Thank you all for you words of encouragement! We made it back home alive, she made me walk a couple of miles when we were getting home because her seat is too uncomfortable...we'll have to figure that out.

I will not be doing the backpack again, I don't mind the sweating but my shoulders got a bit tired on my way home, so I will suck it up and buy the panniers. Acidfast7 Those panniers actually look really good compared to some I've seen so I will get that right now and hope they get here soon. I looked into some of the solutions mentioned here like the Ballard market pannier and the Arc'teryx backpack but my commute today left a sour taste in the mouth when it comes to backpacks. Thank you guys for suggesting your favorite accessories.

For the seat issue I think a seat cushion may be good for her, we'll see how she likes it. It almost rained today and we were not prepared for that so thankfully we made it home before it started. I've read that for the rain a couple of fenders should keep you clean at least but I wonder.

I will try to ride tomorrow but the backpack is so uncomfortable I may not make it to Friday. Maybe I'll rest tomorrow and Thursday to give myself a break.

Again thank you for all the input and suggestions, I'm getting some valuable info thanks to it.