Greeting Cards & Civic Duty

I finally got my cards mailed to Heather for the Summer Greeting Card Swap she was hosting. She's away right now, so they will be waiting for her when she returns.
I had so much fun putting these cards together. I was inspired by some note cards I saw in a shop that were aqua with red polka dots. I really like this color combination, so decided to use it as the theme for my greeting cards. I looked through my stack of images and decided that these vintage Dick, Jane and Sally images along with some others of children fit in with the color scheme perfectly and gave the cards a retro look. After that things just fell into place, using rick rack, polka dot ribbon, ledger paper, and my trusty scalloped edged scissors. I lined the envelopes (practicing for all those wedding invitations I have to make) using some of Elsie Flannigan's scrapbook paper.
I sent along this mini journal for Heather as a thank you.
All day Monday I spent in Criminal Court - as a juror, not a criminal. This particular courthouse is in a crummy neighborhood - why I never get sent to the courthouse that is 5 minutes from my house, I'll never know. I guess news of the energy crisis and high gas prices hasn't reached the court system yet. I put in a request for a limo to pick me up, but for reasons unbeknownst to me my request was denied! So I had to arrange my own private transport - my DH. {What a peach of a guy he is for driving me!}

As we pulled up in front of the courthouse, I made him come to a screeching halt so that I could jump out and follow this woman who was wearing khaki pants. She looked like a nice lady and from the determined stride in her walk, I deduced that she must have some experience in these types of things - jury duty that is, not crime! I later learned that her name was Virginia (and my earlier assumption was correct - she was a nice lady). We were followed in line by another woman named Marilyn, who was quite a stitch! How did I get so lucky?

After my new best friends and I made it through security without incident, we headed up to the Jury Room where they kept all of us potential jurors until the Jury Room Concierge (the title of importance we bestowed upon him) called our panel number. Marilyn's number was called first and we said our sad farewells as she left for her important courtroom assignment. We later met up for lunch and she informed me that she was #3 in the jury box on a drug charge case which would last all week. Bad news for her, since she had already blown her $17.20/day paycheck on one-way public transportation and lunch. Seems as though Marilyn's expense account was going to be in the red after only one day of duty.

I was the next one to have my number called and like a herd of cattle (or 2nd graders on a field trip) we were lined up two-by-two, counted and recounted only to discover that we were missing someone. Out of all the groups that had been called before us, we were the first group to be missing a person. Sheesh, what an embarrassment! Finally after several attempts at trying to locate said missing person, she just appears in line and says, "Oh, are you looking for me?" I swear some of these people should have been sent to Judge Judy's courtroom instead of criminal court.

My group was assigned to a courtroom where a man was accused of breaking into a railroad freight car with the intention of theft. How boring is that? I figured since I had to go all the way to the criminal courthouse, I would at least get a case that was more exciting than attempted freight car theft. Oh well, you aren't allowed to pick and choose your cases, so I had to settle for this one.

After having to listen to the judge interview about 20 people asking them the same questions over and over again, I was beginning to understand the sign that was posted in the courtroom which read, "No Sleeping." I was surprised by how many of the people had been victims of crimes themselves. I was also surprised by some of the wacky excuses people gave when the judge asked them, "Do you have anything coming up in the next day or two that would prevent you from serving on a jury?" The gammet ranged from relatives who were dying to having to babysit their grandchild, the neighbor's child, their sister's child, to doctor and dentist appointments for themselves or for their mother, father, sister, uncle, etc. to not understanding the English language, having new soffit and fascia installed first thing in the morning to playing in a golf tournament...Judge Nick told that man, unless you're Tiger Woods they're not going to miss you if you're not there. The best excuse(s) came from a lady who I'll refer to as "The Queen." This was her extended list of excuses:

1. I have to take my husband to the clinic; no one else can take him; appointment can't be
rescheduled.

2. I have diabetes.

3. I'm not sure I can be fair.

4. I have a lower back problem. And when asked if there was anything that could be done to
make her more comfortable if she is chosen to serve on the jury, she gave the perfect
getting out of jury duty response, "Well, maybe you could turn off the air conditioning!"


I am sad (NOT) to say that my answers to the interview questions weren't good enough for this case, which has left irrevocable wounds on my ego. So I called for my chariot to come pick me me up and my civic duty and "one day, one trial" jury duty stint comes to a close for another year.