Our trip!

Well, we had a great time on our trip. We were very busy and are still very tired. I'm so glad we decided to take this Monday off to get caught up before plunging back in to the workday.

I could give you ascerbic commentary on events that happened on our trip, but I've been told I complain too much, so I will skip that for now. Later I will post a montage of our photos that I took, and also I'll upload a few videos.

We left Sacramento airport at 12:15 in the morning, and arrived in Chicago about 10:10am after a brief layover in Houston. We picked up our rental car, which turned out to be a minivan, and drove into Joliet and checked into our motel. We took a nap and got a phone call from Alamo saying that we had left a bag behind at the rental counter! Dang it! So we had to drive all the way back to O'Hare and pick it up. We got back in time to see the last half of Marie's game, but I forgot the camera! I couldn't believe it. She had another game on Friday evening, but it was cancelled due to bad weather. The only game photos I got were from Shane's game Saturday morning.

Anyway, after the game we were exhausted so we went back to the hotel. The next day was Wednesday, and we went over to Bill's dad's and visitied with him, and had lunch with him. We also took him to the bank and to Barnes & Noble. We left in the early afternoon and drove out to Bill's sister Nancy's house, which was about 45 minutes away. We decided to go to the cemetary and visit Bill's mom's grave. I got some pictures out there. We went back to Nancy's and visited with her, and then we were supposed to pick up Bill's dad that evening to go out to dinner at Outback for Bill's birthday. We were late leaving and got caught in rush hour traffic, and were half an hour late picking him up. Unfortunately Bill's dad had forgotten we were coming and had gone down and had eaten dinner! But he came with us anyway. Nancy and her husband and oldest son came, as did Jennie and her husband and the kids. It was a large group and we had a lot of fun.

The next day was Thursday, and Bill and I drove into Chicago to spend the afternoon. I know now why people take public transportation in Chicago, because driving it was crazy! First we went to Harpo Studios and Bill and I took some great pictures. We went into the Oprah Store and Bill spoiled me rotten with a lot of stuff! I got a t-shirt, a really soft hooded, zipped sweatshirt, a hat, a water bottle, a coffee cup and a beautiful bookmark with my birthstone on it. What a haul! I had so much fun.

Then we decided to take one of the cruises that leave from Navy Pier. In trying to find Navy Pier, we took a wrong turn down a one way street! Now THAT is scary. Bill had the quick reflexes to turn into a parking garage, and we paid through the nose to park there, but it was a great solution to a REALLY huge problem. We walked the mile or so to Navy Pier and took a half hour cruise on a boat that gave us great views of the skyline. Then we walked back to the car and came back to Joliet.

Friday, Jennie and the kids and I went to the Brookfield Zoo, which Dawn talks about in her blog, Because I Said So. It is about half an hour from Jennie's house. We had a great time seeing the monkeys, and the penguins, and a great dolphin show. It's a HUGE zoo!! We had to leave by 3:00, because Marie had a baseball game at 5pm. We all went out for dinner early before the game, and then rushed over there at 5:30 only to find out that big fat raindrops were falling, there was thunder and lightening, and so they decided to cancel the game. We'd gotten rained on at the zoo, but just briefly.

Saturday morning, we got up and packed and checked out of our hotel. We made it out to Shane's baseball game only half an hour late. It was cloudy again, and they got probably 2/3rds of the way through the game before they called it. It had started raining, and I went and sat in the van because I was getting wet. Eventually Bill came over and pulled the van around so we could watch the game from the car. When we were driving back to Jennie's, we stopped off at the UPS store and mailed a box of things that Bill had gotten from their folks's house in Arizona. Lots of old pictures and letters, things like that. It really poured there for awhile, but by the time we got to the UPS Store, the sun had come out! We spent the afternoon at Jennie's, where we spent time visiting. Nancy and Paul, and Paul Jr. were there, as were Bill's dad, of course Jennie and Rick and the kids, and Bill's childhood friend Galen came with his 28-year-old son. How did we get so old?!? Bill said last time he saw Philip, he was only 2!! Time really flies. They were all sitting out on the deck, and I got too hot right in the sun, so I came inside for awhile and watched the kids play Wii, which I have some video of. Even Bill and I played Wii, and Bill and Jennie played Wii tennis. It is really fun!!

We left for Chicago about 6:30 and turned in our rental car. Then we took the shuttle to the Hilton and we were exhausted! We didn't get to bed until 9pm, and we had to be up by 3am! I tossed and turned a lot, as did Bill, so neither of us got much sleep. We got up and checked our luggage and waited for our flight to be called. We had an uneventful flight to Houston, a brief layover and then into Sacramento about 11am. We picked up the car and drove home. We were exhausted! We took naps, and unpacked, and went to bed early! Today we're just doing a few things around the house. Bill is cleaning out our storage so we can get rid of that. What a huge chore!

