Thanks A Lot, Irene

Before Irene:

After Irene:


At the time, I was surprised by how "unimpressive" Hurricane Irene was here in New York City--I mean, it seemed just like a bad rainstorm (the winds weren't even all that loud). I thought the hurricane hadn't really affected us much. Leave it to my 8-year-old to notice the next day that "the carpet in my room is wet and it smells really bad." Long story short, our building had a drainage problem on its balconies, we had a faulty pipe we were unaware of, and, boom, R's bedroom floor is ruined. We had to rip up the carpet, and will need to dry out and then replace the wooden floor which had started to buckle. So her furniture is all moved out of her room and squeezed into other areas of the apartment (including her brother's room...he is less than enthused about that). We moved her mattress into my room so I have a new roommate (who often sneaks into my bed). I am on the phone almost daily with "insurance people" as my kids now call them. Lots of work ahead of us, including re-plastering and painting the living room wall (which had to be drilled open to access the broken pipe).

It's a major nuisance, to be sure, but I am also incredibly lucky it wasn't any worse. It's just walls and floors. We are all OK. And someone is very happy about getting the chance to decorate her "new room." Stay tuned.