Things have been pretty busy for us lately. This storm that came in snowed in many people and left plenty of others stranded. I have to say that I am very impressed by how our community came together. Neighbors helping each other and checking up on each other, churches organizing snow shoveling, and food giveaways, friends offering to help shovel out their friends and others in need. It has been truly motivating and inspiring when I see how much people really care about each other. It was one of those; “restored my faith in humanity’ moments.
My husband and my father worked together plowing out people and snowblowing and snowshoveling for twelve hour days, back to back to back. My poor husband could hardly get out of bed after too many days of this, and was relieved when they seemed to make a breakthrough for people. Then we got more snow. At least this new snowfall isn’t as bad as the first one.
The other good news with this storm, is that we were prepared. We knew we had a blizzard coming, so both myself and my mother prepped for it accordingly. We went grocery shopping, prepared food, (and diapers and formula in my daughter’s case) and made sure we had everything we needed for both our households for any back up plans. Because we were prepared, that gave us the freedom to help others in need too. Instead of focusing on going to the store to get things for us, my husband could focus on helping others. My younger siblings still living with my parents set up a mini business digging out the neighbors around their neighborhood. My mother was out shoveling and feeding all of their farm animals and tending to them so my father could help my husband with digging out others. I was busy taking care of my daughter, who will have some stories to tell about her first ever snow storm, (should she remember it.)
Part of the point of this blog post is to update everyone on why there hasn’t been any updates lately on the youtube page or on the website. One of the downsides to this storm is we lost signal. We kept our electricity and our heat thankfully, but we lost cell signal and wifi for awhile. So posting new videos or content was not going to happen. (Even though I tried.)
The other part of this blog post, is to share how important it is to be prepared. One of the reasons this storm was so bad for so many people, was because some weren’t prepared. Especially when the grocery stores started closing due to the roofs caving in from too much snow, it made groceries up here even more scarce. For some people, it’s hard to prepare for an event like this, they live paycheck to paycheck, and don’t have money left over to buy extra food. I get that. Some things are harder for some people than they are for others. Everyone has their struggles. One way to combat that is research. You can figure out how to stretch meals and make things last longer. For my husband and I, I had to start getting creative towards the end. I turned some ground beef, beans and vegetables into a ginormous pot of chili that lasted us about a week. That helped get us through the last of it. Plus, working out in the snow all day long every single day, helping people get out, is a long cold day. My husband liked to come home to a nice hot meal, and I liked to have it ready for him.
There are websites that you can go to to buy “survival food” in bulk or in small quantities. Those are for emergency situations like this, where you can pull through because you have what you need. No one said this kind of thing was easy, but it is necessary. I imagine more people will be prepared for the next storm, and the churches will still be there to help out those that need it.
You can look up:
Or just type in “survival foods” into your search bar, and see what comes up. You can also shop during the year, and stock up on deals where needed. Places have sales all the time, maybe you can find some canned goods that are on sale, or just stock up on them when you can. Pancake mixes, flour, sugar, eggs, (though those are certainly pricey in this economy right now) and other things. You have to be creative, but you can do it.
I also spent a lot of time “bulk cooking” which is where I cook enough food to last for days, in one day. Lots of bread, rolls, breakfast foods, grab and go, and dinners all prepared so I could help out where needed. It made the world of difference. My husband had food to last him through the day, and he needed it as hard as he worked.
Now that we have gotten past the hardest part of this storm though, I can enjoy watching the snow fall each day knowing people are taken care of now. I love the slow descent of the snow and watching it build. There’s nothing quite as nice as watching the snow fall with a mug of cocoa in your hand, your feet propped up and a fire in the fireplace. (Although my little one knows when I have hot chocolate, and she wants some too!) Once she’s bigger we’ll take her sledding and show her how much fun snow can be. Right now though, she’d probably just sink into the snow as tall as it is and as small as she is. So for now she can look at it and play with small amounts.
I hope everyone is doing well and that everyone is keeping busy and happy. God bless you all, and feel free to ask if you have any questions.