Bart the truck is on hospice care. I took the truck in to the shop last week to get the buzzing noise in one of the wheels looked at, and they showed me a few things. Rust has really taken off in the frame, to the point that they couldn't put it up on the life because it was making the frame cave in. Several areas on the frame have so much rust that you can poke your finger through, and even places where the body is welded on are rusting away. The mechanic who showed me all the rust damage didn't think it was safe to drive. He recommended I avoid potholes and rail crossings, and don't get hit. Plus there is a broken spring to boot and the entire strut on the front right side would need to be replaced, but they didn't think it was worth it. In the end no work was done and I guess I'm going to be looking at new vehicular options.

Wednesday I tried out a spin class at the YMCA. I haven't been on a bike in a while now and I thought it might be fun while I was off work when the classes are on. It was fun, I got a good workout and the class wasn't too crowded (maybe 5 altogether - maybe just because of break? or everyone's sick?) There's a limited number of classes being held until things start back up again in January, so I'll go to what I can while I can. 

I'm officially on Christmas vacation now, I was planning to be off the entire week but did keep having to come in to take care of this or that, or to run to Columbia City, but as of Tuesday afternoon I am on vacation. We have no big vacation plans, which is turning out to be just as well because Alex and Beth are both sick. Alex started feeling crummy in his head earlier this week, with a lot of snot and feeling super tired. Beth is about the same. They both actually went to Medstat together this week, looks like the flu.

So speaking of that, there was a Christmas eve service at the church, but Beth and Alex both didn't feel well enough to go. So, Missy and I went by ourselves, after which we had planned to go out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse with Mary Jane and Natalie. Beth's been super stressed about what to do about Natalie and Christmas this year, and in the end this seemed like the best thing, and then she wasn't well enough to go anyway. We got Nat a bunch of stocking stuffers and some gift cards at Starbucks and Ulta, and I made a shutterfly photo book of her senior portraits and a bunch of other photos of just her. She seemed to appreciate it and we had dinner with no drama. 

Christmas (today) is a much lower-key affair than usual, I think. Besides the fact that some of us are pretty sick, and having no travel plans, we drew down the amount we were spending on the whole thing by quite a bit this year. We got Missy a drawing tablet, a game controller, and some video games, and got Alex some video games and video game-related by-products. Beth got this year's Warsaw cut glass ornament, and I got a snow blower. Fortunately, I haven't had to use it.

The Beth’s-side family gathering for Christmas was this past weekend in Michigan. Although, it wasn’t exactly what I thought it was going to be. There was originally planned to be a gathering at Judy & Neill’s cottage for a big meal on Sunday afternoon, which Beth was helping with, so she booked us in a motel in Kalamazoo with a kitchen so she could have an oven to work with to make the food she was bringing. But then Judy called her and told her not to bring anything because she had it all taken care of and was already up to her eyeballs in food. So we had a motel with a kitchen for 2 days with no actual reason for it. But anyway...

Beth and Alex went on a road trip Thursday to Muncie to pick up Missy. She had her last final exam and got her writing assignment turned in Wednesday evening so she was ready to go. She barely had time to be home (she does miss her bed and the peace and quiet at home, I hear) before we all headed to Michigan on Friday as soon as I was done with work. We just had dinner and stayed in the motel room as we had no other plans or ideas for the evening and it was super cold. Saturday we had a long lunch with Ric & Nickie since we never get to hang out with just them. There is a really cool place in Kalamazoo called One Well that is a craft brew pub / arcade / gaming bar. We hung out and talked, the kids played games and got root beer floats. After they had to go, after we'd spent like 3 hours hanging out there, we did some shopping (because the motel has the thinnest blankets in the world, Missy was freezing the night before and needed a blanket) and then largely hung out at the motel again. Sunday we drove around Kalamazoo a bit so Beth and I could talk about what used to be where and how none of this was there back when blah blah blah....and headed to Judy's around 1:00. She had a heater on the patio and a crock pot full of wassail or something like it, but it was too cold and everyone pretty much stayed inside, which I think was a little disappointing for her. But everyone was there except Marve & Beth. Ric & fam, Steph & fam, Ted & Monica, Judy & Neill, me & fam. Judy had gotten a big charcuterie platter and had a bunch of snacks and things set out, so we all just grazed for the afternoon. I think Beth had been thinking there was going to be an actual meal, since she was planning on using the oven in the motel extensively. Oh well. 

I have been bounced once again from the "Fresh Outta Bed and Head to Head" tournament. My next contest was Tuesday, and only 3 questions into the best of 5, my phone dropped the call. Actually what I think may have happened was my face touching the screen made it drag down from the top and then touch airplane mode, so the call was cut off. I had a chance, too. Oh well, I'm ok with it. 

Wednesday was the Survivor season finale, so we got together with some friends (the McDonalds) for a watch party for the first time in a long time! 

Earlier in the week I had a water technician from Kinetico come by and check out the RO unit, because lately it has been taking forever to fill anything because it won't come in anything stronger than a tiny trickle. I'd looked into replacing the whole thing because it's some 20 years old, but in the end the repairman found the problem in the unit inlet and fixed it right away, and his tests showed it is still making good water. Now that it's making any water at all, that is. So the house call and the fix was uner $200 which was a fraction of the price of a new unit. Awesome news.

 Alex is home! Alex is home! We had quite the odyssey to pick him up, too. His flight was coming in to Chicago at midnight, so Beth and I took off after work and praise team rehearsal at church. We left in plenty of time, probably too much time, since we lose that hour going to Chicago and the traffic was as light as I have ever seen it. We  just sailed right on through the Skyway and Dan Ryan right on to O'Hare and got there in plenty of time for Alex's plane to be delayed by another half hour. He finally got in at around 12:30, so we got back home by around 3:00. Again on the way back home, lightest traffic I've ever seen so we made it from O'Hare to home in maybe 2 1/2 hours. I slept in a little bit on Friday morning but not that much. 

Beth has been working this week. She's filling in answering phones and making appointments for an office worker at her counseling center who is out taking care of her mother who is on hospice and very near the end. She's kind of enjoying having a job again, besides making soup I mean. It's ok on her knees and back and anxiety, at least once she figured out the phone system. $15 an hour, I think, not bad.

Saturday was our annual pilgrimage to Martin's Custom Butchering in Wakarusa for our load of meat. A smaller load this year to be sure, because empty nest. We only got a quarter cow this year.

Last Monday I got back in to the year-end "Fresh Outta Bed and Head to Head" tournament on Pulse FM! Someone had lousy cell coverage and they couldn't get connected with them, so I got a second chance! And I made the best of it, too. I won this time! So now I'm back in the mix and I get to play again next week.

The biggest event of the soup season was this weekend. The Wawasee PTO craft fair! Beth and I got everything all set up and ready on time, even though there was a desperate search for potato flakes and plastic spoons, which seem to be in short supply for some reason. But we got what we needed and were ready to go at 7:30, and we sold soup all day. Lots of it. At the end of the day we had sold 130 jars of soup, a new record, just 2 weeks after setting a previous record. That is $1560 worth of soup sales! So I guess Christmas is pretty much paid for. 

The Pulse FM 'Fresh Outta Bed and Head to Head' tournament of champions 2022 kicked off this week. I was matched up against some guy from Elkhart or Goshen or somewhere, and although I got the first question, I never kept up the momentum and a few questions I answered were blind guesses. So I wound up losing 3-1, an early tournament exit for me. Oh well.