Just in time for Christmas - Part 3 (Patreon)

Actually, that should be "Just in time for New Years", but you get the idea.

Needless to say, my granddaughter's Christmas haul was pretty decent.  I'm already picking Barbie accessories out of the robo-vacuum cleaner and have saved a fair amount of stuffed, fluffy unicorn toys from being eaten by the dogs.  Sadly, her Pickle Rick t-shirt could not be saved...our newest cat (who has just "come of age", but will be losing it's manhood this coming Thursday) pee'd on it...as well as every other thing of value in the house.

...and no, I'm not a Rick and Morty fanboy.  That would be my 20-something year old daughter and her fiancé .  Call me old fashioned or call it a generational thing, but R&M just isn't suitable viewing for a three-year-old.  But hey, they're adults and I'm not her father.  Make wise adult decisions...or suffer the consequences.

Generational proclivities aside, just when I thought things were beginning to turn around... 

I've put in for countless federal, state, and local government (and private sector) jobs and have a few interviews scheduled in the coming weeks.  The kids (my daughter and her  man), thankfully, informed the wife and I that they will be moving out and getting a place of their own in a few weeks...though, I've heard that one before.

And then, on a rainy evening two days after Christmas, as my wife is driving home after visiting with family, an 18-year-old kid in his 13-year-old Honda Civic (complete with bald tires and soup can muffler) decided to pay more attention to his phone than the traffic that had stopped at a red light in front of him.  He rear-ended my wife, who in turn rear-ended the car in front of her.  Thankfully, the only injures were to plastic and sheet metal...there wasn't enough force involved to set off any airbags and the wife's only complaint was a little seat belt rash.   Fortunately, there was a passing State Trooper who witnessed the entire thing...and fined the (amazingly enough, insured) kid accordingly.

Yeah, the one thing I can ill-afford right now...an insurance deductible.  Thanks, kid.

To further end this year on a down-note, my wife's great-uncle (her grandmother's brother) passed away (of old age) early yesterday morning.  Much the same as mine, her family is from the rural south, and to say that they're all pretty tight knit would be slight understatement.  She and her mother (along with the daughter and future son-in-law) left early this morning for the funeral...leaving me here all week to mind the critters and get her car (and a cat) fixed.

What's that old expression?  When life hands you lemons...  I hate lemonade.

On the upside, I've got the entire house to myself for a week.  The last time that happened was...uhhhhh...uh-huh...yep.