Being a grandparent is the best!

I love being a grandparent.

I was told it would be fun and rewarding, but I had no idea how much I would love it.

Technically, I am a step-grandparent, but the grandkids have always known me to be around and I am blessed to be part of the family. These amazing and fun children always brighten my day. Here are a few recent examples:

One day recently, our five-year-old granddaughter was being dropped off to play with my wife and me for a few hours. Her mom and her aunt brought her to our house and we talked with both of them for a few minutes just to catch up. My granddaughter, though, was ready for everyone to stop talking so she could get inside and start playing. She looked up and her aunt and told her quietly, “When you leave, the fun begins.”

It may not have been the nicest way to say something like that, but it absolutely made my day and pretty much my whole month.

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I think the pandemic somehow caused all of my clothes to shrink

Why are my clothes shrinking?

I noticed it a few months ago and the situation seems to be growing stranger nearly every day.

It seems to me that the problem with my clothes started during the pandemic. At the beginning, they all seemed to fit fine. As I worked from home and stayed home more, though, something weird definitely happened with my shirts and especially my pants.

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Do you ever pretend not to be waiting for someone while you are waiting for someone?

It’s a lot of work trying to make people not realize they are slightly inconveniencing me.

And even though they likely do not care if they are or not, I continue on making different plans in my head just so that no one will think I am going out of my way for them.

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I love the cold and wintery weather (as long as I am inside)

I am tired of winter.

We have had plenty of snow already and honestly, I’m just over it by now. It was nice when we had the first snowfall, but I am ready for spring.

Since spring is still a ways away, though, I thought I should try to be a little more positive about the cold weather. With that in mind,  I put together a few reasons why I love the cold and wintery weather, and I thought I would share it with you here so that you can also love this bleak, frigid and miserable time of year.

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What are your favorite foods for the holiday season?

Now that we are officially in the Holiday Season, it’s time to focus on what’s really important in life, food.

It is the most wonderful time of the year for eating, so I thought we should discuss some of the Top Holiday Foods today. Our list will share some of our judges’ favorite foods, with the Top 3 Food Items at the end of the list.

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Adventures in moving a sofa!

My wife and I recently bought a new sofa.

While I know this sounds fun and glamourous, it actually created much more work than I expected.

Our old sofa had served us well for many years. It was great for watching television, napping, serving as a bed when family members stayed at the house, acting as jumping pad for grandchildren and even taking on the role of a scratching post for our cat. That last part was frowned upon by my wife and me, but the cat had grown quite fond of it.

Our feline friend also enjoyed leaving her extra hair on the sofa, as well as knocking small items underneath it.

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Why is the self-checkout machine at the grocery store so bossy?

I don’t like the self-checkout at the store.

I don’t mind the idea of it, but the ones at my stores often seem to cause me extra problems.

For example, the one at the local CVS is so loud that everyone in the store can hear the price of everything I purchase.

“HELLO VALUED CUSTOMER!” it screams at me when I put in my CVS number. (Fun fact, my CVS number thinks my name is Wick Claussen. Every time I receive an email from CVS it begins “Dear Wick” and it makes me laugh.)

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No electricity, no problem!

The power went out in my town recently, and I found the whole experience to be rather interesting, enlightening and cold.

When the power first went out, I did the only sensible thing I could do, which was to stare at my computer for a few minutes while I tried to figure out what was going on. Did my computer break? Was my work saved? Is this somehow my fault?

My wife and I are both currently working from home, so we were able to determine that the power went out in the house. Then we learned it was out all across the city. It was concerning to hear the power outage was so widespread, but a relief to know that I most likely would not be blamed.

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