I don't mean to brag...

But yes I do.

I had the best weekend with the best family ever.

Before that, we made it through the hurricane. Construction on our kitchen had halted for the weekend anyway and then the rain started on Monday or something. I don't know; it's all fuzzy now.

Anyway, we didn't lose power until later in the day, but we had already been using coolers in place of a refrigerator so all we really lose was light and heat.

We watched the wind and the rain for a while and then E filled the generator with gas and we cranked on the TV to pass the night. I would never deny that we are incredibly spoiled and blessed.

We had our trial in the form of hosting the extended family for the next few days.

On Tuesday, the mothers starting bringing over their food before it could spoil. By Tuesday afternoon, T's mom had cooked a feast and her sister had shown up with her kids and horrible nanny.

It is rare that I don't like someone, like, really, really don't like someone, but I don't like this girl and I need your prayers for staying on track as a Christian and being nice. Or at least polite. Some of you think I am nice naturally, but that's just not true.

No, really.

Anyway, on Wednesday the kids were getting tired of playing inside so T's sister took them off to a magic show. I was working, because I had the entire weekend off, so I spent the morning cleaning our floors, which had turned black once again from the soot lingering in the entire house from the work in the kitchen. By late morning, I was free for the day, to hang out with little baby D.

Unfortunately for me, T's sister had dropped off New Nanny with me.

Lazy Nanny had twisted her ankle on the stairs and was laid up for the afternoon. LAME. She spent the day sitting on our couch and being useless. At one point she asked me for food and after smothering all the completely rude and curse-word laden responses that popped into my head, I just told her food was in the dining room and ran away.

She also kept asking to hold the baby, who hates her and screamed horribly every time she did. I had to take him several times and calm him.

FINALLY, the rest of the family started to come in and I was relieved of my duty of entertaining Big Whiny Crybaby Nanny. E and T were just as fed up with New Nanny was I was and they couldn't believe Sister Dearest had dumped her on my all afternoon, electricity or not. Sister's reason was that their house was cold.

Boo hoo.

I promised T that if I ever "twist" my ankle on the job, during a week of crisis and a blackout, I will not need to go anywhere and I will probably keep working. Twisted ankles are not crippling injuries.

Anyway, we got through another massive family dinner and then shortly after it was over, the generator crapped out and the kids went nuts. I lit some tea light way up high on the mantel and T's sister started following me around telling me how dangerous candles are. I pretended to be deaf, because frankly in that moment I was losing my marbles and I really like my marbles.

Most of them are sparkly and primarily purple and I use them almost every day.

Anyway again, at the end of the night, E insisted that we did not need them to come back on Thursday. No one needed to come cook, no one was allowed to come use our house for leisure to "heal" from an "injury" and he politely asked T's sister to keep her three unruly children to herself.

Some lucky people in King's Point got their power back, so we didn't feel too guilty on Thursday because they had power or other places to go. We had a nice day.

Thursday night and Friday morning I tried really hard to pack for the weekend. I really did. I took a flashlight down to the basement and looked at my clothes and shoes and tried to put outfits together, but all I managed to do was grab an armful of clothes that I hoped could go together and run back upstairs.

Somehow, I got it together and did some work around the house to set T up for a peaceful weekend.

My sister, my youngest sister, turned 21 on Tuesday. On Friday she was coming into the city from Boston where she had been trapped for the storm and the days following while the buses were shut down. She didn't mind.

She got into town right on time and then agreed to take the train out to Great Neck because my kids were dying to see her. She got into the train station in a timely manner and then I called her a cab. She stood there forEVER and no cab came, so I finally asked E, who was making a run to his mother's house, to pick Hannah up on the way back.

They had a really hard time finding each other, probably because they both possess the communication skills of rocks and the common sense of, well, men.

She made it to the house at long last and the kids were all over her. J is a little bit in love with her and it's so fun to watch because he didn't even know what to do with himself.

When it was time for us to go catch our train, for some reason only me and T got up and tried to get going. E was driving us to the station since the taxis were MIA, but he had disappeared upstairs and Hannah was having trouble standing up and breaking free of the kids. We got out the door with five minutes until our train.

Miraculously, we made it.

Friday night, Hannah and my sister Brianne and I celebrated Hannah's birthday until we couldn't celebrate anymore. We went home giggling and cackling  (the cackling is mostly me but it is a family trait) and then spent Saturday morning sleeping in recovery.

My mom PROMISED us French toast and then didn't even make it because she is a mean, mean lady, but she did make us grilled cheese and soup, so I guess I take back one of those 'mean's.

My brother and his family arrived for the weekend and another of my brothers and his family came for the day and after the kids went trick-or-treating (which as we all know is really just treating in this day and age because the trick part is pretty illegal and frowned upon) the ladies went to the spa.

It. Was. Lovely.

Manicures and pedicures and a general good time were had by all and then Mom made everyone dinner and we played games until bed time.

On Sunday, I was Baptist for several reasons, not least of which because there is no gas anywhere right now and we couldn't justify using Mom's to drive into Hackettstown even though I miss my church family there sooooooo much.

So, stayed local and heard a PCA pastor preach at a Baptist church and it all made my heart happy.

Less happy, was riding the slowest bus in the universe home to New York and then waiting an hour in Penn Station because I juuuuuuust missed the 6 o'clock hour train and had to wait for the seven something.

I got home at eight something, to ride in a cab, whose company seems to have recovered, through a dark and creepy town which still has no power.

As per usual, our generator was running, no lights were on and the TV was on.

I chatted with E and T for a long time before I dared open my suitcase and try to get settled in the playroom once more.

I guess you could call what I am now settled because my clothes are all over the room again and I no longer know which ones are clean and which ones are not technically clean but I will surely wear again.

Tomorrow, the floor people for the kitchen floor and hopefully they won't blow our generator.

Hopefully.