Snowed in on Christmas

So we decided to leave for Omaha a day early to beat the bad weather that was headed for the Midwestern states. We left Tuesday at 2:00pm and arrived at my sisters in Omaha around midnight. We left behind a couple inches of snow in Chicago, drove through some near freezing drizzle in Iowa and Illinois (which wasn't really that bad) and arrived in Omaha to find some rain and then ice the next day and now almost a foot of snow! Our usual Christmas day in Flandreau, South Dakota was cancelled for those of us who were driving from out of state. Our "Zimmer Christmas" is also up in the air for tomorrow due to the weather,... and if it happens will be a very small group of people! What a strange Christmas it is turning out to be!

The "Christmas blizzard of 2009" started here in Omaha on Christmas Eve during the day and is still going strong as I type this. There was only a couple inches of snow on the ground when we headed out on Christmas Eve, but the wind was so strong it was blowing the snow everywhere and pelting us in the face.... no fun...not to mention Omaha already had huge piles of snow on the ground from the last big snow storm they had a couple weeks ago.

So, we managed to get out to church on Christmas Eve with Joe's parents and Andy. Was nice to be back in the church where we were married, even though it was super crowded and standing room only at this mass. I love that church at Christmas and all the time. Its such a nice place to be. Feels like home when I'm there.

After that we went out with my mom and sister for our usual Christmas Eve ritual. We had a nice dinner at Biaggi's and then to my moms and back to Cathy's for presents and treats. It was a nice night and Cathy even managed to get my mom out of her snowy parking lot when she left for the night. There was a lot more snow at that point and my moms car was not made for deep snow at all!!

So we woke up on Christmas day with the hopes of going over to Joe's parents but we were snowed in for sure. There was at least 8-9 inches of snow on the ground and the drifts were super big all around the cars. Boo. So we are stuck at my sisters for today, hoping it will be better tomorrow and we can get out and get over there. But, we tried to make the best of it, Cathy and I played UNO and ate some snacks and a few of the cookies I made. Joe watched basketball and movies. The dogs are getting a little stir crazy because they haven't been on a walk, but they probably wouldn't enjoy a walk in the snow that's taller than them. :-)

Anyway, so this blog is being written to pass some time, as you can tell. We are a little bored, but we are hanging out. Not often we just sit around with our family, even if its just Joe and my sister and our dogs.

So I better get back to doing nothing.... Merry Christmas to all of you and hope wherever you are you aren't having as much "white Christmas" as we are.

My favorite time of year!

I am just entirely too excited for Christmas!!
Maybe I just have way too much time on my hands this year and its getting to me? I just love this time of year!! Like they say, I wish every day could be Christmas...or whatever the saying is....I just love this time of year, love buying gifts for people, shopping, wrapping, planning our visit home, listening to Christmas music, etc. I get WAY too into it!!

Today I was extra super excited because I got our present for my Dad in the mail and it turned out AWESOME! I will be sending it off to him this week and I wish we could be there to see him open it. My sister and I went in on something this year and after lots of hard work we finally got it done! Maybe its not as big of a deal as I am making it out to be, but I think its pretty COOL and I know he will love it! This is pretty good considering he is always hard to buy for! I can't say what it is, but I am super excited to give it to him. :-)

Yesterday we went downtown with my friend Sarah, who has a nice manual/professional camera (which I totally want!) and she took some nice photos of Joe and I at some cool spots in Chicago for our Christmas card. I am really happy with the way they turned out! I will post some of my faves later... but you will all have to wait and see which one we picked for the card. Thanks, Sarah!!

Anyway, off to wrap some gifts now! I'm almost done....almost!

Here is one of my favorite songs...totally reminds me of being a kid at Christmas.... ahhh, memories.... Check it out if you have time.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_U7MZkSlsOU

Thanksgiving

My Mom came to visit us in Chicago for Thanksgiving this year. I made a semi-small Thanksgiving for just the three of us. We still got stuffed as usual and still have lots of leftovers!

We went and to see the Christmas Carol movie in 3D, it was pretty cool with the new "Real 3D" that they have. It was a little scary though and I wouldn't recommend it for little kids at all. Amazing what they can do with animation these days, it looked SO real!

We went out to eat one night at Hopleaf for yummy mussels and Belgian beer and another night to Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinder for Pizza Pot Pies. Mmmm, so yummy!

(www.hopleaf.com & www.chicagopizzaandovengrinder.com)
Here are some photos from the weekend. We didn't take too many and a lot of them were taken on my cell phone so they aren't that great. Enjoy!

3D Glasses

Jury Duty Adventure

I thought I needed to post something since its been a while. It's been an eventful couple of weeks.

