Nick Cannon's visit to our school

Nick Cannon came to bring a little joy to our children who had to deal with the experience of hurricane Sandy.  My daughter and nephew came running home with gifts in hand and excitment in their hearts.  My daughter was so excited she hugged Nick Cannon, she doesn't want her uniform to be washed ever again! Because, if washed it will wash away the hug. hmm… 

I must confess, I didn't know who he was when she was shouting out his name.  Sorry Nick, I am not very up on the entertainment industry.  So, I immediately googled him.  He is an actor, comedian rapper and a radio/television personality. He has hosted number of shows including America's Got Talent.  He is also married to Mariah Carey.  He seemed to have achieved so much at such a young age of 32.

  

He  have all the children in the school N-Tune headphones from Monster...

and an Ipod Nano

His presence in our school made the children so happy!  

Thank you Nick Cannon!

Pray for strength!

For the last month and a half, we have been dealing with (we thought) an unimagineable catastrophe with hurricane Sandy.  Losing our homes and our possessions were at the forefront of our thoughts everyday and how to get our possessions back.  

I would go through hurricane Sandy 10 times over, to not have the families in Newton go through the devastating lose of their sweet innocent little children and the lives of the adults in this horrific tragedy.  This lose can never be replaced.

Eventhough, life will never be the same for these families, the world is praying for them to gain strength to go on through these difficult times and always.

My sincerest, deepest condolences to the families…

God always be with you.

Sad, sad Friday!

Words cannot express my deepest sorrow and sadness for the families that were affected by this horrific massacre in Newton, Conneticut yesterday.  Why? Why innocent little children? How will these families go on? I am praying for those who lost their loved ones in this unimaginable tragedy.

I wish there was something I can do for these families… I can only pray for them.

Bring on the holidays!

We have been inundated with so much work after hurricane Sandy that Christmas has not taken precedence like it would normally.  We had to move out of our house so that we can repair the damages.  Being that we had about 10 feet of water from my basement to the first floor, all new electrical panel, water heater, boiler and mold removal had to be done for starters.  We also had to take out all the flooring on the first floor down to the beams.  Anything that the water had touched had to be removed.  But, we do have children and Christmas is still our favorite time of the year, celebrations must go on!  By the way, every single ornament and holiday decorations I own has been thrown out because it was stored in the basement.  I wish I had an attic!  Now, I have to start fresh and get all new decorations and of course we have to make them too…  That's my favorite thing to do!

We always get a real tree and usually it is around 11 feet tall, but this year we are going to go a bit smaller being that we don't have so many ornaments to fill it.  This past Sunday, we went to our favorite place to get our Christmas tree and they also have oodles of decorations. Great place to get inspirations!

      

Here is the tree we all agreed should come home with us...

Santa and his reindeer displays outside the store.

There is all kinds of decorations in every theme to get you into the spirit!

The candy decorations looked good enough to eat!

Have you ever seen an upside down tree?  I love the colors!

Beautiful outdoor decorations!

I can make this!  Since I don't have much time I bought one...

Gorgeous displays!

Do you like to make your own decorations or do you have a favorite place to buy them?

I hope to show you my decorated tree tomorrow, that's if my children get their homework done on time!

Happy Birthday Kyle!

Where does the time go?  It seems like yesterday I was rushing to the hospital because my contractions were unbearable and the baby just wanted to come out… Except, I had 2 1/2 months to go before the due date.   Kyle just couldn't wait any longer, 7 1/2 months was long enough for him, he was born 10 weeks early, at only 3 /12 lbs.  He was a miracle baby, he was tiny yet healthy, strong and no complications.  God Bless!

Happy Birthday my son Kyle!

So handsome! 

Some really fabulous interiors!

These days it is a bit hard to think of decorating and DIYs after all that we have been through with Hurricane Sandy.  

