Knowing how I would have to be in bad shape to drink hot water, I took it all and put into a big freezer we had thinking I would at least have cold water. I was grateful that I did not have to use it for me, but figured I could take soem of it and give to those without ice.

It looks as if they may not have power for days or a week. The power company said priority is given first to emergency centers, next to blocks where they have 500-1000 people out, then smaller groups from there. Since there are only mabye 50 -60 homes in this block, it may be next week fro them.

Florida at this time of year is still hot and muggy and no time to be without air conditioning. I'm praying they will have power restored soon. Meantime, if you happen to be in Florida too and see people effected by this take them some ice and cold things to drink. They would appreciate it. That is one small thing you can do to help.

Labor Day

Today is misnamed as labor day. Here we sit, everything is closed. The winds are still whipping around pretty good and because they are now coming from the other direction and the gulf, lots more rain and lots more limbs down.

Looking at the tv, it appears our bayshore area is under water with both sides of the road covered and the water crashing over the sea wall. Looking in my yard today there are more limbs down than yesterday but nothing major. It will just be picking them up right now. But with the winds and rain still coming, there is no point in trying to do that now, besides some of them may just blow away on their own. :))

My company from Orlando decided to leave and go see what was up with their house. I have to say they are braver than me, there is no way you'd get me out on the highway with this weather. It's not going to end probably for another day They were lucky and made it home, found their phones and electric still works so they were lucky too.

I think the worst of this storm is over, barring any tornados coming thru. There worst thing is for those in low lying areas. There is exensive flooding, with much heavy rains still coming down and the wind pushing the gulf into our beaches and into those homes in the low lying areas.

For those of you with relatives in Florida, for the most part this storm did not do the extensive damage of Charlie 3 weeks ago. It was a slower moving storm, and with lots more rain but when it got to the center of FLorida and our side it was down to a Cat 1 and then a tropical storm. My guess is as it leaves and damage is accessed, the ones that would have the worst of this would be the Bahamas, or the Palm Beach Areas where it first came in as a Cat 2. Time will tell.

If you are in Florida and do not need to be out on the roads, stay home. Give people that need to get home or have emergencies a chance to do so without the unnecessary traffic.It also is NOT a good time to be on the road unless you HAVE to. The winds are still pretty strong, and conditions are still iffy.

I'm totally bored. It's funny, normally I would be here working my home business online, and I could be doing that right now, but watching the storm and TV and uncertainly of it, makes you lazy and lackadasical. I don't feel like working, yet I know how stupid that is.

IF I had a "REAL" job, I would have to report for duty, no have no job. But being in business for myself I can work when I choose. That is good and bad because, you have to be self disciplined to make yourself work when you don't feel like it. If you showed up for work only when you felt like it, you'd not have a job long.

I remember thinking after Charlie, looking at all the damage, and destroyed homes and businesses, how lucky I was. Not having a brick and mortar type business, I would still have an income and that's a true blessing.

Well I'm going to get my rear in geer and go answer my mail, and make myself do a little work. Thanks again for all the prayers.

The end of Sunday

Well Sunday is almost gone. It was a long long day. We are not sitting in the tail end of the storm. They eye was so big that it was a good 4-5 hours of calm. It's not out in the gulf but we are starting to get the tail end from the south. Watching the eye on TV now, it's HUGE. They are saying it is possible that it will regroup back up to a CAT one before hitting the panhandle of our state, so please keep those folks northof us in your prayers.

Im waiting not to see how the winds effect us coming from the south. I know I am very very thankful that we have kept our power. There were a few scares, but they were internal. We were watching a movie this afternoon and my father-in-law reached over and dimmed the lamp and in my mind I thought the power went out. It took a minute to register that the TV was still on, then we realized we still had power. It was kind of amusing. When you are cooped up for days on end, it does not take much to be amused. It is very nerve wracking as you don't know what to expect and how much longer it will last.

Also hurricanes are HORRIBLE for your diet. We ended up sitting around, watching movies and eating and eating and eating. I ate more today than I normally eat in an entire week. Just for lack of something better to do, plus the fact we bought lots of junk food and snacks in case we could not cook.... so we ate and ate. We also cooked earlier than normal, thinking we would cook up food in case power went off, so we did.

