Happy New Year!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has been very mild with rain; we're not used to that at Christmas time! However, they're threatening a blizzard early next week, so there is that! We enjoyed a good week. We had a Christmas Eve service with our congregation. We spent Christmas Day with Trav, Joanna and crew. We went over there for brunch and gift exchange, then, in the afternoon, we engaged in our Christmas tradition of taking in a movie. This year, it was the newest, and, potentially, last, Star Wars movie. Finally, in the evening, they came over for turkey supper with all the trimmings. Wendy got out one of her puzzles, and we spent the evening building that.

Hard at it—Looney Tunes! 

Otherwise, we enjoyed a quiet week, and managed to avoid both pre-Christmas and post-Christmas shopping mania. We are currently working on puzzle #5! The markets were thinly traded, and thus volatile, but I was blessed with the full weekly quota despite only having 2.5 trading days, so I'm thankful. Fortunately, Trump has been fully-occupied with his impeachment, so nothing has come of his tariff threats. Hockey is a special feature this time of year as the World Junior championships take place. This year's event is in the Czech Republic, so we enjoy early game times. Our guys won their first game over USA, but were crushed by Russia in their second—Go Canada, Go! In the NHL, the Oilers had the ultimate insult as they lost to Calgary—yikes! Leafs continue to thrive, and Pens are starting to get players back from the injury list. As expected, Kansas was demoted to #5—Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk! 

Eric/A celebrated Christmas in PA with Haaken and Liam home to help them enjoy the season. 

Erica scored a lovely crystal

Liam's new hat!

Then, they spent the rest of the week celebrating their 26th Anniversary—Congratulations!

Erin, Kristian, Sadie and Lucy enjoyed Christmas in Regina. Shawn, Astrid and Liam came over for gift exchange and Christmas Dinner.

Jays Jersey for Erin

Fit-Bit!

Astrid's Gift!

After scoring nice gifts, Erin also took advantage of the post-Christmas sales to pick up a new Smart-TV to replace the one that has been dying down in the Family Room.

Travis and Joanna are enjoying a holiday from work, but they have a lot of assignments ready for them to get back to as well. We enjoyed spending time with the entire crew at Christmas. Travis and I worked on the dishwasher, but in the end we couldn't find the drainage problem, and left that to a professional! It still required a bit of work taking it out and reinstalling it. 

Working on the Dishwasher

Joanna has flown down to Toronto for a family-care visit after Christmas.

And that's about enough for this week. 

News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The cold snap has broken, and we're back in above zero temperatures. The driveway has melted off, but the eaves are dripping to create new icy spots. It's been a long two weeks, but Wendy returned home late last night, make that early this morning, as the air travel issues continued to the very end. In the final leg from Toronto to TBay, Wendy got boarded, but then had to deplane and change planes! Meanwhile, Erica was doing the gate dance in Toronto as well before flying, also late, to Saskatoon. However, they had a great two weeks of various adventures, including travel, and Erica completed another surgical episode in Germany. She seems to be recovering better than usual this time, and we're grateful for that. Wendy has added more to her adventures as she's dog-sitting over the holidays!

Charlie

William

I have managed some progress on a couple of projects here. I installed, temporarily, the LED lights in the china cabinet. There are four wires in those little flat ribbons, and some of the solders did not survive the installation, so I'll need to find the broken connections and redo them.

Rider Flavour in China Cabinet

I also added the support to the island countertop and got that attached to the island. The boss hasn't noticed that yet, so we await final approval there! I worked on the sliding door, but have discovered that it's a bit warped, so I'm watching you-tubes on repairing warped doors! My eye is looking good and seeing a bit better each week. I keep hoping the progress will continue long enough so I can see well. I am sometimes able to read words from the screen, but it tires quickly, too. Trump seems to have been completely distracted by his impeachment, and the markets soared as they worked unimpeded. I had a good week, but it would take more such weeks to complete the year on target after the disaster last week, and the closing days will be aggravated by holidays. My Oilers continue to flounder, losing about seven of their last ten, so they've fallen to third place in their division. At least they managed a win tonight. The Leafs are flourishing under their new coach, and have moved into playoff contention; they also won tonight. The Pens, somehow, continue to win despite all their injuries; but they failed in Vancouver tonight. As expected, my Jayhawks were elevated to #1 in basketball. However, as feared, they fell victim to this season's #1 curse. They lost by 1 point to Villanova today, so they'll likely crash out of #1 in the next rating, sigh! Rock Chalk Boys! 

Miss Adventurers!

