Chicago area Diser's - check in here Part 4

[Tiggerrn2]

Sandy, keeping all your firefighter families in our thoughts and prayers. I do hope and pray that the next round of storms just miss us this time.

 

[Debbie6221]

Thanks for the tornado alley info.
Slo...Many prayers for your hubby to stay safe!

 

[slo]

I'm home now, but before I came home, me and the girls took a drive around town. This place is utter craziness (in a very organized way). There are neighboring police depts and fire depts helping out with directing traffic, and whatever else needs to be done. There are 3 staging areas where people are filling sandbags - this creek is expected to still rise another couple feet yet Kevin and our neighbor Rob (also a fireman/EMT) came home long enough to change clothes (I didn't see them, it was before I came home) and they were off again. If they come home tonight, I'll be shocked. He's running on pure adrenaline now, and when he does come home to crash, he's going to crash hard I just hope he's able to get some sleep before he has to go back to work on Monday.

 

[Debbie6221]

debbie, try and use yapta.com for the best air fares.
the site will remember everything you list into it and you will get alerts.
it works best with internet explorer.

Thanks. I am going to give it a try!

 

[geffric]

SLO just wanted to check in an see how your town and Kevin were doing. Prayer to all the families and fire/EMT/Police in the area.

 

[Debbie6221]

We finalized our trip (I think). I just bought the whole gangs plane tickets and Mom will call back Disney tomorrow to finalize our stay. As of right now we will spend the first two nights at Pop or some place in that price range and then we are moving on to GF for the next 6 nights! With the Visa discount we are getting the dining package plus hoppers for the GF portion of our stay. We figure we saved about 20%. Plus we figured with the price increases this would probably be the last time we use the dining plan. Once again it will be Grandma, Bappa, Uncle, DH, DD, DS and myself!!! I am so excited! Time to start paying for it all before it gets here!
We will be going Wednesday, November 7th to Thursady, November 15th. Weird days but the airfare was ridiculous if you wanted to fly on a Friday or Saturday.

 

[slo]

Kevin made is home around midnight, and was totally exhausted
Luckily, we made it through the night w/o any calls, so he could sleep alot
When he came home last night, he had bad news about our parents subdivision - it is now flooding with sewer backup There were some streets that were totally underwater, but not bad enough for an evacuation. Luckily, our parents streets are fine, and I hope it stays that way (fingers crossed).


On a slightly different subject.
Kevin told me that Culvers brought the guys tons and tons of food - wasn't that nice of them?! He said there was everything from hamburgers, cheeseburgers, different chicken sandwiches and more. It's good to know that the guys weren't hungry


I'll keep you guys posted as things happen here.
Have a good day!!

 

[HERSEY]

Slo Glad to hear Kevin is ok. This flooding is terrible. Around here depending on the area it's bad to. Wheaton was hit hard, also West Chicago both very close to me. I have friends in Wheaton Com Ed is telling them they may not have power until monday I sincerely hope they get sooner.

Culvers around here does alot of community work. I will frequent business' that put themselves out to help other people.

I woke to more rain, now it seems the sun is trying to come out. I wish I could give it a shove.

Tig How are the kids doing?

Alex survived the 3 days of school. I think I too have survived. The school, in my opinion is not sympathetic to the scare they put me through. They did "mark" both kids cards to be careful. Wonder what they are going to do when we go on vacation?

 

[piglet too]

Slo ~ I was watching ABC's coverage of the flooding and hoped that Kevin was doing ok. Very nice of Culver's to feed them.

Nathan's flag football game was called due to field conditions. Gee, I wonder why??

