Christmas 2024/New Years Plans

[formulanone]

Stayed home last week and work-from-home this week. Visited enough family throughout the year and extended family is going out of town.

Organized things with the kids: Display, Store, Donate, Discard, and Shred piles. Always ongoing process for the four of us between massive amounts of school supplies, unused toys/games, and my cluttered office.

Wound up playing Mario Party way too often this week and up through NYE since my son received a Nintendo Switch. Wife and I binge-watched Foundation with our free Apple TV trial.

Took daughter out for her birthday let her go shopping. She's off to college next year.

I need lazy weeks like this every so often.

[1995hoo]

....

I need lazy weeks like this every so often.

I very much agree with that. Ultimately, we never got out to try snow tubing because the weather didn't cooperate. But I got various home maintenance done and cleaned up my home office. I had intended to do the latter on the afternoon of December 23 but got interrupted when my wife came upstairs to tell me the powder room toilet was leaking water all over the floor. Turned out the fill valve needed to be replaced. The trip to Home Depot to buy one took longer than removing the old one and installing the new one did. Too bad all home repairs can't be so simple.

Sleeping in 90 minutes later than usual every day for nine days was really nice.

[formulanone]

....

I need lazy weeks like this every so often.

I very much agree with that. Ultimately, we never got out to try snow tubing because the weather didn't cooperate. But I got various home maintenance done and cleaned up my home office. I had intended to do the latter on the afternoon of December 23 but got interrupted when my wife came upstairs to tell me the powder room toilet was leaking water all over the floor. Turned out the fill valve needed to be replaced. The trip to Home Depot to buy one took longer than removing the old one and installing the new one did. Too bad all home repairs can't be so simple.

Sleeping in 90 minutes later than usual every day for nine days was really nice.

It may waste $10-15, but I just replace every part if I've doing toilet repairs with those All-in-One kits. Had to do enough of them over the last 25 years that I've acquired all the tools and know-how for that task, but I also don't like making multiple trips and spending 3-4 hours overall. I think the only time I've recently replaced a single part was for a handle which sheared off.

[1995hoo]

....

I need lazy weeks like this every so often.

I very much agree with that. Ultimately, we never got out to try snow tubing because the weather didn't cooperate. But I got various home maintenance done and cleaned up my home office. I had intended to do the latter on the afternoon of December 23 but got interrupted when my wife came upstairs to tell me the powder room toilet was leaking water all over the floor. Turned out the fill valve needed to be replaced. The trip to Home Depot to buy one took longer than removing the old one and installing the new one did. Too bad all home repairs can't be so simple.

Sleeping in 90 minutes later than usual every day for nine days was really nice.

It may waste $10-15, but I just replace every part if I've doing toilet repairs with those All-in-One kits. Had to do enough of them over the last 25 years that I've acquired all the tools and know-how for that task, but I also don't like making multiple trips and spending 3-4 hours overall. I think the only time I've recently replaced a single part was for a handle which sheared off.

I don't generally bother with that because our Kohler toilets use the "Aquapiston" design, rather than a flapper, so the only thing that typically needs replacement, aside from the fill valve, is a gasket that goes around the bottom of the cylinder. Replacing that is maybe a five-minute job at most. It's much easier than replacing a flapper. The hardest part of the job is unhooking and reconnecting the chain that runs from the flush handle to the cylinder, and that's simply because I find it hard to handle such a small piece.

[webny99]

Son and I are roadtripping to the Sugar Bowl.

Unfortunately it sounds like that game will not be played tonight in the aftermath of the Bourbon Street tragedy.

https://www.nola.com/news/sugar-bowl-postponed-in-wake-of-suspected-new-orleans-terrorist-attack-sources-say/article_e3cab53e-c86c-11ef-b177-8fa1af6de1fa.html

I hope you can extend that road trip.

More importantly, I hope he's safe and well.

[I-55]

Spent at least 4 hours driving on 5/9 days I had off. Was one of the more enjoyable Christmases I've had in quite some time because of it. The magic of Christmas day has lost some of its magic on me, maybe because I'm now an adult with a full time job but still don't have kids of my own to share it with. Nowadays Christmas is just 4 days  cramped in a house with 10 people, all of whom over the age of 15. There's nothing to do indoors and my brother and I are the only people that ever go outside. Hard to spend time with people that sit on their tablet all day.

[Scott5114]

A good chunk of my time was spent raking up leaves though which has been a challenge because of rain. Yesterday, the high was 80℉ which provided a grand opportunity to make a major dent if it weren't for the damn wind.

I'm not sure why you bother. The wind on the Plains blows leaves to places they will naturally biodegrade. Natural part of the ecosystem.

[Henry]

Today's the last day off for me and my wife, as our daughter leaves for Los Angeles with her fiancé tomorrow.

[ZLoth]

A good chunk of my time was spent raking up leaves though which has been a challenge because of rain. Yesterday, the high was 80℉ which provided a grand opportunity to make a major dent if it weren't for the damn wind.

I'm not sure why you bother. The wind on the Plains blows leaves to places they will naturally biodegrade. Natural part of the ecosystem.

Since I live in a suburban neighborhood, it feels like my home is a leaf magnet. Also, a good chunk of the leaves comes from a large tree that fell into an fenced-in side yard where the pool equipment is located, so it's a good idea to clean it up.