Coming home to snow again

We went to Chicago this past weekend. We went to the Christkindlmarket to see the German stuff. It wasn't that exciting--it was just one small square jam packed with shops and LOTS of people. And food tents that were overpriced. We got a couple of pretzels and 1 glass of glühwein--hot spiced wine. It came in its own porcelin blue boot (small) that we brought home. It was good on a VERY chilly day! Then, we walked down to see the bean, a big shiny reflective thing just south of the main strip on Michigan Ave. Then, we went to lunch and went to Crate and Barrel. Finally went back to Mitzi's and warmed up.

Came back late Sunday. We went to church at the cathedral; the Bishop presided. Then we went to Ikea with Mitzi. It takes forever to drive past O'Hare. We bought some stuff at Ikea. We got home about 9pm. Our house was snowed in. And, snow plowed in. When we went to get out, we found that we weren't just snowed in, we were iced in. The snowfall had been covered by freezing rain, so we could walk on top of the snowfall without falling in. So, we got the girls in and then started working on shoveling out my car so I could get to work. We gave up soon and just decided I would take the van, so we parked that on the street. On Monday we worked on clearing out the car--it took both a real shovel to break up the ice and a snow shovel to haul off the chunks. Our neighbor came over to help clear the driveway off so we could park in the driveway. The ice on the sidewalks/driveway "can" come off in nice discrete chunks if you are lucky. Then, yesterday Katie cleared off most of the sidewalks, with me coming home to finish the job last night. We finally were able to use the snowblower last night to clear off the snow that had fallen on the cleared off parts.

Today I am sick; called in sick. So, Katie snow blowed this morning. She also went to help the neighbor that helped us. I have called work to tell them I'm not coming.

Check out the new pics on the photo page!

Pre-Thanksgiving

Well, it is the week of Thanksgiving. More importantly, Mitzi is here! She has come up for her annual (2nd annual!) week in Madison. We have been enjoying having another adult (Mitzi's an adult?) around to talk to...and play Wii with! Oh...and help with the kids. We bought a new snowblower today--one of our biggest purchases ever, after the house and cars. It's a Madison snowblower--capable (hopefully) of dealing with the big snowstorms. Maybe Mary Ann can even ride on it.

Many people are coming up on Wednesday: the Buschelmans, L'Opa, Nana and Oma. Not Casey, as Mary Ann keeps asking about; the dog will stay in Missouri. Robert's parents are staying in KC to host the Salina family for T-day.