 

[Tiggerrn2]

Morning all. Was raining when I woke up. Now it seems like it is trying to be a better day. My soccer team is supposed to have their first game of the season, and I was going to go watch and cheer them on. Wonder if they will play. The fields have to be under water.
Sandy, I saw the news last night and was thinking of your family. Glad to hear they are all OK. That is terrible for the hospital. What a mess.
Hersey, kids are getting a little better each day. Thanks for asking. Just wish DS would drink more fluids. He still won't talk. But insists he doesn't hurt. They both ate some scrambled eggs this morning and had a little juice to drink.
Well, I have a lot of chores to do around the house today. I haven't done much with them calling (banging on a counter) for me every few seconds. Hope the weather turns sunny for everyone and we all come through this none the worse for wear.
Bunchkin, where are you? Are you OK? We haven't heard from you the past day.

 

[Bunchkin]

Good Morning Everyone!!!


I'm finally able to check in!!!


Power in our area was out since Thurs at 7:30pm!!! Luckily, we have a big generator and had power in the house, minus air conditioning though.

First storm on Thursday at around 3pm-ish was awful here!!! Stuff was flying everywhere. The houses were shaking. It was tornado like weather for sure.
When it calmed down we left for my cadio doctor appt at U of C. Unbelievable we got there on time. The drive there was an adventure with everything in our immediate area that had been knocked down from the storm.
Left the doctors and stopped for dinner in Tinley Park on the way home, to only get stuck there at the restaurant during the next storm system. We waited till it calmed down a bit and then made a mad dash for the car and drove home.
We got home shorty after the power went out. DH got us hooked up with the generator!

3/4 of our subdivision lost power. It was restored early this morning!!!
Some of our neighbors were very unlucky. Their basements flooded BIG TIME!!! The neighbor across the street has a huge dumpster in their driveway and it's full of all that was damaged!

Everyone here has been helping others out. Lots of neighbors hanging outside chatting. And we had lots of neighbors and kids stop by our house.....to watch tv!!!! And to chat of course. And we have a lot of fans at our house so friends could cool off and get something cold to drink too.


Through all of this I have been wearing a holter monitor for my heart. I get to finally take it off at 6pm today. And because of the humidity it has made all the sticky electrode pads and tape on me VERY itchy!!!! NOT FUN!!
AND I have a cold which I caught from DH!!! I'm gonna hurt him .......when I feel better!!!




slo It was nice FINALLY talking to you yesterday! Thanks for checking in on me!!
Glad to hear Kevin was able to come home and sleep. And that Culvers fed them too!!! That was really nice of them.
I sure do hope that your parents and Kevin's parents homes are going to be ok!!!
I hope the girls got a better nights sleep last night too.

Hunter really is enjoying school!!! So much so that he can't remember half the things he did!!! But I'm missing him very much. He told me he misses me too....a little!!! What a stinker!!!



Leigh Thanks for sharing your pics!!!
I totally agree with you about the characters at DL. In both our trips there we found it very frustrating to see them. No handlers, no lines. Just pandemonium. And the one's that just wander around never stopped when asked if we could meet them. Not a single one!!!
We even found ourselves on this last trip loudly saying "doesn't anyone know how to form a line here". And that was at DCA and there WAS A HANDLER THERE!!!!!


Sam I'm seriously under the impression that you totally got extremely lucky on your trip and went during a time that was incredibly low attendance. Because of what we have seen there during our trips there, and the reports from locals we know and other friends & family, it's always a nightmare at DL.
I really think you and Megan got truly lucky during your trip!!
I know you plan on going there again, and I sure do hope you get the same luck you had last time.

I'm glad you guys didn't have any damage at your house!



Hersey I'm so sorry to hear what happened to you with Alex's school!! That would have made me running right over to that school office!! I hope you can get things cleared up with them soon!!


Mac Glad to hear Mr.Crabby Mac made it home safe and sound.
Good luck to your son with his police training!


Everyone else I missed Glad you all are safe and no damages done to your homes.




I need to run and try to catch up and things around here. And my tons of emails. Comcast was down in our area since Thursday too. Some of our neighbors have them for their house phones and so some people on top of having no power also had no tv, no phones and no computers!!!! :headach
Thanks goodness we weren't that bad off!!! We don't use them for our phones and we have a satellite dish for tv!!!

 

[Crissup]

I'm finally able to check in!!!