Well, it's back to work tomorrow. I'll post the montage of our photos later after all the pictures upload. I'll also post the videos I took at the zoo and of Bill's nephew and his friend playing Wii.

Have a great week!

We made it . . .

Well, we made it to Chicago O'Hare this morning, even a little ahead of schedule. No time for a long post, because we've been up since 5:30am Monday morning, and right now it is 9:30pm Tuesday evening Chicago time. We only had catnaps on the plane (which is a whole nother blog post!) and an hour or so nap here at the hotel, so we are BEAT! But we are alive and made it all the way here with no airline or airplane glitches.

More to come, with pics! Bye for now. We desperately need some Zzzzzzzzzs!!!

Vacation time!!

Well, we had a really nice weekend. Why? Because our neighbors were gone!!! It was soooo nice and quiet. The problem is, they just walked in and it reminds me of how noisy it is having someone walking on my head! The nice thing about them being gone is it is such a wonderful relief. The bad thing is that it is sooo hard to get used to again. I can hear them clomping around already. *sigh*

But we did have a nice weekend. Especially because I don't have to be back at work until the 24th!! Woot!! Bill and I are taking off for Chicago early Tuesday morning (I mean EARLY!). Our flight leaves at 12:15 a.m. That's AM, like a quarter after midnight! Whew! Scott will be staying at the apartment and keeping and eye on things while we're gone. We'll be back on Sunday afternoon. Bill doesn't have tomorrow off work, but I went ahead and took tomorrow off so I could get everything ready for the trip.

In preparation for being gone, this weekend I did laundry and cleaned house. I always clean house right before we're going to be gone, because I like coming back to a clean house. Well, Scott will be here, so that may not happen! LOL

Today we went swimming and laid out in the sun. The water was kind of chilly when you first got in, but after you got used to it, it was nice for swimming. I stayed in the water about half an hour or so. There were quite a few people at the pool.

Well, I am enjoying relaxing this evening. It's nice to know that I don't have to get up and go to work tomorrow. The problem is that it is hard for me to not think about work when I'm on vacation. I will try, though! The good news is that I got everything done before I left on Friday, so I am not all that concerned. I've got a lot to do tomorrow to get ready. I have some errands to run, and last minute laundry and packing to do. Since our plane leaves in the middle of the night, I have LOTS of time to do it. I have to go to Costco, so I plan to get up in time to get over there right when they open so I can get in and out without fighting a big crowd. I plan to get gas while I'm there, too.

Well, I need to get off of here now. I'm not sure we're taking the laptop on the trip, so if I don't get a chance, I may not post again until we return. I'll take lots of pictures.

Trip to Redding

Well, today was my interview for the HR position in Redding. It took me about an hour and 15 minutes to get there, so I found a fast food restaurant and had a soda and chilled for about 20 minutes. When I met the owner of the company. I liked her right away, because she is TALL -- probably 5'10" or so. But she is skinny!! So not fair. She is really nice though and we got along well, even though she's probably at least 10 years younger than I am.

There are all women that work in the office, but they all seemed nice. The job seemes like something I could do and would enjoy, the problem is relocating to Redding. I love Chico, and I love our apartment. But it would be nice to work for a company that I didn't have to worry about budget cuts and worry about losing jobs. The thought of starting all over again with minimum vacation time and waiting for benefits to kick in, is dishartening. And the expense of moving out of town? I can't even imagine.

They want to call me back for a second interview, which is encouraging. We'll see what happens. I'm just so upset and offended about the prospect of getting my butt handed to me because of that a-hole that I just want to get out of the situation. I mean, if I'd blown it, I'd understand getting my butt handed to me. But something like this that is happening only because of a weasel of a vendor? That I can't handle. I'll take my lumps over something that I did wrong, even if it was inadvertent. But I don't like having to take lumps over something that I didn't even do or cause, but this weasel is making it look like I did. Humph.

Anyway, I'll keep you posted! The nice thing was I was home by 2pm so I had a nice afternoon off. Both Bill and I took Friday off work, so I have a 3-day weekend to look forward to. Yahoo!!

Still waiting for the airfare to come down in price. Right now we're looking at an extra $210 in airfare, in addition to the $200 in change fees for changing our airline tickets. But $410 is still cheaper than buying new tickets, but not by much. *sigh* Oh well. It will be great to go back and see everyone in Chicago. I think Bill's dad is really excited that we're coming.

I have to go to the grocery store. Bye for now!

Happy 4th of July . . . and some pictures!

Wishing everyone a fun and relaxing (and safe!) 4th of July! Bill and I have had a busy day. We woke up early (6am -- it was 8am Chicago and our bodies' time!) and after lounging around for awhile, we went out to breakfast at Kalico Kitchen. Then we came back home and I made a grocery list and Bill started some laundry. Then we ran a bunch of errands.

