Here are my ahas! from living with the effects of Sandy (no, no me but the storm!)

1.  Game night is ON and slumber parties rock!   And they are great family bonding time!   We loved the game nights but never had time!  Now with no TV — we had the time. Slumber night was fun!  It was a real bonding experience!

2.  I love my flashlight!  Yep, I bugged my hubbie to prepare but I ended up buying the flashlights, and lights to illuminate the house.   I ended up carrying it with me everywhere!   Be prepared if this could happen to you!

3.  I missed writing in my diary.  As a young girl, I used to write in my diary daily!   I have books and books of them!   With the extra time, and no power but light. I wrote down my thoughts about the day, life, and more.   It was a great exercise and very calming!

4.  Innovation is alive!    Cooking eggs on a grill?   New spaghetti dishes from a microwave?    yes, innovative food is a must during the event with little power — and a grill to cook on .. but we did have a generator that we used for one room!     You learn to appreciate your full kitchen!

5.  Lines are frustrating but you meet new people in them!.    During the power outage, we had lines for gas, lines for restaurants, lines for lines!   While this added to the frustration, we met some cool people.  And people really come together in a disaster!

6.  I had withdraws from Social !!   I could only go online at work.   So my tweets, my blogs were done only in the day. I missed my online friends and the news available via Facebook.

7.  I really really missed all the conveniences.  I didn’t realize until after the third day of fun with the family, how much I missed the basics.   We are very blessed to have these daily and we do not even think about it!