Comcast was down in our area since Thursday too. Some of our neighbors have them for their house phones and so some people on top of having no power also had no tv, no phones and no computers!!!!

Glad to hear you're back online Bunchy. I use Comcast for our TV and my Internet access. So, when Comcast goes out, I've got no TV and no computers. Plus, since I run my own mail server in my basement, email can't even come in while my cable is down.

Fortunately, reports from home have been good. Sounds like nothing significant near our house and I did have one of the girls peek into the sump pit the other day just to report back on where the water level was, so I think we're good. I did install a battery backup sump 2 months ago just as a precaution.



Slo: Glad to hear everyone is OK in the Slo household.

Glad to hear everyone else came through intact also.

 

[Debbie6221]

Happy to see everyone checking in to say they are OK. If you haven't yet please do!!!!
Slo...glad DH got some rest and is safe.
Bunchkin...glad you are back in one piece!
Crissup...glad you got good news and thanks again for fixing my keyboard problem!
Tiggerrn2...glad everyone is recovering on your end.

I don't think anyone will be playing soccer but you never know!!!!!

 

[roseprincess]

Debbie- doing ok here
I was actually outside in the pouring, torential rains during the 3:15pm storm that hit my area Thurs. Was waiting at the bus stop for my kids, bus stop is a block away. I got really soaked in 10 seconds time. Had 2 umbrellas with me, 1 for me and 1 for hte kids when they were getting off the bus. Bus was half hour late, so I patiently waited in the pouring rain for 15 min, since I didn't know when exactly the bus was going to show up. I was ok with it, like coming out of the pool I even ran home to see if the school called to tell me that busses were running late, but no phone call from the school. Oh well. I did enjoy watching the storm coming in while I was at the bus stop
Not much storm damage here, a few small branches down ,but that's about it. Next time I gotta wear a rain poncho

Glad to hear all weathered the storm ok

I'm sure Jim Cantorre(sp) and hte other weather people from The Weather Channel had a field day covering our Chicago area storm coverage

Geffric- I PM'd you.


Gotta run

 

[Debbie6221]

Glad you are good Rose!

 

[SamIAm21]

Good Morning Everyone!!!

Sam I'm seriously under the impression that you totally got extremely lucky on your trip and went during a time that was incredibly low attendance. Because of what we have seen there during our trips there, and the reports from locals we know and other friends & family, it's always a nightmare at DL.
I really think you and Megan got truly lucky during your trip!!
I know you plan on going there again, and I sure do hope you get the same luck you had last time.

Yep, we are going again at the same exact time in 2008. The first week of June after school lets out. I don't know if we got lucky or you were unlucky or what. I know there are a lot of locals on the DL board and I'd be interested to know if they feel your experience is the norm or not. I know the DIS is just a small part of the Disney population, but I have never read a report as bad as the experience you guys had. That truly sucks because I so wanted you to love it as much as I did!!

 

[macraven]

good sunday morning chicagoland homies.

going to church soon, have your backs for the week

 

[slo]

Yesterday was a much calmer day around here
Kevin was at the firehouse most of the day, but they got everything cleaned up, and he was home by 4pm
Work was very calm - I've had no sales since Thursday But I think it has something to do with the weather and traffic. With 80/94 closed, Rt30 (which I'm on) is total stop and go traffic - it's awful!!! So I"m praying tomorrow will be better
Last night we hung out with our neighbors for quite awhile - I love our neighbors. The kids were playing so nice, that we didn't come in until dark. If it weren't for the mosquitoes, we probably would have stayed out longer



Today will be another calm day.
My house looks terrible, and I have to clean that today.
The weather looks great, so I"m hoping the girls can have a nice outside day today



Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers for Kevin, our dept, and our town.
I really appreciate it!!!



