So we on the east coast are having a small “thing” this weekend.  Just a little stormy thing you may have heard of called “Irene”.

As if the earthquake (and subsequent continuing aftershocks) we had earlier this week weren’t excitement enough! (Yes, we’re only about 10 miles or so  from the epicenter of that little shaker).

But onto Irene.  We’re in central Virginia, safely inland.  We’ll see plenty of rain and wind and I am sure the river nearby will be flooding (it does whenever we get significant rain, and I am glad we don’t live very close to it).  Our creek out back will overflow and our yard will be a nasty, muddy swamp.  Also, since our power tends to go out at the drop of a hat I am fairly certain we’ll be without power at some point over the weekend.  Hooray for generators! (Though they do take some of the excitement out of a good ol’ power outage, don’t they?)

For all of these reasons we’ve gotten our hatches battened – down and our tanks full of gas and our larders full of provisions.

Except rum.  It seems I have somehow managed to overlook rum.  How on earth will I make my Hurricane Cocktails without rum? Ah well, first world problems.

What we DO have is a freezer full of prep work.  Slow – roasted tomatoes, bean & cheese burritos, marinated chicken, sandwich rolls, and fresh pasta.

I made pasta, y’all.  Thin spaghetti and pesto ravioli.  I now owe a whole new debt of gratitude to the folks at Kitchenaid, who make a kick-ass pasta roller set for the stand mixer.  Susan gave me the recipe and a run down of how it’s done and I was off!  The spaghetti and ravioli are in the freezer awaiting a plunge in hot salty water when we’re ready to eat them.

I also went out and filled the chicken coops with lots of dry bedding since it promises to be a wet and muddy and miserable few days for them outside.  All the towels and napkins have been laundered as well as fresh under garments for everyone.  The dishes are all clean.  The house has been (mostly) picked up and vacuumed.

I have plenty of knitting projects to work on and a Kindle full of books to read. The kids have plenty of books, paper and crayons and puzzles.

I wish we went into every weekend this prepared.