Blizzard!!!

Okay, so I already told you that a blizzard started Christmas day. Well I have to tell you all the little things that came with that...

We spent Christmas day and the day after stuck in our apartment. We wanted the new Mario game for the Wii for something to do, so before it got too bad, we tried going to Walmart. Everything went fine, and we got there with no problem. When we pulled into the parking lot though, there was too much snow and we ended up getting stuck. Because of that, our 24 hour Walmart closed early. (They only ever close on Christmas at 8pm til 6am the next day). Steve tried backing out in the same tracks we had just made, but it didn't work because the wind was too strong and was pushing the car sideways. He was about to get out and push, but a couple in a truck pulled up and started pushing. It didn't work, so I made Steve help while I drove.

Important side note: I NEVER drive on the snow or ice.

3 of them pushing wasn't helping. We weren't going anywhere. So they decided to get back in their truck and try to make several passings to flatten the snow as much as possible. As soon as they made the first one, I was tired of it all and just started going back and forth, back and forth and turning the wheel all about 30 times. Guess what? I got us most of the way out!!! When I finally did get stuck, the three of them pushed again and we made it out! I almost backed into the stop sign, but at least we were out! We got home with no problem after that. It was really nice of them to help us. Especially since they weren't dressed for the negative degree weather. Yes, I realize we should have just stayed home.

The next day, Dec. 26th, I was supposed to open at 6 am. The night before I asked my manager to text me in the morning if the mall was going to be open or not. The mall opened 2 hours late EVEN THOUGH THE REST OF THE STATE WAS CLOSED. We knew from the experience the day before that his car wouldn't make it because it was too low to the ground, especially since even more snow had blown in since then. So we tried my car. The only reason my car backed out of the parking spot is because it's on a slight hill. We could not get any grip. I even have 1 year old weather tires and I don't drive my car very often or very far. So there shouldn't have been any reason for that! He ended up having to push me back into the parking spot and I had to call in.

My boss told me to try to make it in later that day, but I knew there was no way because it was still blizzarding. So she was kinda frustrated with me because of it. There's nothing I could do though, so I tried to just shake it off. I hate letting people down so it really bothered me that I couldn't get there. I was looking forward to working that day, since I had 3 days off before that and I was getting cabin fever. The mall ended up closing at 5 because they finally realized that it was still too dangerous to be open. I really hate the mall managers. They are really stupid.

As far as South Dakota goes, the interstate and all other highways were shut down from the Wyoming border to the Minnesota border for 3 days. It was that bad. I'm still annoyed with the mall for opening in the first place.

We found out the next day that I wouldn't have gotten further than the parking lot anyway because they didn't plow the neighborhood streets. On top of all this, Saturday morning when I tried to go to work and failed, there was a stream going through our parking lot. Our water ended up getting shut off for several hours while they dug out the gigantic water pipe that had burst and replaced it. A few hours after that... the power on this side of town went out. We considered having my father-in-law come get us in his truck after he got off work if we didn't have either back by 7. No power and no water in a blizzard is not good. Thankfully, they both came back on and I took a shower that night, which is a good thing because when I woke up the next morning, the water was off again. No idea why.

I did get to work that Sunday though! They finally had all the roads plowed. So yay! Everything has been good since all that crap. I really hope the rest of winter goes smoothly.