Thank God it’s almost over………………………………………………………

As always, first the chronology:

12/22/24 – Sunday – Up around 8AM. Cleaned up and helped Kathy finish the stuff for the pot luck at church today. Loaded everything in the car and off we went. Had service, lunch then decorated the church for Christmas. Gathered our things and headed home. Texted Mike and told him I wouldn’t be over for the get together today. Kathy was tired so we took a nap for a couple hours. Up and started cleaning. I did the bathroom downstairs and did some other cleaning. We took a break and went over to Shelbyville to Burger King for dinner. Home and did some more cleaning. Otherwise, the usual evening routine.

12/23/24 – Monday – Up around 8AM. Spent most of the day playing with HAM radio. Helped Kathy on some chores around the house. Cleaned and mopped the kitchenette downstairs. Late afternoon drove into J-Town to pick up a prescription at Kroger and got water and milk for my coffee downstairs. Place was mobbed and shelves were empty. Home and usual evening routine.

12/24/24 – Tuesday – up around 8AM. Spent the morning re-programming one of my radios and bringing my Allstar node back downstairs. Tried doing some things with it to no avail. Went to church at 6PM for Christmas Eve service. Tried to find a place to eat but everything was closed or too crowded. So home and had an egg omlete. Otherwise usual evening routine.

12/25/24 – Wednesday – Up around 8AM. Spent most of the day helping Kathy get things ready for dinner tonight. The Rice family came over around 4:30 and we exchanged gifts. Then Dee and Christine showed up around 5:30 and we all had dinner together. I went to bed early and they stayed and played cards awhile.

12/26/24 – Thursday – Up at 6AM, ready and off to work. Worked the door at the circuit court clerks office from 7:30AM to 4PM. Home, did some chores, dinner and bed.

12/27/24 – Friday – Up at 6AM and into work. Opened the court room at 8AM. Court didn’t start till 9AM. We were done by 10AM. Stopped at Country Mart for some groceries on the way home. Got home and put the truck away. Got wet walking from the Morton building to the house. Put groceries away and changed clothes. Kathy was laying down so I crawled in with her and the dogs. Slept till lunch. Had lunch and did some chores. Than back for a nap. Up and did some computer work. Had dinner and usual evening routine.

12/28/24 – Saturday – Up at 8AM. Cleaned up and over to Bestbuy. They didn’t open till 10 and we got there around 10:30. Went to look at TVs first as they had a bunch on sale. Got an excellent guy to answer questions and help us out. Then we went over to the printer area and talked with an HP representative for awhile and I decided on her recommendation to purchase one with the ink tanks rather than use the replaceable ink cartridges. By then, Kathy had decided she wanted a new TV for downstairs so we went back over there and picked one out. Loaded things in the truck and headed for home. Stopped at Burger King on the way and had a late lunch. Home and setup the printer. Then started on the TV. Didn’t get that all done before we had to start getting ready for the Derby Dinner Theater. Left the house a little after 5, got to the theater around 5:45. Doors opened, got our seats, had dinner and watched the show. Home late, let the truck out in the driveway. Inside, took care of nightly things and the dogs, then to bed.

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Now the specifics:

Had plenty for religion this week. Usual church on Sunday with a pot luck lunch then decorated the church for Christmas. Had to go to Christmas eve service as Kathy is in the choir and they sang Christmas Eve. There was a Christmas morning service but we blew that off.

Kathy spent a lot of time this week cooking and baking. Did a bunch of stuff for the pot luck at church on Sunday then more stuff for Christmas afternoon dinner. It wasn’t too bad. Julie, Mike and the grand kids came over around 4:30 and we exchanged presents. Then Dee, a friend or the family, and Christine a girl Julie grew up with in High School came over and we all had a nice dinner.

Of course Kathy waited till the last minute to get things done but since I had off work I helped her. Spent time Sunday, Monday and Tuesday trying to help. I guess we got everything nice and clean, decorated and organized as Kathy wasn’t too hard to live with.

Of course on Christmas Eve I asked Kathy what I should wear. Her answer was “Whatever you want”. I’ve learned that she meant “I have expectations that I’m not going to share. However, if you don’t live up to those expectation you will suffer ridicule.” So, I dressed up and all was good.

Work was not bad last week and won’t be bad this week. Monday’s are family court and the judge in charge of that cancelled sessions till the 13th of January. And last week and this coming week the court system is/was shut down for Christmas and New Years. Thursday is my usual day to cover the door at the circuit court clerks office from 7:30 to 4PM. Then Friday is District court that I cover and they only scheduled cases that had a time constraint so last week was only an hour and I don’t expect this coming week to be different. Of course the following week we will go back to our normal busy schedule.

Well, my old HP Photosmart printer ran out of ink Friday night while I was trying to print some stuff. I got some cartridges out that I purchased from a supplier that bought cartridges from companies that had a stock they didn’t need. They were old HP cartridges and none of them worked. I can only assume because they were old. I’ve tried off brand cartridges in the past and the printer will not recognize them. So, I was just out of luck. I went to bed with the laptop and did some research and the only option was to bite the bullet and buy a new one. I decided to go over to best buy and get was I figured was a comparable printer that uses available ink cartridges for around $200. I asked Kathy if she wanted to ride along and she said “I have to do my hair for tomorrow”. What that means in her language is “I don’t want to go”. The hair is just the excuse. I made the mistake of mentioning that I got an email from Best Buy and they have a bunch if TVs on sale it she was interested. Now she wants to go. We looked at the TVs first and learned a few things. We decided to think about it and went over to look at printers. I was already planning on getting an HP and wasn’t too interested in the tank style rather than the cartridge style as a friend got an Epson with the tanks and wasn’t too pleased. We ran into an HP rep that was extremely knowledgeable. She explained that there were problems with the tank systems to begin with but HP had redesigned their printers to fix that problem. So, I ended up buying a $400 printer with ink tanks that will cost me about $25 to completely fill it with ink rather than spend $35 to $55 dollars a cartridge for black and tri-color cartridges. By now, Kathy has decided she did want a new TV. So, we got a 52″ smart TV and what started out as trip that would cost $200 turned into a trip costing $1800. But I got the printer home and am pleased and Kathy seems pleased with her TV. So all is good.

The Derby Dinner Theater was a bust. My legs were killing me, I was at an angle were my head had to be rotated 90 degrees to see the stage. The food was good and it’s always good spending time with the grand kids. Kathy and I sat with Chloe and Shelby. Carter sat with his parents. I was glad it was over. Of course it was pouring down rain on the way home. Had to use fog lights on the truck so I could see the lines on the road. But we made it home safe.

I have my doctor’s appointment Monday a week from now. It’s at 7:45 in the morning so I won’t have to wait. Hopefully she will tell me what she suspects is going on and what to do about it. I’m sure we won’t get things squared away on the first shot but she is my best hope. I’ll keep you posted on that.

I think that’s about it for this week. Haven’t had any plans for New Years eve. Got plenty of snacks and of course the pork and sauerkraut for New Years day. So, if we aren’t invited out we’ll probably party like animals till around 10PM and just go to bed.

As always, hope this finds you safe and well. Stay that way and I’ll blog at you again next week.