Riding Out Hurricane Irene

We were ready for Hurricane Irene.
You know me.
You know I had my list.
I spent all of last week preparing for the storm, work-wise. All kinds of different scenarios. None of which happened, which is good.

Saturday, we woke up to the wall-to-wall coverage on TV. We watched our own local coverage, and we watched a lot of my old station, WAVY, online. I was SO itching to be out there. I have covered several hurricanes, in Florida and Virginia, and I always loved being out, in the thick of it.

I think this was my first hurricane I've experienced from the safety and air conditioning of my living room, since I was a child.

I was not taking it well.
I was being super difficult to deal with.
Poor Michael.
His every move and word were driving me crazy.

I kept apologizing.
I kept telling myself, it's not his fault I'm not out there, stop taking it out on him.
And yet, I kept taking it out on him.

So, we decided to take some time to ourselves. For the sake of the greater good of all mankind.
Michael put on his headphones, and sat at his computer, watching something. I actually have no idea what.

And, I got to work in the kitchen.
I do well with a challenge and a goal, so I created one for myself: use up all this produce that was on the verge of going bad.
And, I'm happy to report, that other than the pinapple (and some spinach), I conquered the goal.

It took a loaf of chocolate chip banana bread...
Some sausage/veggie pasta..
And a mini-peach cobbler and roasted-breaded tomatoes and onions...
to get rid of "Daniella."

Daniella is a name I earned for myself as a child, whenever I would act bratty, usually because I was jealous over something, or not getting my way. Daniella rears her ugly head every now and then, and she gets on my nerves.

You know it's bad when you're getting on your OWN nerves...

But, after several hours in the kitchen, one episode of Teen Mom, and realizing how thankful I should be for the fact that I was able to be in my safe, standing, air conditioned apartment with the man I love, I started behaving myself.

And, just like that, we were back on track.
And this morning, I didn't want to leave Michael to go to work.

I really think in this case, it was harder to stay at home than it would have been to stand in the eye of a hurricane.
Sometimes I deal with major balance issues with how much I love my work and how much I love my husband.
I've got to work on that.