It was 41 years ago today, on December 20, 1983, that Joyce and I moved into the house, next to the one I live now.

We were both young, I was 22 and she was 24, and time sure does fly, because now I’m almost 64.

I remember the day well though. There was a major ice and snow storm, and we had a hard time getting just a small portion of our stuff into the house.

We lived in that house for 7 years, then moved into the trailer I live in now, in 1990.

Over the last few years before Joyce passed away, we would say we can’t believe that we've lived here almost 40 years. Not many people stay at the same location that long.

We both loved living here, and it always felt like our home. Our previous landlord, and his entire family, felt like part of our own. And I get along really well with my new landlord.

Sadly though my wife Joyce didn’t make it with me, to commemorate the 41st year.

I've been trying to find something, to get myself for Christmas, but can’t seem to decide on anything. It’s not that I need too, but it would help me feel better about Christmas.

Ever since Joyce passed away, Christmas isn’t the same for me. I don’t put up a Christmas tree or any decorations, and I don’t put up any lights outside.

Joyce loved Christmas, she enjoyed decorating our tree, wrapping the gifts, and listening to Christmas music. And we both enjoyed putting up the lights outside, and going Christmas shopping together.

So I’m not sure I’m getting anything for Christmas this year. But like I said, it isn’t the same anymore.

I went to the county Auditor’s office today, and got the boys their dog license. I went to the store where I normally get them on Monday, but they told me they don’t sell them anymore.

They said I can get them at the County Dog Warden and Auditor’s office, or I can purchase them online. We’ve been getting them there for quite a few years, so I was surprised they don't sell them anymore.

The Auditor's office is located in town, and the Dog Warden is close too, so it wasn’t a problem going to either. But I got them now which is good, and I don’t need to worry about it until next year.

A dog license where I live is $15.00. But if you get them after January 31st, there’s a $15.00 penalty, and you have to pay $30.00.

I have two dogs, so I definitely don’t want to forget. Because I’d much rather pay $30.00 than $60.00.

My Enbrel was supposed to be delivered by UPS today, but I didn’t get it.

Their website said they made an attempt to deliver my package, and nobody was available. But I was here all day, and I didn’t see the truck or the driver.

So I talked to them through their online chat and told them about it, and it said someone would call me in 13 minutes.

When they called, the girl I spoke with said she is sending a message to the local delivery office.

They are going to try to get the driver to come back today, and would call me within hour to let me know.

But they never did call, and now the website says it will be here tomorrow.

I was on Best Buy’s website today, when I noticed the OtterBox Defender Pro case I just got for my iPhone 16, was on sale for lower than I paid for it.

The regular price for it is $64.99, but it was on sale for $54.99, the day I bought it. Today though it was on sale for $38.99, which is a $16.00 difference.

I went my purchase history, and on the details page for the case order, there was a button to request a price match. I clicked it and within a few seconds, it said the price match was approved.

Shortly after, I got a couple of emails. The first was a duplicate receipt, reflecting the new price I paid. The second said a credit of $16.00 plus applicable tax was applied to my account, because of a price match adjustment.

I checked my bank account later this evening, and there was a card purchase return from Best Buy, in the amount of $17.08.

That’s pretty cool because OtterBox was having a 40% off sale the day I bought the case, and the price was $38.99 with the discount.

But it would have taken several days to get it, and I also would have had to pay shipping charges, unless I spent $50.00 or more.

I would rather have paid $38.99, but I didn’t want to wait. I wanted to protect the iPhone right away, so I opted to get it at Best Buy, and pay the $54.99.

In the end it worked out, I got it for the same price, and didn’t have to wait or pay for shipping.

After dinner this evening I was washing the dishes, and my water pressure was really low. I didn’t think too much about it at the time, and thought maybe my neighbor was using it.

The water line comes back to my house, then goes over to her house. I have never noticed a pressure problem before, but thought it could be possible. I checked it several times after, and it was still low.

About half an hour later my landlord called, and he asked if I knew anything about water leaking, by the little house up front. I told him I just got home a few hours ago, and I didn’t notice anything.

He said he was out of town, and it would take him over an hour to get here. So I told him I would walk up and check it out, then call him back.

I put on my shoes on and grabbed a flashlight, then walked up front. And sure enough there was water coming out of the house, from somewhere. It was running into the driveway, and out onto the road.

So I went back to the house and called my landlord to tell him. He said his father-in-law was coming over to check it out, and I saw his truck, a short time later.

He wasn’t here long and after he left, I checked my water pressure and it was back to normal.

I don’t know exactly what was causing the leak, but I'm assuming he shut the water off to the house.