First of all, we went to Ashley Furniture and purchased a drop-leaf table and four chairs that we'd had our eye on before we had to suddenly leave for Chicago. When we got home from our trip, in the mail was the check for the refund of our deposit on our old place. One of the things we desperately needed was this table, because the old one just doesn't fit in the space we have. We used some of the money to reimburse ourselves for some unexpected expenses we had while we were in Chicago, and we used some of it to purchase this table. (Big thanks to Bill's dad, who paid for our plane tix and rental car while we were in Chicago!!)

The table be here in a couple of weeks. That will be nice. We will put our current, overly large table in storage, and the small table will allow us a lot more room in our dining area. We currently have to "scoot" around the table to get to the washer and dryer. I'll post a before and after pic when it comes in and you can see the difference.

Here is a pic of the table and chairs (the pic shows two chairs, but it comes with four) from the Ashley Furniture website. Fortunately, it isn't very expensive:


Next we went to Wal-Mart and got several items. Then we decided to go home and drop off the things we'd purchased at Wal-Mart, since we'd filled our trunk! Then we went to Safeway and purchased a bunch of items that were on special, then back home to pick up Scott and take him to work. Then on the way home from taking Scott to work, we did the bulk of our grocery shopping at WinCo. Whew! We were hot and tired when we got home -- thank goodness for air conditioned cars (and homes)!

Since then, we put groceries away, did some laundry, and then just relaxed. I finally got the pics off our camera from our Chicago trip, and I'll post them here. Then tomorrow it's back to work for two days, then the weekend! Yay! We hope to get a lot of things done around our place this weekend, like getting the last of the stuff put away and then our pictures and things for the walls put up. Then it will really feel like home!

We felt really lucky weather-wise while we were in Chicago. The first couple of days we were there, it was very hot and humid -- felt like we were breathing through a wet blanket. However, after that it cooled down, had a couple of days with great thunder-and-lightening storms (nothing like a good midwestern thunderstorm -- as long as there are no tornados!) and after the storms, the humidity dispersed and for the rest of our visit, the weather was great. Low to mid-80s and relatively little humidity. Thank goodness for small favors. Especially for the day we were in Chicago. We were very glad that the weather was cooperative.

Anyway, here are the pics:

On the right is Bill's brother-in-law Paul (married to sister Nancy) and a neighbor (on the left) goofing around after too many beers! This is a good one!!


Bill and his sister Nancy looking through pictures at Jennie's house. Unfortunately, because of my migraine on the day of the funeral, I didn't get family photos of everyone. I was really disappointed about that.


Bill and Karen on the train into Chicago


Interesting note: On the way back to the hotel at O'Hare after our day in Chicago, the train stopped at the last stop right before the airport (the station is underneath the airport) and did a security check. Bomb-sniffing dogs were brought in to inspect each of the train cars before it was allowed to proceed to the airport. I hadn't thought of it before, but that makes good sense. What an important part of their security at the airport!

We spent a fun afternoon at the Navy Pier. Lots of walking and looking, but still lots of fun.

Karen at the Navy Pier:


Bill at the Navy Pier:


The inside of the main building on the Navy Pier:


The outside of the Navy Pier:


The Chicago Skyline from the Navy Pier:










The end of the Navy Pier


Bill and Karen (thanks to a nice bystander!). Note the lighthouse in the background!

Some News

Unfortunately, it's not good news. We are flying out to Chicago unexpectedly this Saturday (the 23rd) and we will return on July 1st. Bill's mom is not doing well, and were told to "hurry." So that's what we are doing. Do you know how difficult it is (not to mention expensive!) to get last minute flights to Chicago in the summertime?? Wowzers. Some of the flights we have seats together; some we are in seats just in front of or in back of each other. We got tickets from Chico to San Francisco, then SF to Chicago. On the way home, we go from Chicago to Denver, to SF to Chico. We are hoping that she improves while we are there.

Bill's mom went back into the hospital with a GI bleed (not a good thing). She is refusing treatment, and she says she is just tired. When she leaves the hospital, she will be under hospice care. She is refusing medications and refusing nourishment, so unless we can convince her otherwise, she will not last long.

We are hoping to get her to start eating again, but her COPD and chronic bronchitis and emphysema, in addition to her osteoporosis make life very painful for her. She is 79 years old. If anything proves that smoking is bad for you, watching her go through this does. Please keep our family in your prayers.

We are taking our laptop with us, because I need to keep in touch with work by accessing my work email, so I will also be able to check home email as well. I will be posting any updates to this blog as time permits.

And on another sad note, Bill and I had managed to score some tickets to the Giants-Yankees game in San Francisco this Saturday from my friend Jerry at work, and now we will be in the air when the game begins. **sigh** In light of Bill's mother's health, its a relatively minor thing, but disappointing nonetheless.

Thank you for your support! Talk to you when we return.