Long trip home...

We flew back to Peoria on Wednesday. We knew we were going to have some transportation issues on arrival since we still don't have a car. Our flight (via Denver) was set to arrive in Peoria at 11 pm and the rental car companies are all closed at that hour, so we had to line up a cab to pick us up.

Larry drove us to the San Diego airport early to allow us lots of time to get through security. Security was easy so we figured we'd see if we could get an earlier flight to Denver and perhaps an earlier flight to Peoria. We made the earlier flight to Denver and looked to check on an earlier Peoria flight. No dice. There is only one flight per day. Our 4 hour lay over in Denver was now a 5 hour lay over.

We had some lunch... some dinner... Nathan bought a book and read nearly the entire thing. And we were 10 minutes to boarding when... our plan was delayed. Another hour and a half in Denver.

We finally landed in Peoria around midnight. Our cab took us home (ridiculously expensive by the way!!) and we unlocked the door and... it wouldn't open. I had put the chain on the front door. Like an idiot.

So Nathan and I began numerous attempts at breaking into our home in the middle of the night in the snow.  Shivering and grumpy, Nathan checked all the windows, the garage door, etc. I tried to work on the chain on the door. Maybe I could rig something that could push the chain off the door as I brought the door closed? Nope. Those chains really work. Nathan even tried breaking the chain, which the cops on TV make look super easy. It's not.

We gave up on breaking the chain and finally came up with a good plan using random "tools" from our carry on bags (I'm not telling you the details, but Macgyver would be proud). There was a lot of hilarious instructions: "Up, up, up, down, left. No my left. Push, push. Wait. I was wrong. The other way." Broken and dropped utensils, more shivering, more whispered instructions, and finally success. I threw myself in the house, and opened the door for Nathan. A little after 1:00 AM.

I proceeded to have a coughing fit and couldn't fall asleep until 3:00 AM. Up for work at 6. Happy Freakin' New Year.

EPILOGUE: I'm proud to say Nathan only once (justifiably) rolled his eyes at me for being the cause of our trouble, and never once said "this is all your fault." No harsh words were exchanged and no fighting ensued. The Osbornes are a well oiled machine, jumping into action when crisis hits, and laughing heartily at our (my) stupidity.