kmusser

The trip to Chicago was quite successful. A huge thank you to

zammis and

radiant_one for all their work.

We started out Friday before last with a long, but relatively easy drive to Chicago. Upon arriving, my stepmother Sharon's house looked worse than I remembered. In retrospect I think it looked worse than it was though. I don't think it had really been cleaned in 8 years as my father got sick shortly after moving there and after that pretty much all effort went into taking care of him.

Anyway the next morning we start in on cleaning. Sam and Michele tackle the kitchen and pantry which I think was the part of the house in the worst shape. I work on de-cluttering the gaming rooms and once I can get to the games to start packing. Meanwhile Sharon tackles cleaning out the basement. We are there to both clean the house and to pack up the stuff I want to take back with me (mainly books and games). Going through my Dad's stuff does bring back memories, but they are mostly good ones, and while there is a ton of work it doesn't prove to be as difficult as I thought it might be.

Tuesday we are seriously ready for a break - we head out to Indiana Dunes and meet up with my Mom, sister Lisa and family for the day. The Dunes was a regular summer destination when I was growing up, so it was fun to see it again, it's remarkable how little it's changed. Also today, take a brief driving tour of Oak Park and have fun pointing out my old haunts.

Wednesday Lisa and her husband Dusty come over to help with the cleaning and packing and we pretty much finish up.

Thursday is mostly taken up with a trip over to Hyde Park to see Sharon's mother who spoils us rotten with a massive cajun feast, yummy gumbo and pralines and she made me a whole sweet potato pie (sorry, it's gone now *slurp*).

Friday we go fetch the rental van - originally I though I might be able to ship the games back home, but with around 50 boxes there are just too many. We also make an attempt at sorting out the Magic cards, I content myself with reducing the amount of Magic card sprawl. Once the van is loaded we take our leave of Sharon and head over to my Mom's.

Saturday - We have a free day? What to do? Go to faire! We, along with my Mom, Lisa, and the little ones head over to Bristol for the day and have much fun. In the evening made an attempt to go see TMLMTBGB but were thrawted as the couple in front of us in line got the last tickets :-( Rather disappointed, but fortunately they're coming to DC so I'll have another chance (details)

Sunday and Monday is driving home and unloading, with a stop at Berkeley Spring for massages. Finally returned the truck yesterday.