MeanMrMustard's Musings

White Christmas

We had one. A solidly white Christmas, like I can't remember having had since we moved here. Some years there has been snow on the ground, but old, dirty, salty, dog-pee-stained snow. But this year was a storybook Christmas -- it looked almost like a fake stage production, with big fat flakes falling straight down outside the family room window as Emma and I sat at the table, beating up on Kristi at the "Sorry!" board. (Kristi is far too nice a person to succeed at "Sorry!")

We spent the day opening presents, playing with presents, reading presents, watching presents on TV, cooking and eating (not the presents, doofus), and generally having a fine time.

Between my birthday and the holidays, I always make out like a bandit compared to Kristi, which never seems fair. Even so, let the gloating begin! Though I'm sure I'll forget something, here's the list: several CDs, including Springsteen's latest; pretty much every Marx Brothers movie ever made, in two box sets; the latest "Harry Potter" movie (more a family gift, really); "To Kill a Mockingbird" on DVD, which we watched Christmas Eve; "Heroes" season one and "Rockford Files" season one on DVD; several computer books, because yes, I am a nerd; a laptop stand and cheap keyboard, so that my laptop can impersonate a desktop computer (I highly recommend this, as the ergonomic difference is enormous); a Caribou Coffee gift card; a Dilbert desk calendar; lots and lots of Red Vines; and a Sansa Clip 2-gig MP3 player, which is making Emma (who bought herself an iPod Shuffle earlier this year) drool uncontrollably.

Shoveling is much more pleasant with an MP3 player; even though I wasn't feeling great, I was laughing my way through Weird Al's version of "Bohemian Rhapsody" when I realized I'd done the next-door neighbors' sidewalk as well. (Which is good, since they're on vacation.)

Labels: birthday, christmas, gifts, holidays, movies, weather

posted by MeanMrMustard @ 1:40 PM |

Seasons

Sunday was a gorgeous day, relatively speaking; mid-50s and sunny.

Today, I went out to lunch. It was sleeting on the way back, with a biting wind.

Sigh. Just a little reminder of where I live.

Labels: minnesota, weather

posted by MeanMrMustard @ 8:23 PM |

Gorgeous

Spring has made it to the Cities, finally. We've had a beautiful weekend, and for me, that means getting on the bike. Yesterday I made two neighborhood rides, once to Office Max for a printer cartridge and once to Kowalski's for some artichoke hearts. Today, while Kristi took Emma for her swim lesson, I did a 12-mile loop around western Saint Paul -- started out reversing the route of the Saint Paul Classic 30-mile loop, then ... well, here's a map, including the detour to Minnehaha and Snelling to find out that the Minnehaha library branch is closed on Sundays. About 12 miles without getting out of the saddle, which in April is enough to wear me down. But it felt good -- the knee is solid. And 12 miles is just a little shy of the 13-mile ride to work, so I'm thinking that I'll be in solid commuting shape well before Emma goes into a summer program that stretches to late afternoon and I actually have time to do the commute.

Oh, yeah. And taxes. The less said, the better. We owe less this year than last, but that's largely because of donating Kristi's old Mazda last year; I doubt we'll be doing that again soon.

Labels: bicycling, weather

posted by MeanMrMustard @ 3:10 PM |

Snow

We've had a little. Keep in mind that we don't have a hill on either side of our front walk; that's all snow. Nor do we have a snowblower; that was all thrown there by shovel. And Emma's playhouse -- there's a whole mess o' snow there too.



Sorry about the lack of blogging (if you care). Combination of business, ennui and strep. (Emma's over it, Kristi's got it, and I figure it'll hit me tomorrow; I always get sick on weekends. It's a curse.) I'll try to do better.

Labels: home, weather

posted by MeanMrMustard @ 7:24 PM |