HERSEY - That's terrible that the school is not sympathetic about upsetting you If it happened to them, I bet they would feel your pain.

piglet - I"m glad that Nathans game was cancelled. A wet field could be dangerous

Tiggerrnnnnnn - I"m glad the kids are starting to do better. I'm still sending them hugs and PD

Bunchkin - I'm so glad that you were finally able to check in It was great talking to you the other day, and I was so releaved that you were all okay.
**I bet you were glad to get that heart monitor off. Did you have any episodes while it was on?
**Our parents were okay - the sewer backup didn't make it to their streets. Thanks goodness, we all didn't need to contend with that
**I"m glad Hunter is really enjoying school I can only imagine how sad you must be while he is gone at school - many hugs to you!!!

Crissup - I"m glad everything is fine at your house

Debbie -

Rose - You should wait in your car next time - I"ve done that a couple of times

Sam & Mac -



During my post, Kevin came home from a call, and we decided to go to Chicago today So, I guess the house will have to wait (I hope no one decides to come over ) Kevin feels it's to nice to stay home, which is fine with me. I think he really wants to get out of our town, and get away from everything that's been going on. So I think we are going to go out to breakfast, then go to Navy Pier, than head to State Street (I want to go to Old Navy and Childrens Place), and then maybe head to the Disney Store, then dinner, and finally home It should be good day!!!!

I hope you all have a good day today, and I'll see ya tomorrow!!!

 

[Bunchkin]

Good Sunday morning everyone!!


The "evil neighbors" had a huge party last night!!! They were still going at it outside at 4am!!!!!!!
I had actually called the police on them at 1am while they were having a really loud and rowdy volleyball game in their backyard.
What is wrong with these people??????
May the Lord help them if they themselves have any children in the near future, because we will exact our revenge upon them!!!!!


slo Sounds like you're going to have a really fun day today!!!
I love those kinds of days. We haven't been downtown to shop and eat in a while. Tony is always so busy working on the weekends lately!!
Old Navy has some really cute stuff out now. I just bought a ton from there last week for the kids.
I did have a few palpitations while I had the monitor on.


Sam We of course we were hoping we were going to have a similar experience you had while at DL. Despite the fact that other family, who lives out there, and friends all told us ahead of time how dirty it was there and how rude everyone was, and the total chaos too. It totally lived up to what everyone told us. It was really sad for us. We were hoping for so much more.



Crissup That's good to hear you home had no damage to it. That's always our biggest fear when we travel, what will happen to the house while we are gone.

 

[Dan Murphy]

I don't stop by here much anymore, but thought I would stop by for a well-being checkin. We can certainly echo everyone's descriptions of the storms. Here in Mt Prospect, at least according to the news reports, seemed to be one of the harder hit areas regarding power. We went out about 3 seconds into that first wind blast on Thursday, as it seems like so much of the Chicago area did. Not long after, I fired up the generator and ran the necessities (2 refrig/freezers, sump pump (backup also), a few lights, TV until the cable service went out, coffee in the AM) until about midnight last night, when power finally came back on. What a great feeling to have light. I heard on the news this AM that Comm Ed has about 800 crews in the field now, about half from out of state, from as far away as PA and TX.

Early Friday, I felt like a beacon in the storm when one neighbor on one side came over with two very large bags of many smaller bags of frozen breast milk for their 5 month old new baby, asking if I could store in our freezer. She has them for baby sitter times she said. I found room, one bag in each freezer and I presume she will be by soon to get them back. On the other side of us, our other neighbor also came by, asking if he could hook into our generator for his backup pump, his battery depleted also. All told, over the course of the 50 plus hours, I used about 15 gallons of gas to run the generator, most ever in our 36 years here. I think the most I have ever used in the past was maybe a gallon or two, being out of power for never more than a day that I can recall. That generator has proved its worth several times over the years, but singly here the past 3 days.

Today the weather is stunning...clear, bight, cool, no humidity, nice breeze.

Reading back a page or two, seems like those here in the area weathered the storms reasonable well, and we are all getting back to a semblance of 'normal'. Hope everybody is well, dry and healthy. Have a great day, and week, and may it be dry and not windy.