Erica writes, "Thank you everyone for your prayers and encouragement. And a big thank you to mom who has been incredibly giving and supportive. I feel so rich in love! I’m back in Saskatchewan. We had previously booked a hotel and I’m so glad as, in the end, my flight didn’t get in until 1:30 AM. I had a good night’s sleep and a bath, and I am feeling better. I have MLD therapy this morning and then we will head home. Mom and I went to visit Dr. Busch on Thursday for a final check on my healing and to make sure I’m fit for travel. He was happy with the progress to date and had no concerns with various spots mom asked about. He also spent some time discussing next steps. He thinks that there is likely one more surgery on Lipedema fat in the leg. However, he also said it depends on how my pain is and whether I want to do another liposuction after I see how things settle out after this surgery. So, we will wait and see. We also discussed the possibility of skin removal and tightening. Again, it is good to wait and see how much the skin retracts on its own. I can also explore getting skin removal and tightening in Canada. I ask for your prayers for healing and God’s wisdom and guidance as we weigh the risks and benefits of any further surgery. Friday was a very long day. We were out the door by 5 AM German time. By the time I landed in Saskatoon it was 1:30 AM Saskatchewan time—27.5 hours of travel time! I did manage a couple naps on the plane, but I don’t sleep well in a sitting position. I keep hoping that the airline will upgrade me to one of those bed type seats, but it hasn’t happened yet! My trip was capped off with a big delay and multiple gate changes in Toronto. Gate 41 to 45. Then, we were told to move to 37, but while I was getting a Starbucks on the way to 37, we got another change—back to 41. Then we were moved to 22 which was down a different wing of the airport. Thank goodness for mom who is a trooper and also so very strong. She moved me around until she had to go to her own gate. I don’t know what I would have done without her. Walking—my app is all messed up now with the time changes. But, I think I had about 4 km on Thursday and about the same on Friday, even though I did get wheelchair assistance from the airline. I always feel a little guilty asking for this help, but I know it would also be difficult with the long walks in the big airports like Heathrow and Pearson, and standing in line is even more draining than walking. So I just keep telling myself, 'It’s okay!' Merry Christmas! God Bless all of you!"

Erin and Kristian FaceTimed with me last evening. They're doing well. Kristian had me editing three articles online with him this week. On one occasion, he was online at the same time, so it was cute watching him repair the situations while I was highlighting them! He discovered John Denver, and has declared his new favourite song, "Take Me Home, Country Roads". One of my favourites as well! Kristian is looking forward to school break and Christmas next week!

Travis and Joanna are so busy they hardly have time to plan their next move. Then, they had the added distraction early Wednesday morning when I locked myself out of the house! Thank you, Trav for rescuing me! It had snowed, so I was out early clearing the driveway, and somehow, I locked the door behind me! Getting old! Otherwise, they've added some extra personnel and managed to push out a bunch more product. Gemma and Andrew are on break; and Andrew is looking towards his next adventures "in the Navy!"

Merry Christmas to All! 

News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has turned cold with overnight temperatures dropping to -20° and colder, but we haven't had to face further snow shovelling, so there is that! Wendy is in Germany with Erica, and it seems they are making good progress there. Erica was discharged from hospital, so they are continuing the recovery and healing in the BNB. Erica seems to have snapped back quicker than usual, and we're all quite encouraged. They even got out shopping today—would have been enough to make me ill!

Shopping Success!

I have done a little work on the sliding door, but really have had a pretty quiet week on the project front. Curling and Golf are both on TV and I can hardly keep up with all the coverage! Meanwhile, I was back to my ophthalmologist on Monday to follow-up on my eye surgery. He was well satisfied with the healing and progress. I am seeing somewhat better and even manage to read things on the screen from time to time, but it's still mostly obscured, and is not satisfactory to me yet. I am able to read street names while out driving, so that's a good sign. On Tuesday, I had blood work for my regular doctor as she is getting ready to complete my physical we began in the summer. Also in line with that physical, on Wednesday, I had a colonoscopy. That always has the delightful kool-aid preparation—do not like that stuff! I paid more attention to the whole rigamarole this time. I had been surprised to be conscious last time, so I watched the folks coming back to the recovery room, and sure enough, most of them were unconscious. I'm sure I would have had no trouble driving myself home, but I wasn't allowed. Thank you, Joanna, for accompanying me, and ensuring I got home safe and sound—actually not sound, I was considered legally impaired for the next 24 hours, and not allowed to sign documents, etc. They found and removed a polyp; that was interesting to watch. I'll get an analysis of that in due course. The markets suffered under the trade wars most of the week, but finally a deal was announced on Thursday, so I got some recovery on Friday, but not enough to cover four days of losses. #2 Kansas had an easy win early in the week, and another tonight. With the loss by #1 Louisville, I'm expecting KU to be elevated to #1 this weekend. The Oilers brought a three-game skid into tonight's game with the Leafs, but hey, one of my teams has to win when they play each other! Tonight, it was the Leafs. The Pens continue to press on with good success despite more injuries and illness depleting their ranks; they won in a shootout tonight. The curling was the Grand Slam event from Newfoundland. My guy, Kevin Koe, advanced to the playoffs, but lost out there. It'll be Jacobs vs Edin in the Men's final, while on the women's side it will be Jones vs Hasselborg.

