Safely Home

The flight from London to San Franciso was scheduled for 11 hours - but only one runway was open at Heathrow so our departure was 50 minutes later than scheduled.  They made up the time (by going faster) and we arrived at SFO as scheduled and were at the gate at 5:21PM.  The flight passed quickly - I watched 4 movies and slept a couple hours.  Upon arrival, we headed to the Global Entry interview station - already in 'conditionally approved' status, we received notice that instead of going to our scheduled in person interview in January (the earliest dates available), we could finish the process as we went through customs following our next trip.  The system was down when we arrived and the border agents did their best to try to convince us not to wait - 'it might be 2 minutes or hours - we don't know' - but we waited.  The inconvenience of having to take a day of Winter Break to drive to SFO made the wait worth it.  Luckily, the system was back up very quickly and we were done and getting our luggage by 7PM.  Super blessed to have our friend R. pick us up at the airport.  We drove to Livermore to take him home (he was driving my car which he parked at his house when we were gone) and then headed to Tracy.  Late enough in the evening that traffic wasn't too bad.  We were home by 9PM.

We did a couple quick things and headed to bed around 10PM.  I was wide awake at 4AM but forced myself to try to go back to sleep.  Woke up again at 6 and had to call it done - J. was ready to get up then, too.

Kept busy with some unpacking, laundry sorting, making breakfast (eggs, toast and bacon) and enjoying our coffee.  We headed back to Livermore to pick up Chloe at 11.  She was her usual super excited self to see us - and her caregiver filled us in on how she's been doing since B. (caregiver) took her to the vet the first day of our trip - bladder infection.  There was another dog there - a 1 year old schnauzer - who kept going after Chloe and 'biting' her ears.  Poor Chloe.  She wanted us to pick her up and while it was 'playful', that dog was a pain and I'm sure Chloe is glad to NOT be subjected to constant play.  She's zonked out in her bed most of the day, catching up on sleep.  The $500 vet bill was a trip expense we weren't expecting so that's a zinger - but oh well.  She's better and home.

I've got the cold J. had in Europe so I'm not feeling all that great.  I tried to take a nap but I'd finished the (regular) Coke that was in my purse from the airport and also had a Starbucks iced tea so too much caffeine to make sleep likely.  It's just after 7PM and I'm super tired and planning to go to bed early tonight.  Praying it won't be a night of coughing.  [Note:  I rarely drink sugary Coke - but when I'm tired and exhausted and have a long-haul flight ahead of me, it's my 'go to' pick me up.  I'm back to water, my morning coffee and my one iced tea per day starting tomorrow.  Sugary drinks are a 'no' the majority of the time].

Tomorrow we will do the laundry we've sorted and finish unpacking.  I'll be psychologically prepping for returning to work - though I feel ready.  I feel totally fine with it until my 'to do' list flashes through my mind and I think 'it's going to be a very crazy month'.

Looking forward to winter break already - oh, and Thanksgiving break.  Though I'll have to 'work' a couple days of each because our Payroll person is officially on maternity leave now and it's likely I will need to help ensure we get people paid on schedule.