So today we saw a few more movies, ate, watched the rain and wind, and later we played some cards. When we were playing cards, we heard a LOUD crack and the lights went off for about 30-60 seconds. It didn't even quite register that it was off yet, when the lights flickered and went back on. It ended up that the street lights out front blew out and that was what cased the pop.

Again, I was thankful to have electric, cable and even phones. We are among the fortunate right now at least. Watching the devastation and continual around the clock coverage really points out how fortunate we were. I am really very very thankful for the fact we are all safe and have power.

As we wait on the back side of the storm, we are praying the power stays on and everyone stays safe. I've heard from my friends in Apopka, and also from Bradenton, and everyone did good with keeping power and no major damage.

Tomorrow when it's light and the thing passes totally we will all get out and look around to access the damages.

Now all we can do is PRAY that Ivan stays far away from our state. I'm feeling bad for those people that evacuated and left, as it's going to be hard getting back in, with the traffic and the destruction, downed lines, trees, etc. AND not to mention the fact that Ivan is headed this way and on the same kind of track. This is NOT good.

This storm now appears to be headed up thru Georgia and Tennessee, but by the time it hits up thee it should ba a lot less fierce.

The eye of the storm

Looks like we are not about in the eye of the storm but thank goodness it has been downgraded to a tropical storm. I can NOT even imagine being in the eye of a category 4 hurricane, as this is supposed to be only now a tropical storm here, and the trees flying like this.

The area is so saturated that with all the rain, trees are in soft soil and are falling.

I am truly counting my blessings for the fact that thru all this we have had power and cable. That is truly a blessing and I am very thankful for that. Right now they have 180,000 in our area out of power. I'm just praying we stay fortunate as we are now.

So far looking out the only damages I can see from inside are tree limbs, branches and minor things like that. There will be lost of clean up to do around this state for a long time to come.

I'm getting very tired and bored. It is old just sitting and waiting and waiting. W e watch lots of people on TV that are out at the beach and looking around, totally stupid. Only time will tell. It 's sad to see the destruction.

4:30 and counting

We made it thru most of the day, and are counting our blessings to still have power. The winds are picking up, and have been relentless. The rain is coming down in buckets and the tress are whipping around. Some branches have fallen here but nothing major.

We are on our 2nd movie of the day between weather reports. We had dinner early so we could cook while power was still with us. I'm sitting here freezing because we have the AC up on high blast to keep cool in case it goes. We're praying it does not though.

I had a call from my son in Orlando about an hour ago. I also talked to a friend in Apopka and up there they said they were getting higher winds than here...but I can't imagine that. Son tells me the worst of their winds are thru headed our way. Winds are picking up now. ON Tv it shows the bad bands in yellow and red. Until an hour ago we were green and blue but I think now we are in the yellow ones the way the trees are going anyway.

From what they say the bad part is yet to come. The water and rain are starting to go sidewards now and it looks very strange. The reallys scarest part of all is IVAN is right behind and looks like that one went from a disturbance to a hugh Cat 4 overnight. We can only hope Ivan will go away some place else in the gulf and fall apart. Florida will not sustain another one of these any time soon if ever.

I was stupid and left my car cover on and to it blows up and then I have to go out an pull it back down, It's tied across the bottom but the wind is so strong it blows under it. I thought it would protect the car from the tree leaves and hope I was right on that call.

Thanks for all the prayers.

I have to say the weather patterns over the years are totally changing. I've lived in this state for most of my life and NEVER have I seen anything like the storms of this year and then back to back. It's getting heavier now and more sidewards rain, and big gusts.

I'm going to go and watch the outside.

Sunday 11 AM

When I went to bed a 2 AM I could not Sleep cause the noise was so loud, the rain and wind was heavy. I just listened to the sounds, for an hour or so then the last time I looked at the clock it was about 3:30 AM and I must have fallen asleep. Next time I looked at the clock it was 5:15 AM and very quiet, then I fell back asleep until about 8 or so.

