Well, the kids have been home on break for a week and finally I am too. I wrapped up for the year on Friday, and actually spent a chuck of time cleaning up the office, getting rid of stuff I don’t need to hang on to any more, and straightening up. My cubicle has been a wreck for a long time now. Anyway, I think I accomplished a lot this past year and I am taking the full 2 weeks off now. The kids however are still working. At least Alex is. They both asked for time at Kroger (Alex) and Lowe’s (Missy); Kroger asked Alex to start right away and they have been giving him a lot of hours already because they are so short. Lowe’s told Missy she’d be on a call-in basis, and they have called one time, resulting in 3 hours of which most was taken up trying to get her activated in the system without much luck. So Alex is getting hours but Missy is not. 

I went back in to work on Monday wearing a mask because I still didn’t have a negative covid test. I had forgotten how much I hate wearing a mask. Got use to it a couple years ago but I don’t even remember what we did with all those masks we made back in the covid days. I’m sure we still have them somewhere. 

Thursday my group at work did volunteer work for Habitat for Humanity again (3rd or 4th time?) Starting first thing in the morning we all arrived at the site in Mentone to work laying down laminate flooring. New to everyone in the group, but it didn’t take long to get a system going. We got well over half of the living room and the master bathroom covered before ending at around lunch time, then we all went to lunch at the Bull Dog Saloon in Mentone, which we had never been to, but someone heard they have really good pizza, which they do!

Friday was the Christmas party at the Zastrow’s house for everyone on the worship team (including tech) at church. It was a snacks and games party for the most part. Beth made Laura’s famous corn crack dip which everyone loved, so none of that to bring back home. After eating a bunch we all got into playing a massive round of ‘5 Second Rule.’ Basically that was hilarious. 

Saturday while Alex was at work, the girls all wanted to go to the antique / junk shops around town. The one down US 30 from Warsaw turned out to be closed for renovations though, so it was cleaned out. We got a bit lost following the county roads up north a ways but did make it to North Webster to the antiques stores there. There were plenty of cool things to find but nothing I really needed until I found some 1990 Topps football cards from sale, with the stick of gum still intact in the packs. I picked up a couple of those for Laura and Thomas. Beth and Missy each found some fun and pretty trinkets. 

Trey at work has lent me his smart trainer. Basically it is a device that you remove the back wheel of your bike and attach in its place. Then as you ride it adjusts the resistance. When you sign up to Zwift, which is a riding app, you can virtual ride through a world a lot like in Wii Sports Resort. So anyway, I’ve been trying out the app (subscription service) and the trainer with some rides this week. Trey came over to help me get it set up, and so far I like it a lot. I’ve put the old Schwinn on the trainer instead of the new Specialized, maybe I’ll just leave it set up like that. Nice to be able to ride in the winter.