Story by Jon Stalnaker AKA The Studebaker Dude
With all the trouble we had getting our advent puzzle last month, some good came out of it. We had several puzzles that we had yet to open because we didn’t have a good place to put them together. Knowing that this advent puzzle was a cool idea and one we want to make an annual exercise, we decided to get a proper jigsaw puzzle table. We have a nice big table in our gathering room but it is too low, and working at it is painful to my back. Carlene doesn’t like it much either. Carlene went to Amazon and before I knew it she had several good ones to choose from. They have tables that are adjustable and have clever drawers that hold pieces if you are one to separate them by color. We bought one and set it up to do the advent puzzle at the rate of one section a day. It was quite easy to assemble the puzzle that way and we both got hooked.
After the advent puzzle was completed, I took out another of our unassembled puzzles and put it together. It was addictive and when I opened up my presents on Christmas, I got a dad-joke jigsaw puzzle. Well, I had to put that one together next as I have a really good friend that loves dad jokes and we thought it might be fun to pass this puzzle along to him. I don’t know if he likes jigsaw puzzles or not, but he has young’uns that might like to help him with it. Anyway, by the time this story is published, he’ll probably have a good idea that he’s the lucky guy. Anybody that keeps up with the Sapulpa news knows who the dad joke guy is in this town.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention, I got my wife a lottery ticket for a stocking stuffer. You remember the one with the Christmas Eve drawing for over a billion dollars. Well, whattya know, it was a winner!!! I cashed it in at Reasor’s New Years Eve night. I like to buy Lotto tickets when the jackpot prize is huge, and this one was, I believe, one of the biggest ones yet. I often say that I like to give God an opportunity to bless me from time to time. But to be honest, I’m not sure what I would do with that much money. Not to worry, the nice thing about the big jackpots is that the smaller winners can still be lucrative. Cashing in a winning ticket is fun, even when it is only $4.
I never was a New Years Eve party guy. Going to a party where people are jammed into one location, drinking too much, next day hangovers, and all the bad things that go with it, I can do without. I have done it in the past but really didn’t care that much for the experience. Waking up this morning to the news about the attack in New Orleans just solidifies my desire to stay away from such activities. We have been celebrating the new year with Carlene’s mama, paying tribute with some Japanese traditions. I have enjoyed this every year and wasn’t looking forward to having to celebrate without her this time. We got through it alright, and it was very sweet to toast Yae this time knowing that she is in a better place. Carlene knows about the celebrations and put together the food that goes along with these traditions. First, we ate soba noodles to symbolize a fresh start and good fortune in the coming year. Then, after the countdown to 2025, we toasted the new year in with a small bottle of sake. We like the kind that is milky in appearance, it goes down a bit smoother. Next on the menu was the Mochi Soup. The Japanese sip it for good luck and good fortune for the next year. There are other culinary treats that I will consume, my favorite being the candied anchovies. They look kinda gross to some people but I like them. They are just dried whole anchovies in a sticky sweet glaze. But I like anchovies on my pizza too, so don’t take my word for it.
It’s New Year resolution time if you are inclined to participate in that foolishness. I might make small resolutions just for fun but I don’t take it too seriously. Last year I resolved to increase my minimum daily steps to 7000 and I stuck by it. But I think this year I will drop it back to 6000. That’s what it was the year before and increasing it didn’t make any significant improvements in my health, so I’ll drop it down for this year. One of the nice things about being retired is that you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. I don’t want to live by a resolution that gives me something I’ve gotta do, so I won’t. Y’all can do the resolution thing if’n you like, I’m not judging. I prefer to make resolutions that make my daily life easier, so 6000 step minimum is my new goal. You go ahead and knock yourself out, and remember, you can always fail to keep a resolution if you want. Who’s going to judge you anyway? The folks in glass houses?
