01-16-2026 Entry

Cleaning day. First, I got up and got ready to meet Mark, with Ann, for breakfast near Jersey Village at 8:30. Morning traffic heading into downtown was bad but not horrible; it left us a few minutes late meeting Mark. Food was decent, conversation mostly about his family, including some of the ongoing Lancaster saga. He mentioned that he is thinking about tearing the little place in his back yard down and replacing it with a tiny house that either McKenzie or John Jr could live in. A fair amount of the discussion was about McKenzie and her future plans. She still has occasional seizures, which is worrisome for all. I leaned on him to come out for a visit in the spring, maybe he'll actually do it this time. We drove home with no traffic, stopping at Walmart to pick up dinner and cleaning supplies. Then we started cleaning. Ann had the kitchen, I took the bathrooms. Mine were messy but not overly gross. Both involved a bunch of scrubbing. Ann did the sun porch, I mopped the kitchen floor and entry, then dusted the wood floors. After the cleaning, I drove to Home Depot and picked up a new door assembly after removing and inspecting the old one from the hall bathroom. Later, Ann napped and I made dinner, stir fry vegetables that they ate with leftover chicken. Ann finished while I installed the new door assembly. The striker plate was just sufficient for allowing the lock to engage. Dinner was okay. Lots of conversation with Mom and Ross during the day and evening, then to bed (<>).