HOME (not so) SWEET HOME

So as I mentioned in my previous blog entry our little family had a GREAT time in Canada. Well we decided to head back to Chicago a day later than we had initially planned (Jason's work is trying a 4 day work week so he has Mondays off). So we left Monday morning and stopped off in Michigan to visit with family. We had a nice visit and stayed a bit longer that way be would be sure to miss evening rush hour traffic. Well we missed rush hour traffic, but we had no idea we were driving into a storm....a really severe one at that. Needless to say, I was stressing pretty hard in the back seat as I was tending to the kids. Jason could barely see the highway and later tells me that that was the worst weather he has ever driven in. So as you can guess the both of us were anxious to get home and to be indoors. Well after driving in the storm for nearly 45 mins we finally arrived home. Only one problem...........our subdivision is pitch black. Yes, we lost our power. Yes, it was way inconvenient, but hey we can deal. So we enter the house making sure all is well with it and then realize that the storm hit our house hard than we had initially thought (luckily nothing inside). Below are a few pics. My jaw hit the floor when I looked out our patio door. Hmmmm....how much is this going to cost us was my first thought , and my second thought was Tristen is going to go nuts (not to mention drive me nuts) if she can't go outside and play with her toys. Though I was frustrated I guess instead of saying "WHAT BAD LUCK", especially since our home seemed to be the only house damaged in our neighborhood, I decided to take the attitude that maybe it was a blessing that we weren't home when the storm hit. (On a side note we later found out that a tornado had be sighted and that Chicago had experienced hurricane like winds that were as strong as 94mph). However, the next morning when I got up I don't know if it was exhaustion or my very busy schedule speaking but it made me start thinking that my PATIENCE was being tested. I guess one could tell I was getting frustrated when Tristen woke up asking for cartoons and our satellite was needing repairs after the storm and when she started asking to go outside to play in the backyard. To top it off Jason had just switched our phone number (we switched services) and had been assigned a phone number that was previously with a drive in movie theatre. Yes, we had 15 messages or shall I say hang ups on our answering machine, and right when I was telling Tristen that she couldn't go out in the backyard, the phone rang and someone asked what the movie showing times were.......yes, hmmmm, think real happy thoughts. Well lucky my doc. appoint. was cancelled that morning and I was able to have break from the kids (grandma and grandpa already made plans to babysit) to run errands for a little bit. Fresh air does wonders. Now that the satellite is back up and running and the insurance guy has been by and assessed the damage, life is pretty good again :) Yes, you have to love those days when you want to pull you hair out. It really does make you more appreciative of your uneventful days......sigh