I woke up totally dizzy. I do that sometimes, so I flipped on the TV and was thankful to see there was still power. I saw 3 or 4 pictures on tv of the screen. Watching all the pictures from our west coast does not look good. It's very scary.

We are counting our blessings right now to still have power, but had reports that there are already about 40,000 in our county without power. The storm is still a long way from us and they say that it will be here in a few hours. It's hard to believe when you see the winds and rain that this thing is not even here.

It also makes me realize how unprepared we are for this. I do have some snacks and stuff like that but no way to cook without power. We plan to go ahead and cook something early for today and then who knows from there. I'm just praying our powere holds on and the storm goes on further north or back out to sea.

The funny thing about this is watching. The winds at my house are form the NORTH WEST ....which is freaky. In my mind I'm thinking with the storm to my SOUTH, you would think the winds would blow from the south, but that's not the case. The news caster just said that tonight that will change and the winds will come more from the south. The wind comes is waves, the trees blow and blow and then it stops. It's very strange. Pray for as we are surrounded by bit oak trees.

Those of you reading this that are in the panhandle, take today to get ready...get a way to cook, get batteries and lots of supplies as they say once it clears are area the warm waters of the gulf will allow it to build again and pick up speed as it comes your way.

I watched them declare our entire state a disaster are already and It looks like it will hang here for another day or 2. Those that evacuated our state are also going to have a hard time getting back all at once. They recommend you stay away so that everyone does not try to come back at once.

IF we have power later I will try to update this. Keep us in your prayers all.

Wee Hours Of Sunday

Here I am again. It's almost 1 AM. and just had word a tornado is headed our way, and we're under a watch for the next 30 minutes or so.

This storm is just hanging in there sitting down there just off the coast of the West Palm area. I guess all of the country is getting some of the same type reports. In my area, as we sit and wait, it's weird. The wind will blow and the trees really rock, and it will rain, and then all of a sudden just stop.

I just heard word on the TV that they do not expect the tropical force type winds to hit us until tomorrow about 11 am or so. It's funny, I am sort of tired however, everytime we've had a storm like this, I go to bed listening to the news and wake up to totally different things happening with the storm. There has never been one this big to engulf our whole state before.

Basically today, we watched a movie, and then we ate, played cards and ate some more. My friends are here with their 2 dogs. My father in law came later as he got evacuated from his area, and he brought his cat. We put the cat in the laundry room as she would be scared of the dogs and the dogs have never been around cats.

If we have to wait much longer, we're going to end up putting on much weight, just sitting around waiting and eating and waiting. The sad part of the whole thing, I really feel bad for those folks that were south of us that got hit by Charlie just 3 weeks ago. That area is just devastated and have not even begun to recover and this storm is crossing over them too. Hope everyone will keep the people of Florida in your prayers.

My mail and servers were down earlier, and they are hosted in Orlando. so were down for a little bit but came right back for now. They have a generator, which I WISH I did. We tried to buy one last week, but there were NONE to be had in Tampa Bay. So all we can do at this point is pray.... and hope we keep power.

As long as I have power I will try to keep this rolling so anyone that wants to know what's happening in the Tampa Bay area can check in. Right now it's still pretty calm. Everyone else has conked out already so I will probably hit the sack soon and see what tomorrow brings. They say we won't get the outer tropical bands yet at least till 11 AM Sunday...it is a SLOOOOOW moving monster.

Outer bands

Well looks like the first part of the storm is about to decend on us. It's 5:30 and the treess are blowing like crazy one minute and the next the kind of just stop, sort of weird. Rains have also just started coming in.

Timing was pretty perfect as Hubby was able to retrieve the meat from the smoker before the rains. We're watching a movie cause that weather stuff on tv got kind of old.

I'm hoping we keep in power. I want to thank all of you wonderful friends that keep popping up to send you wishes. It's so neat to have know so many wonderful people all around the country. I had offers from many states to come and stay with them as the storm passes, but decided to stay and ride it out.

We have plenty of movies to watch if power holds, so will keep busy.