Mom and I went out for dinner again today. We went to the Cafe in Stow and since it was Friday, I had the all-you-can-eat fish.

But mom decided to try the hot roast beef sandwich this time, and she said it was delicious.

I’ve been playing around with my new iPhone, and learning about things I didn’t have with my iPhone 13, like the Dynamic Island and Action Button.

I'm also learning about Apple Intelligence, which is only available on the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and iPhone 16 series.

Apple just released iOS 18.2 yesterday, and along with a lot of stuff for the iOS itself, there are several new things for Apple Intelligence.

The new iPhone 16 is so cool, and I'm having a lot of fun with it already.

Mom and I went back to the Spectrum store today. We wanted to see if we could lower her bill, and I wanted to try to get the iPhone 16 again.

We didn't get her bill lowered, because she is getting a $15.00 discount. And if they changed it to the next lower package she would lose a lot of channels, and only save $5.00. The discount ends in November of 2025, and the girl helping us said it would be best to wait until then.

After we were done with mom, I told her that I have been trying to get the iPhone 16. I explained what's been happening, and showed her the voicemail I got from the manager yesterday.

She went in my account and asked a few questions, then scanned my drivers license, and had me enter my social security number. She did all that, before she went back to get the phone. (The other two times I tried, they scanned the phone first.)

Next she got the new iPhone and scanned it, and put in Joyce's iPhone as the trade in. She asked if I was using my debit card on file, and if I was going with the monthly installments.

I said yes so she processed the order, and believe it or not it went through. I said it worked, and she said yes you own a new iPhone. I was so happy, that I told her I wanted to give her a big hug.

Before she could fully activate it, the iOS needed to be updated. So while the phone was updating she helped another customer, and I went outside for a vape.

If I got the phone today, I planned on going over to Best Buy, to have a screen protector put on it. When I came back in, I used the Best Buy app on my old iPhone, to order an OtterBox Defender Pro case for it too. She brought the new iPhone over to me shortly after, and we left.

When we got to Best Buy I picked up my OtterBox order first, then picked up a ZAGG - InvisibleShield Glass+ Defense Screen Protector. I had them install the screen protector for me, then I put the case on.

After we left we went over to Denny’s to eat, and we both had the SuperSlam.

I don't know why it worked this time, the only thing different, is the way she did everything. It may even been because of the ticket, the manager submitted to support yesterday.

It doesn't matter though because I came home with a new iPhone, and I'm really happy about that.

I set the new iPhone up, using a backup from today, of my iPhone 13. Everything went smoothly, and is exactly how I had it.

I went back to Spectrum today, to try to get the iPhone 16 again. But I wasn’t able to because the same thing happened.

The store manager said something is going on with my Spectrum Mobil account, so she submitted a ticket to Spectrum support. She said they normally respond in 24 to 48 hours, and she would call me after she heard from them.

Shortly after I got home she called, and told me it had to do with my social security number.

She said maybe I entered it wrong, and I could come back and try again if I’d like. But I was pretty bummed out about it already, and didn’t feel like going back today.

Then this afternoon I went to mom’s house, and I told her what happened. I said I’ll probably go back tomorrow to try again, and since she wanted to try to lower her TV, internet, and home phone bill, she could go with me if she wanted.

She said yes, so we’re going back tomorrow.

I wanted to go back to Spectrum today, to try to get the iPhone 16 again. But it poured down rain all day and I didn’t feel like going out.

What a difference a day makes, because yesterday it was 50° and sunny.

I got a good deal on dog food today. I get the dog's food at Tractor Supply and they were getting low, so I planned on picking some today.

This morning I was checking my email, and there was one from Tractor Supply. It had an ad for 10% off dog food $50.00 or more, when you buy online, and picked up in store.

I get them the 4health with Wholesome Grains Adult Chicken and Rice Formula Dry Dog Food. It's $57.99 but with the 10% discount I got $5.80 off, and only paid $55.84 for it.

That was a good deal, and it couldn’t have happened at a better time.

I haven’t decided yet, whether I’m going to get the new iPhone 16. I would really like to get it, but my iPhone 13 still works good, so maybe I should wait another year.

If I do that though, my trade in probably won’t be worth as much, and Spectrum may not be offering the extra $100.00.

It would definitely be a nice Christmas gift to myself, but I’m not sure what I am going to do.

A winter storm warning was issued in my area today. They said we could get 3 to 6 inches of snow, with wind gusting up to 50 mph.

The warning is for today and all day tomorrow, and due to the high winds, the temperature wil feel like it’s in the teens.

