I love IKEA!

We bought a new bookcase for the upstairs last night from IKEA. Although I didn't inherit much of the Gennaula carpentry talent, I can feel that wood in my blood working when I finish up a job like this. I mean, I did "build it"... right? :)

Slowly but surely we're transforming the upstairs from a little boys play room to a pre-teen game room. The kids love their Wii (which proud father can say they bought with their own money!). They used some of their Christmas money today to buy some more games for it.

Christmas time is so great now that my job gives me the time off. Christmas to New Years is considered part of our holiday days off. I would always work through this time at other jobs in order to save up vacation days. But after 2 years of this I'm finding how much I really need the break at this time of year.

Christmas Day

The boys woke us up at 5am this morning to open presents. This is our tradition. The boys were very happy with their video games and lego sets. We just had a quiet day and then had lasagna for dinner (made with fresh mozzarella). What a great Christmas

Let it snow... let it snow... let it... melt?

We got our snow on Thursday afternoon. The airport reported 1 inch. It looked nice, but has already turned to slush. The odds are against lasting till Christmas. On TV they did a piece about the love/hate relationship Minnesotans have with snow. They interviewed a person who in one breath said how bad the roads were and then how she couldn't wait to get home to play in it. It is true: I hated the thought of driving home (it actually wasn't that bad), but loved the idea of seeing the moonlight reflecting off the snow at night.

Wendy in The Mikado

Wendy is going to be singing in The Mikado with the The Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company starting in March 2007. The performances run 3/9/07 to 4/1/07. All performances will be at the Howard Conn Fine Arts Center, 1900 Nicollet Ave. S., Minneapolis. Click here for directions. Tickets will be $15 for adults and $8 for children. You can find more information on the show's website.

How can Minneapolis not have a White Christmas?

With the way Minnesotans like to gripe about the weather you'd think we would have Minnesotans for Global Warming Clubs. But how can we live in Minneapolis and not have a White Christmas? It looks like that is what might happen. We have a chance of snow around Friday and Saturday, but it is not looking good. An Inconvenient Truth seems to be leading to a brown and grey Christmas.