Looking out the window it's so strange as the tree will be blowing all over one minute with branches touching the ground, and then 5 minutes later totally calm. The sun went away but then it sort of came back thru the rain, really weird.

I guess this is the first band. I just saw my friend Deb over on AOL ...she is about 30 minutes to the Northwest of me and she says it is pouring there. Hard to know what to expect.

Well I'm off to answer email while I have a chance. Keep all of us in your prayers everyone

DI

Saturday Afternoon

Well, I got tired of waiting and sitting around so decided to go take our 2 day movie back. Better now than after the rains finally make their way in.

Meantime, we also decided to light up the smoker in the yard, and smoke some ribs and invited the neighbors to send over stuff too. Keeps hubby busy and we'll have a hurricane party dinner. He also decided to bake a few pies. Guess you can tell by now Hubby is the cook here.

Meantime, my friends in Orlando, had been debating for days whether to stay there or come here, as the weather forcasters kept changing their predictions from this storm going the north coast, or mid state again like Charlie or even to turn back to us. For several days they were packed up and deciding to come here, then they decided to stay and wait.

Finally this morning, they decided to get out and come here. I told them they better either decide fast or stay put. They say they are leaving and coming now cause they are gettng nervous as it looks like their area will be worst than ours, so I think they are on their way here. I'm a little nervous about that as it looks like the outer bands are approaching now.

I decided to run back the 2 day movies, since I dont want to go tomorrow in the wet squalls. I took hubbys truck because I didnt want to uncover my car. As I looked around, I saw TONS of traffic on the highways. The day is warm and sunny and breezy. Some of the stop lights are blowing back and forth but no more than a normal windy day.

I saw a gas station open with gas so pulled in to top off his tank, and had a time as he had a locked gas cap and I didn't know how to do it. A really nice man helped and I went to put gas in and found the machine would not read my card, so I had to go inside. They said the reader was bad and turned it on. It only took 5 gallons to fill the truck as he had just got gas a day or so prior. I went in to pay and I think they guy was surprised to see a big truck only use 5 gallons, which was funny.

I then dropped in the grocery store next door, to get some necessary supplies, like snacks and cokes. Heck if the power goes out, I dont want to worry with cans, I am just as happy with junk food :)) Guess that's not too healthy.... and that's why I build a health biz on the side. I take lots of nutritional supplements and then eat horrible. OH well, I'm too old to change that.

Hubby asked me to stop for apples and sweet potatoes so he could make some pies, and I got that as he asked and about another $50 worth of stuff. I'm very bad about that, I avoid the grocery stores cause I can NOT get just one thing.

Anyway when I went out with the groceries, I remembed I had his truck .... it's got a back seat thing but it's a pain. It much easier to show with an SUV.

I returned home to find that my car cover had blown half off the SUV so hubby had to go put it back on and tie it down.

SO as I write now, it's still sunny and breezy but I'm watching those storm chases on the tv from Melbourne. The tips of hurricane Frances is just starting to hit there and they say this storm will be there for 24-48 hours MINIMUM bring lots of rain and wind.

They are now just starting to speed of our counties, and there is presently an involunatry evacuation now for mobile homes. They just reported most gas stations along I4 and I 75 are out of gas. So we sit and watch some more.

Hopefully the rain band wont hit us before our food is smoked. Those that have visited me in the past know Hubby has HUGE Smokers in the yard and lots of oak wood so it's a good thing he's going to burn some up fast so it won't fly. We're going to have smoked ribs and hopefully they will finish before the rains.

Well I hear our company at the door now..so I will write more later.

Saturday - still waiting

I went to bed last night, and after watching anothe movie. Normally I NEVER watch TV or too many movies. Usually I'm on line, working my business or on the phones, or else taking time off to vacation. NEVER Do I watch so much tv and movies.

But Hurricanes change your lives.

We just got over 4 or 5 days of waiting on Charlie and it seems like yesterday. I went on with life glued to the TV so I've been trying NOT to do that this time, only it's addictive. You get online, you turn the TV to watch. You watch a movie, or do something else and flip on the TV to watch.

So here it is 9 AM Saturday morning.