Then late this evening I got a warning of a severe thunderstorm, and couldn’t believe it.

But just after midnight I heard thunder, then the winds got really strong, and I even saw lightning.

Talk about getting all the extremes at once.

I called Spectrum today, to find out why I couldn’t purchase the iPhone 16 in the store yesterday.

The representative I spoke with checked into it, and told me the store was having a problem with their digital scanner.

He said when they scanned a driver’s license, it was incomplete when it was uploaded.

So it would bring up an error message saying they needed more information, because it didn’t match what was on the account.

He told me I should be able to go back to the store again to purchase the phone, and shouldn’t have a problem.

He recommended I ask the associate helping me, if the scanner is working correctly, before starting the process.

I took my mom to Verizon today, to remove dad’s phone from the account. We also wanted to switch her phone over to Spectrum Mobile, because the monthly bill is a lot less.

So when we were finished at Verizon, we went over to the Spectrum store. We had a bit of a problem getting a pin to transfer her phone, because mom was never set up as an administrator for their Verizon account.

But after being on a call with Verizon support for over 45 minutes, I was finally able to get it. They were also running a special, so mom got a good deal. Instead of paying $29.99 a month, she’ll only have to pay $10.00 per month, for the next year.

I also planned on upgrading my iPhone 13, to the new iPhone 16. I wanted the black one and they had it in stock, so we started the process.

I was trading in Joyce’s iPhone 13, and going to keep mine. They gave me a trade in price with an additional $100.00. So with that my payment was only going to be $14.00, on top of my $29.99 per month service price. And all I needed to pay today for the new phone, was $69.00.

But there was a problem when he tried to use my debit card on file. It came back sayin I couldn’t purchase the phone in store, because additional information was needed.

I told him there was plenty of mony in the account, and he asked if my card was locked. I told him they just billed it for my TV and Internet sevice 3 days ago, an my mobile service one day ago. So he tried it a second time, but it still didn’t work.

I asked what more information could they possibly want. They already had my debit card, scanned my drivers license, and I had to enter my social security number. He couldn’t tell me, and said I need to call Spectrum and talk to them.

He also told me I could order it online, but I don’t want to do that. It would have to be shipped and I don’t like that idea, with all the thefts going on. I would also need to send Joyce’s iPhone in, before I got the discount. So the price I paid today, would have been higher.

I was frustrated and we left. But I’m going to call Spectrum tomorrow, to find out why, I couldn’t purchase it in store.

The temperature during the day has been in the low to mid 20ºs since Thanksgiving, and overnight it’s dropping down in the teens.

It's too early for this, and I’m sick of winter already. But the worst part is there’s no end in sight, and it’s going to be like this for at least the next week.

I purchased two more stacks today, from One Little Designer. The first one is called Overlap Canvas, and the second one is called Cling.

The Black Friday sale ends tomorrow and I’ve been thinking about getting them, so I figured I’d better do it now while they’re 50% off.

Overlap Canvas allows you to create unique designs in your RapidWeaver projects, and no graphic design skills are needed. All content placed within it can be positioned, rotated, and scaled within the editor, for an easy design process.

Cling is a content wrapper that will automatically "cling" to the browser screen, when you reach its scroll position. The vertical position can be defined, to have content cling to any vertical position in the browser window.

You select top, center, or bottom first, then you can optionally set an offset value, to adjust the position somewhere in-between.

It can even expand the width to the browser edges, and go outside of the content area restriction, that may be set by the theme you are using.

It includes built-in style options to help the content stand out, especially when transitioning from static to "sticky" positioning. The settings can be adjusted for each position, and the stack will apply a smooth animation during the transition.

I went over to mom’s house for Thanksgiving today. My brother was there too, and it was nice spending time together.

But it was our first Thanksgiving without dad and second without Joyce, so it just wasn't the same.

I took mom out shopping again today. She had to go to Giant Eagle to pick up her prescriptions, and the Thanksgiving dinner she ordered for tomorrow.

She also wanted to get some other groceries and I needed to pick up my prescription, so we went to Aldi, Marc’s, and Walgreens.

I took the batteries out of my riding mower and the one at mom’s, and put them in the house.

I want to protect them from freezing during winter, and this is the best way I could think of to do it.

I had a 15% off coupon for Ollie’s that was expiring today. So I went there to look around, and see if I could find something to use it on.

There wasn’t anything I wanted, but I picked up two dog collars for the boys, like the ones they already have.

But when I saw how many people were in line to check out, I put them back and left.

After that I went over to BJ’s, to pick up a few things for mom and I. Then I went to her house, to drop off her stuff.