After a short time spent in Georgia and Florida with even a longer travel time, I have finally regained my energy and I’m back blogging. The drive down South wasn’t bad at all. However, it was just so long especially crossing the state of Illinois that I wish the state would just disappear.

We arrived in Madon and Dean’s place at the expected time.  Manoy Brandit and Madon was still up when we arrived.  I am very pleased with Madon’s place as it is very cozy and filled with Christmas spirit.  It is neat and well-adorned from the living room to the guest bathroom which has a Frog theme and Kohler faucets.  We instantly felt at home!  We settled in one of the guests’ bedrooms and I put TS to bed while I stayed up with Madon in the living room to catch up with the updates of our lives until we fell asleep.

We got the call that we’ve been waiting for on Thanksgiving morning.  It was a call from Rorie and Christian informing us that they will be there any minute now.  When they arrived, the house was filled with energy despite the fact that the two couple who just arrived had an overnight drive.  From then on, the festive atmosphere started.  We prepared Chili con Carne Hotdogs for brunch.  Immediately after brunch TS and I together with Rorie and Christian went to Walmart to get some groceries.  While we were there, I also bought a birthday pumpkin cake for TS.

It was me and TS who took charge of almost all of the prepping except for the Lechon Kawali that the Filipina requested.  Rorie was in charged for that.  I took care of Madon’s Monngos (Mung Bean Soup) assignment so that the kitchen won’t be overcrowded.  TS took charge of the Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, vegetables and Crispix peanut-butter and chocolate drops.  I on the other hand prepared the Corn Bread, Jello and the soup.  I did more talking than cooking.

We had the House Blessing before  the Thanksgiving dinner.  It was then followed by gift-giving and we really had a great time.  I gave TS another birthday gift – his own Adagio Tea Set.  The rest of the evening was spent talking, posing for pictures and watching pictures and our old family home videos.  We maximized our time together since all of us will be leaving GA the following day.

On TS’ birthday (the day after Thanksgiving), we drove down to Florida to pick our stuff.  In the middle of the drive, Rorie and Chris treated us for lunch at Fatz.  I had fill of my shrimp craving with my Ying-Yang Thai Shrimp order.  The rest are also satisfied with their order.  It was a good place actually.  We dont’ have that restaurant here in MN though.

We arrived in FL and stayed in mom’s new townhome.  It is a nice place… her next-door neighboor is the #42 of Jacksonville Jaguar – Chad Nkang, his little brother and his big dog – Bear.  I was sick when we arrived there so I spent the rest of the time in bed while TS was the one who load the stuff we needed to bring to MN.  Poor Hubby, he didn’t get any help from me.  He still manage to take care of me by feeding me and giving me the medications I needed.

When Sunday came, we were ready to leave Florida and head out for the 24-hour drive back home.  I was feeling better but not until we were stuck in traffic in South Georgia.  Instead of going through Georgia for only 5 hours, we left the state after 9 hours.  Tennessee was a breeze with its beautiful landscape of mountains, trees and lakes.  Kentucky is short which I don’t mind.  And when we entered Illinois, we were welcomed with a heavy pouring of snow.  TS didn’t mind it as he was used to driving with snow.  But when we took the East-West interstate, we were both horrified.  The road was not plowed nor salted.  It was slippery as hell since the road turned into ice.  TS had to drive 40mph at max.  There are others who drove on the ice road faster which didn’t make any sense because we met them on the ditch later on.  When the condition became worse, TS and I decided to stop for a little nap until the Interstate highway will be taken cared of.  We only slept in the car for two hours but it was a good sleep with the entire outdoor totally covered with white snow.

When we resume our driving, it was better than last night.  We were relieved when we arrived in Wisconsin and even more when we arrived Minneapolis and the traffic wasn’t bad.  We got home unload our stuff and left all of it scattered in our living room.

I tried to get back to blogging but the condition of the apartment is just crazy.  Three days later, I was finally able to arrange and put most of the stuff in the storage closet.  This explains my absence and I apologize for not being able to visit your blogs.  I will make up for it but I’ll have to do it slowly.  The important thing is, I am slowly catching up to your posts.  Thank you for visiting my site when I was gone.  It sure is good to be back!