Sweet Home Chicago

Well, we made it home yesterday...we made fairly good time at about 7 hours. We were scott free clocking 6plus until we hit the Illinois border, where the first 3 toll stations on I-90 are under construction and bursting to accommodate all the weekend traffic in a mere 2 lanes. "Welcome to Chicago, pay our toll to cover our construction costs, then sit in our construction traffic for which your toll is $1.60 each station, thank you very much." hmmmm, I did not miss the hub-ub of Chicago backups. And I noticed not one of the exits from the border to our exit had a Dairy Queen. I'll need to write the governor about that.

We arrived at Sean's, our long awaited pitstop. All was in good order with the house, and looks like we even had a showing while we were away. Bad news was that Sean's car battery was as dead as a doornail...second time that's happened in a span of a few months. Nothing was left on or open, so it's a mystery. So we have our work cut out for us tonight, heading back to that part of town, disassembling the battery connections, heaving it in to the Honda "hatchback", and returning it back to Sears. So much for a DieHard, but luckily DieHard carries a good warranty to hopefully we won't have to buy a new one again.

Last night I did 'bout 3 loads of laundry, then my foot and my eyelids gave out. I slipped on my Timber Bay t-shirt and hopped into bed. Ahhhh, nothing like coming home to your own bed after a vacation. Especially since Sean and I shared a double size for 10 days. I didn't feel his kicks even once last night.

We returned the rental SUV at 7:30 this morning, pumping it full of $3.27 per gallon gas. Whoa - gas jumped about 40c per gallon since we left. Must be because of the 4th of July holiday week. I sure hope it comes back down...[The ubiquitious] "they" keep it pretty high here in the summer because a lot of people drive to Michigan and Wisconsin for weekend getaways. It usually dives back down about 20c after school starts and the moms have a lot more errands to do. Then after the first snow comes, it's back up another 20c for "special" freeze-free gas. Maybe we'll have a hybrid by then.

I was successful in ignoring - while we were on vacation - that I had an entire house to unpack when I got home, since Sean moved in just days before we left. And I was successful in ignoring that I left a trail of ice packs, foot stools, and pillow props from my ankle accident left to clean up. And last night I was successful in ignoring the coolers, groceries, and laundry left to unload, unsort, clean and restock. Crap. I have the post-vacation blues. I'm usually gleeful about unpacking back at home, but I'm used to unpacking for one, this time there's just sooooooooo much to do with a move unpack AND a vacation unpack. But I guess it is back to work, since I have company arriving in two weeks for "the engagement party". Think they'll notice if don't do any cleaning at all? I'm growing to like the mocha-dust-bunnies on the stairs' carpet, maybe they will too.