I had jury duty a couple of weeks ago, was selected for a trial (of course), so I'll start with that. This is old news to some of you, but oh well. Here goes my story. So, in Chicago it's apparently a pretty big deal, being a big city and all, I guess that makes sense. I reported to the big criminal court building on for my "day of service" assuming that I was going to be bored out of my mind sitting there all day. It really wasn't anything like that! Not only was it like a major event with bajillions of people there (yes, I said bajillions), it was pretty interesting as well! (or at least I thought it was)

The room we sat in was HUGE. Probably half of an entire floor of this building pretty much filled to the brim with theater type seats. People just plopped down and waited for their "panel" number to be called. Honestly, it was like bingo. Every time the man in the suit would walk up to the mic everyone would listen intently for their "lucky number" to be called. I waited all morning as he called several numbers close to mine, but he didn't call mine until almost noon. When he finally called it I wanted to jump up and yell, "I won, I won!!"....but I had to pretend I was as unexcited as the rest of the people there.

The worst part about it was all the waiting, even once my panel was called. We had to line up, 2 by 2, like we were in prison and wait there forever for the sheriff to escort us over to the courthouse.

I sat in a courtroom briefly for one trial and then we were dismissed right away for lunch. We came back and they let us go because some things about the case had changed. I went back to the bingo room and right away my panel was called again! Woo-hoo! I won again! But, this time it was for real.

We were taken into the courtroom and names were called to go sit in the jury box area. Mine was one of them. We were then "briefed" on the general type of trial, length, etc. It was a murder trial, first degree murder and also another weapons charge, something about firing a weapon with the intent to kill or do some physical harm, I cant remember exactly now. I was nervous yet intrigued! I wanted to see how this whole justice system worked! Plus, this was way cooler than being on some lame civil trial. So after we were picked the entire group of potential jurors was questioned out in the open by the judge, in front of the attorneys, the defendant, and the other people who were in the courtroom. It was not like I had pictured at all. After all the questions and discussion among the attorneys, several people were let go, people with criminal records and people who had family with criminal records and tons of other things. I of course was picked and was a juror for that trial.

The trial didn't start until the following day. This time we had to report directly to the jury room for that courtroom. These rooms were so old and nasty. The bathrooms looked like they were from the 50's or older. The whole place was in serious need of an update! Whew!

Anyway...back to the trial. I found out that I was an "alternate juror" along with one other guy, which meant we would sit and listen to the trial but would not be allowed to deliberate at the end and decide the case. BOO! I was so mad....excited that I got to stay and watch, but mad I didn't get to talk to these people about the case and help make a decision. :-(

The trial went all day one day and part of the next. It was eye opening to see attorneys, witnesses, the judge, all in action. It really opened my eyes to how it all works and how good some lawyers are! The way they got right in our face and the defendants face was rather intimidating, and very convincing. I knew then that I could have never been a lawyer,... I'm not a good liar nor sales person, but it sure was interesting to watch. Interesting enough that for one second I thought, "I could definitely be a professional juror!" Too bad the salary of $17.20 per day isn't quite enough to live on. Ha! ;-)

So the trial ended the second day and I was let go. They sheriff for the case called me at home to let me know the verdict was reached so that I knew I could talk about the case at that point. It was tough not talking about it with Joe or Cathy or anyone I talk to on a regular basis! I did it though! I followed the "order" of the judge and didn't tell.

It was a guilty verdict and I was glad to hear it because that's what I would've said as well. It was a sad case, but pretty easy to decide based on the witnesses testimonies.

All in all, what I took away from this experience was more than getting to see the inner workings of a trial and courthouse, but really seeing,...seeing up close and personal the people who are affected by and who involve themselves in this kind of crime. You know, probably almost every night on the news here in Chicago, we hear about this type of gun violence mainly on the far South side of the city and some other areas. However, it doesn't really register when you live so separated from it and you only see a two line story in the paper or hear a 1 minute story on the news. It is real when you are forced to see it on the jury for the trial of a kid who was probably 18 at the time that he pulled out a gun and shot multiple times at 2 other kids who were in front of their own home. He killed one of them, left him dead on the street, like it was no big deal. It was sad to see photos of the dead boy and hear his family members testify. I felt bad for them as well as the defendant. What a sad life to live, thinking that at 18 years old its OK to kill someone, or to think you are not going to get caught doing it. How sad. I will probably never forget the story that I heard and those faces that I saw that day. How truly sad that this goes on everyday, probably SO much more than we will ever know.

Um, what?

The whole job thing is a mess now. The residential firm that originally offered me the job has now "reopened" the position,...whatever that means?!? All of this AFTER I sent them some questions and AFTER I accepted their offer. After all of that they email me to tell me that they have re-opened it,...Um, what? At this point they are acting so unprofessional and rude that I can't even imagine working there, so who cares I guess. We'll see what happens, but if they contact me again to talk about me working there, I am definitely going to raise my eyebrow.

I think they just didn't want someone working for them who was not a push-over, a person who would sign on the dotted line without even thinking it over. Well, that is not me. Everyone deserves a day or two to think about a job offer! Moving on.....