Here we are again. Woke up to a beautiful sunny day. Nice and sunny, yet the TV warns us of FLOODS and coming rain. Looks like the storm is now moving at 6 MPH.... with the outer bands just barely touching Florida.

It looks like the bottom half of the state appears to be covered with rain bands yet I look outside and do not see a cloud in the sky. It's very deceptive.

The tv does a good job about warning people yet also you wonder what do you do, when You have everything out. I'm praying we keep our power. I can't imagine being days with NO Air Conditioning and no internet connection, no ice, no food.

This is scary ... I'm watching now films coming in from the Bahamas, and all the LOOTING. That amazes me that people can be so evil. In a disaster, people come out to steal and destroy. It's a shame the hurricane does not take away the looters and wash them out to sea. There is no excuse for that.

Well, it's time for breakfast. If you're reading this please keep Florida in your prayers.

One Movie Later

Back again.

Still waiting on Frances. It's now about 9 PM. We watched a movie, then took a break to jump online answer mail, and catch up on the news to see where the storm is now.

Looks like it is still sitting over the Bahamas, moving at only 4 MPH which is extremely slow. Compared to Charlie of 3 weeks ago, this is SLOW. Charlie was clipping along at 20 MPH, and was strong.

Frances was a category 4 storm just 2 days ago, and earlier today it stalled over the Bahamas and went down to a CAT 3. NOW.... tunining in it's down to a CAT 2 with 105 MPH Winds.

Checking in online I saw one of my friends from the other coast and he did NOT evacuate, and he's close to where the storm is coming in...so hopefully it won't pick up again. Only time will tell.

Now it looks like it wont reach our state land until 2 PM tomorrow afternoon, of course no one knows anything for certain with these things.

We are still waiting and watching.

More updates to come.

Back to another movie for me.

Upward and onward

Diane

My earlier hurricane update

I had been working on learning blogging earlier and started this STORM update, only I somehow didnt get it posted, it went into comments instead...so a friend told me to copy and paste it ....so we'll see if it works.

At 11:02 AM, Diane "AKA" MLMBlonde said…
Guess I've not had much time to work on learning this lately.

I live in the great state of FLORIDA where we are now awaiting our 2nd hurricane in 3 weeks.

Hurricanes are a fact of life here, but lately they have become more and more wicked than ever before. I think we're living in the end times where that's been predicted for thousands of years.Charlie was quite wicked and came inland a few weeks ago and destroyed the south western part or our state.

Now we are waiting for Frances and waiting and waiting. The entire atlantic side of our state has been running and evacuating for days.

I'm in the Tampa Bay area so I'm thankful that I am not in the direct line of fire this time as we were 3 weeks ago. It can be very scary cause as good as the weather people are no one can predict exactly where these suckers go.

Last time we sat and watched it aimed at us for 3-4 days and only 3 hours before getting to us, it took an abrupt turn and went instate and missed us by 60 miles.Watching the destruction of homes and businesses, I know I am very thankful that I started a home business years ago, because should that happen to us here, at least I have no job to lose and my checks would still come in as I rebuild.

Now as we wait on Frances, predictions keep changing. I feel very sorry for the Bahamas. Frances has been stalled there now for days .... they are taking a hammering.

Stay tuned and I will add to this as we go along.

Regards

Diane

Continuing coverage of Hurricane Francis

Well here we sit waiting once again for this storm I figured it would be a good time to practice learning about blogs. I am learning I didn't do a good job on my other post as it went into the comments section, but I am new to this, and determined to learn.

This is our 2nd hurricane alert in 3 weeks. It's getting old as it sort of puts your life on hold. We've got a long weekend ahead. This storm was due to be coming up here today, but as of yet, it's slowed down and waiting.

Now they say it will take 24 hours for this cane to move from east coast to west coast where we are. Without all the TV reports and radio reports, you would never know it's coming. It's a beautiful balmy day, with a nice breeze, warm and sunny. I guess that's where they get the saying the calm before the storm.

Many of my friends, family and business associates from other states have been calling and emailing. They have graciously offered me a place to come visit. While I appreciate that, It's kind of hard to make that decision to pack up and leave your home. I decide to stay and wait and see what happens. Thankfully I am NOT in a flood zone or an evacuation zone.