The first floor of my house is being ripped out down to the beams in order to remove all the sewage and salt water that came into the house.  We have to replace floors, walls, furniture, boiler, electric panel, hot water heater, etc… It is incomprehensible to think of how much it is going to take to revitalize our home, our community and all the damaged areas.

I am also getting a real lesson on how homeowner's insurance works or better yet not work for you when you are in need. If you don't have about $9,000 dollars in your back pocket to shell out to get your quintessentials like boiler, electric, water, bare necessaties to live,  you will be out in the cold for a long time!  Homeowner's insurance can take up to 60-90 days!  Oh, if you have homeowner's insurance and flood, FEMA does not give you anything!!  Have heard the expression "up the creek without a paddle"? Well, that is many of us!

So, I am trying my best to see if there is a bright side to all of this… However, I can't speak for anyone else.  Eventhough, it is going to be a long and arduous process, I am becoming a little excited about having to redo my living space. 

Here are some beautifully deocrated rooms I've gathered to inspire me in this endeavor.

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Source: housebeautiful.com via Sheer on Pinterest

Source: housebeautiful.com via Sheer on Pinterest

Source: houzz.com via Sheer on Pinterest

I hope you follow along with me as I try to restore my home one step at a time!

Thank you for stopping by!

Aftermath of Hurricane Sandy

This past few weeks seems so surreal, everyone in our community has been displaced and all had some sort of damage to their properties like loss of power, heat, loss of personal belongings, etc. from Hurricane Sandy.  Eventhough everyone lost something, there were degrees of losses.  Many homes were completely crushed by the ocean or destroyed by fire.  Mostly everyones's basement was flooded and lost all contents in it.   My whole house was damaged from wind and water,  my basement was flooded and water went 2ft up to my first floor.  All my materials for my etsy business was lost, my husband the contractor lost all his tools and his truck.  I am still trying to wrap my head around all our losses!

This was my livingroom before Sandy's wrath!  Eventhough I used to complain it was too boring, it wasn't terrible.

This is the damage done to my livingroom from Sandy… Now this is terrible!

I want to try to salvage my kithen cabinets… Keeping my fingers crossed!

All our furniture and belongings are out and ready for the garbage dump!

Everyone's pocessions in the garbage!

I tell myself, the floors needed to be changed anyway, I didn't like my sofas and I needed to brighten up my first floor!  I guess a disasterous hurricane is what it takes for me to make a change…Ha!  Once we get back in the house, there will be alot of DIYs going on, I hope you follow me as I try to restore my home after Hurricane Sandy.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Happy Birthday to my son Christopher!

Today my son is 28 years old… Where does the time go?  It seems like yesterday I was rushing to the hospital to give birth to him.  Well, twenty-eight years have passed and he grew up to be one heck of a guy!

Happy Birthday to a great son!

How do we begin to restore after Sandy?

The trail of devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy has left myself and so many people bewildered and shocked.  Every single family in our community and communities along the coast has lost so much.  Cars floated away or submerged in water,  basements were flooded with water up to the ceilings.  Water even had entered the main floors in homes, destroying  furniture, appliances, cabinets and so much more.

We loved to take walks on the beach to see the breathtaking ocean on one side and the beautiful beach front homes on the other side.  Now all along the beach the homes are completely destroyed by the ocean's wrath.  It is heartbreaking to see people's home mangled beyond recognition, crushed as if a giant stomped on them.  After Super Storm Sandy, I look at the ocean with trepidation and uneasiness.   It is such a feeling of uneasiness to know that this body of water is so powerful and can wipe out an area with such brut force. 

As I walked along the beach, this is what I see now...

There once was a big beautiful house in the above picture of rubble, at the entrance stood pillars with the horse heads guarding the house. 

The destruction is incomprehensible, to restore our community will be a daunting task.  However, one day I do see ourselves walking along the beach and seeing beautifully rebuilt homes better than ever.

Sandy also wreaked havoc on my home,  I will show you the damage it caused soon.

Thank you for stopping by!