Erica began her week with misadventures in air travel. She was on her way to Bonn, but couldn’t get off the tarmac in Saskatoon. Fortunately, Mom was on the job and she managed to get things worked out so they were rebooked to a later flight out of Toronto and could still travel together. She had her surgery which appears to have been a success. She has been discharged from the hospital and has tested out her new legs with a short walk on Friday, and a longer walk today. We continue to pray for healing and no negative side effects. Haaken changed jobs. He applied for and got a job with Costco which is closer to home for him. So far it is, “All right.” Liam is busy with RU practises and work and drawing his web comic. He is hoping to start publishing it online in the future, but it sure is a lot of work. Eric is managing life alone this week by fitting in a quick trip to Saskatoon for a card hockey game, some visiting and dropping off gifts. He’s been picking up the gift delivery and mailing slack. He was grateful to be assigned a sleep-help in Saskatoon!

Sleep Help for Uncle Eric!

Not much news from Erin and Kristian this week. Things seem to be going a bit better for Kristian in school, so that's good. Erin is in catch-up mode at work, and has accomplished that very well. It's been a busy week all the same. Erin has almost completed Christmas shopping with just a few items left to find for Kristian, Astrid and Liam. Today, they were able to relax.

Relaxing Saturday!

Travis and Joanna are very busy trying to complete Puck Shot and Bucket Decal Christmas orders. They are still taking more team shots as well just to add more to the backlog.

Andrew's Birthday

On Friday, they hosted us all for a special birthday celebration for Andrew.

Montana's special recognition!

Good food, good company! Thanks folks!

And that's about it for this week. 

News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. I am now found alone here as Wendy left today to travel with Erica to Germany for the next surgery in her long series. We pray they will experience good travel, and successful surgical outcomes. I know Wendy will be a big help, just as she was for me in my recent trip to Toronto. My eye continues to improve; I have a followup appointment on Monday to see just how well things are going. One of the things I've noticed is that the vision is returning differently from before. Now, I need reading glasses for my left eye only—the renovated right eye manages without! However, vision is still cloudy there, so we wait to see! Wendy hosted a gathering here on Wednesday afternoon, so all decorations are fully up,

All decorations in place!

and all tools are fully hidden—mostly in the spare bedroom! She also had a Sweet Adelines Christmas sing-out—a full week!

Wendy is in the middle of things!

The Keto Gingerbread turned out well, so I made another batch this week.

Wendy laughed at my thickness guides! 

Looks good! Tastes good!

This week on the markets started off very badly as Trump mused about not completing a trade deal with China until after the next election! Then, he started threatening a trade war with Europe. By Thursday, his admin was walking those back and announcing progress in the negotiations with China, so we had a big relief rally on Thursday and Friday, and I managed to complete the week in the green. Oilers had a good week, and have returned to first place in their division. Pens are coming off back-to-back shutouts! Now, if we can just get the Leafs flying—good game tonight, boys! As expected, the Jayhawks were rewarded for their tournament victory in Maui. They've been elevated to #2 in the country. Now, to live up to that status! They won tonight, but it wasn't good enough for me—21 turnovers! Bake Shop Jayhawks!

Erica reports a busy week—wrapping up projects at work and gifts at home before her departure to Germany today. She was advised that for the low, low price of $2300, she could upgrade to business class—she remained in coach! She suffered through a number of flight delays out of Saskatoon, and her plane was finally declared mechanical. So she had to rebook, while Wendy sat and waited in Toronto. Eventually, Wendy convinced AC to change her flights so she could accompany Erica across to Europe—always an adventure with those two! Liam made an epic wrapping job of a package of batteries for his RU Christmas party. It looked like a dinosaur. Impressive!

The reality!

The Fantasmologisaurus! 

Eric discovered that he gave his students until the 20th to turn in their major paper. Good news, he won’t have to mark papers for a few weeks. Bad news... well, lesson learned! Haaken continues with work and animation projects in Victoria. He will be heading home next weekend.

Erin and Kristian had a busy week in Regina, but at least Kristian had Friday off due to a school PD Day. He managed the cleanup of the family room, and then assisted in the assembly of Erin's new chair.

Lucy and Sadie's new chair!

Apparently the cat and dog approve of the new install! Today, at Winston Knoll High School, they had the Christmas Party put on by Saskatchewan Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services—lots of fun, games and pizza! Erin is trying to manage it all, and catch up at work where they've been short-staffed lately. Good work, mom!

Travis and Joanna continue to be very busy, and are now in the particular crush of getting orders completed and delivered in time for Christmas. They put in some extra hours this week for sure, but it will all pay off next month when they are sitting on the beach at Punta Cana!

And that's about it for this week!