Most of those on our east coast have evacuated and left our state or moved over here to our coast. Gas stations are running short on gas and many have out of gas signs up already as our hotels over here are sold out. There is NO ROOM at the inn for anyone. If you did not fill up with gas, you take your chances now. Stations have OUT OF GAS signs up or plastic over the pumps.

Yesterday I went to the grocery store for extra water and batteries, and it was weird to see that every cart going to check out had the same stuff in them, water, batteries, flashlights and all sorts of stuff. I remember thinking how these stores are making a killing on these hurricanes selling all the extra water and batteries.

There is such a rush on customers for gas, that the stations are closing and have no idea when they will get more gas. Kind of scary for those that have big gas guzzlers. If the storm hits walking or bikes will be how we get around. No one knows when gas supplies can come back in as they are halted waiting on Frances.

After dinner we grew weary of watching all the tv stories of this coming storm, so hubby and I went down and rented about 10 movies to watch over the long weekend. When we got home with them, I had the thought that they would do us little good if we lose power. (DUH Blonde in me strikes again). A friend stopped to see hubby so I thought I would practice blogging and share the story of waiting on the strom.

For now I can get online, do my email, and work my business. I don't know what I was thinking on the movies, as I was thinking if I can't get online I could watch movies....but chances are if that happens, I won't have power, so time will tell.

I guess to me having lived my life in the Tampa Bay are these approaching storms are old hat. I've been lucky all the years never to have been in the center of one, but I have been thru dozens and dozens of near misses. I hope my luck holds out in that regard.

I heard the report just now that the outer edges of Frances is just starting to come into our state now, It's now positioned over the Bahamas where it seems it's been all day long. It's moving slowly so only time will tell where it's going now.

Well I'm off to watch one of our movies with hubby and his friend. More later.

Freedom To Live Your Dreams Takes WORK

Freedom To Live Your Dreams Takes WORK

I started this blog, to talk about building a home business and what it really takes.

Over the years, I've seen so many "DEALS" around and so many people looking to get rich. The sad part is they are looking for something where they do NOT have to talk to people, do NOT have to sell anything and basically where they can sign up, do nothing and wake up rich.

What usually happens is they jump on the latest deal, they put out money sometimes $100, mabye $200 or even some up to $1,000 or more thinking they are "investing" in freedom. They fail to realize that businesses do NOT grow on their own. It takes much time, effort and work to grow a real business.

About 10 years ago, I realize that I would NEVER get rich working for someone else trading my time for $$$. I had no clue how to grow a business nor did I have money to invest, so I started out part time in my spare time, learning and looking for that Magic business.

What I learned is there is NO magic but there are truly good solid things people can do to build an income if they are willing to WORK! The key word is WORK.

Freedom does NOT come free. Freedom comes with a price and that price is lots of hard work and effort to build yourself a residual income that comes in whether you work or not. Freedom comes to those that pay the price. I'm very thankful today that I broke out of the norm and built several income streams.

I'll talk about that more later on. IF you want to reach your dreams, you can do it. Dreams were made to happen.

What is a Blog? I'm going to learn.

I'm not really truly sure what a BLOG is so I figured the way to learn about them would be simply to create one and see what it does, so here I am.    I guess you can say this is  my BLOG.
 
Because I'm not sue what a blog is or what it does, I also had no idea what to pick for a title, so I thought about FREEDOM.    What does freedom mean to you?   What does it take to be really FREE?
 
In my mind,  I love being independent and having the freedom to chose if I want to get up  or sleep in, if I want to go out in traffic or not, and also not having to report for duty and fight traffic unless I choose.    I know of many people that complain and say they hate their JOBS, yet I don't see them doing anything to change that.
 
I thought that would be a good topic for a BLOG.   Learning about what it TRUELY Takes to succeed in your own home business.   There is NO get rich quick anything.  IF someone tells you that you can earn $10,000 next week,  you better run.

You can build a business and you can get rich, but it takes work and lots of it.     Bottom line that's the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.