Thursday Thirteen

Nov 24 015

This week I am writing about some of the things happening in my life. I seem to use this list to organize myself.

  1. I burned my finger last night! Holy Moly! I even got a nasty blister!
  2. I found a lovely ocean blue dress today, to wear on our trip. I love it and feel like a million bucks in it!
  3. I just closed the sliding glass door on Arnie’s tail! Oh that poor boy. I try to be so careful with the dackels, but occasionally I get one. Yikes! At least Arnie is still wagging it, and snuggling with me!
  4. The Weathermen are forecasting snow for Friday. Normally, I wouldn’t care, but I have a beauty shop appointment and hate to drive in the snow!
  5. You know what I am looking forward to the most during our vacation? Kicking back and relaxing!
  6. Oh yes, and hot sunny days!
  7. I’m so glad that our house sitter is coming to live here with the puppers.
  8. Friday is spaghetti night, when all the people who will help care for the house and pups are coming!
  9. I am not doing too well losing weight right now. Hubby says I just need to exercise more.
  10. He wants to ski today, but we are due for a fair amount of rain.
  11. I’m watching what I eat and once we return from our vacation, I will get seriously back on track.
  12. I’ve been enjoying something new. A low-fat version of a fried egg sandwich. I mean, it is so good!
  13. I’ve almost finished reading “The Descendents”. I have enjoyed this book so much. Here is a little secret, it is the first book I have read, cover to cover in ten years! After ten eye surgeries, my eyes have trouble focusing on normal print, and they do get tired, even now. However, the Kindle is wonderful and makes reading fun again!!!

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. February 22nd is National Be Humble Day…what makes you proud? What keeps you humble?

Knowing that is could all be over in an instant, keeps me humble. My daughter and my husband make me proud!

2. Where is the catch-all (aka dumping ground) in your house?

The office. It seems like everything gets put in there, with the idea that we’ll get to it later!

3. Do you make it a point to visit State/National Parks when you travel or even in your own hometown? What’s your favorite?

Yes. What a wonderful time we’ve had doing it too. One of my favorite was Mount Rushmore!

4. How would you define honor?

Doing the right thing, even if it is the hard thing to do. Being true to your family, your friends and yourself. Following God’s commandments.

5. Angel’s food or Devil’s food-which cake do you prefer?

Definitely Devils Food!

6. What’s the most recent road trip you’ve taken? Where did you go and how many hours did you spend in the car? Do you like to zoom to your destination without stopping or leisurely wind your way there with stops along the way? What is your car snack of choice?

I went down to see Mandy last weekend. It’s a little over an hour from here. I made a few stops along the way, and I was still early. On the way home, it was the same, made a few stops and got back around supper time! My car snack of choice? I don’t like to eat in the car.

7. Recent headlines told how a preschool child in NC had their packed lunch from home taken away and a school lunch substituted by a school inspector who deemed the homemade lunch unhealthy. Reportedly the parent was then billed for the school lunch (chicken nugget meal) although an update to the story says the parent was not billed. The inspector was conducting a routine inspection of the classroom-he/she was not there solely to peek in the lunchboxes. The packed lunch contained a turkey and cheese sandwich, an apple juice box, a bag of chips, and a banana. Your thoughts?

First of all, that was a balanced meal for a child. They were making a brew-ha-ha because there was no milk, but there was cheese! There is the dairy! What if this child was lactose intolerant? That do-gooder could have made her very sick! Please keep these Inspectors out of the classrooms!

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Did you ever have one of those mornings skiing, where you are this-close to being the agony of defeat? I kept catching my edges, fell, for the first time this year, and got hit by the chair lift when I got on, knocking the wind out of me. Honestly, I started to get worried that my minutes were numbered! I am home safely, but hope I don’t have another day like this!

And The Beat Goes On….

After a frustrating weekend with Windows Vista, I decided that since I was still technically under warranty with Toshiba, I would call them and see if there was anything to be done with my laptop. I’ve been so upset that I am not sleeping well, and can hardly think straight.

You all know I have the worst luck with computers, so last time we decided to get the three year warranty. It ends in June of this year! Where has the time gone?

Anyway, the young man told me that yes, he could help. I was entitled to the XP discs, and all I needed to do was pay for shipping and handling. Hubby isn’t too happy about that, but I sure am! In a week or so, the discs will arrive and I can start all over again.

What this means is that I need to back up all my music, and a few other things. Mostly I backed it all up- when I brought it in last week.

All I can say is that I love you, Toshiba! That’s for making it right!

Now, about Windows Vista. What a piece of crap it is! The woman who used the back up discs to get my machine running again, told me that there was no difference between XP and Vista. (Lie!) She told me that she has never heard of anyone who didn’t like Vista. (Lie!) Also, that her own 80 year old father loved it! (If he does, he probably doesn’t use it much.)

On my Facebook page, my friends and family told me to get rid of Vista. Go for Windows 7, which I can’t do, due to the fact that I don’t have enough RAM. Oh, give me XP any day, and I will be happy.

I know one day, down the road, we will need to upgrade our system, but for now, I am so happy knowing that XP will be arriving shortly and my machine will be it’s old self once again!

Isn’t She Lovely!

I was lucky to be able to go down yesterday and spend the day with Mandy and her baby to be! She is looking so lovely, and yes, she is truly glowing!

Feb 19 2012

We went out for brunch, and then went to Babies-R-Us and spent about an hour and a half registering for various things. Oh what fun that was! I found several absolutely adorable things on sale and so I picked them up, and slowly but surely, Baby-to-Be is getting quite the frilly little wardrobe! What fun!!!

As I watched her in the store I recalled the times so long ago, when she was a baby. I kept thinking, “Wait a minute, that was yesterday!” Now she is grown-up and a woman! No longer a baby. Where did that time go?

Feb 19 2012 (5)

I drove back home, stopping to exchange a sweater I did not like, and then I had to help Hubby find a Hotel for the night before our trip. It took us two days, but we finally got the room booked without having to sell a kidney!

I made dinner, did all of the usual, before collapsing in my chair! It’s been an incredibly busy weekend, and I sure hope the doggies let me sleep late!

Saturday Frustrations

So, I am pulling my hair out! It seems that if I want to go back to Windows XP, it will cost somewhere over $200.00. And my little laptop doesn’t have enough RAM to accommodate an upgrade to Microsoft 7. So, what’s a girl to do? I may wait a little longer, and then my laptop will die, and I will get something else. I admit that I am thinking about switching to Apple. It seems that they have stayed loyal to their customers.

Here is the biggest Vista problem I have right now. I cannot get my computer to talk to the Network so that I can use either one of our printers! It’s like living in a vacuum!

I spent the morning and part of the afternoon trying to get it all working, but couldn’t. I switched gears later in the day, and wrote my report. I also made dinner, and cleaned it all up.

Now I need to walk away from this silly machine, read for a while, before going to bed. I drive down to visit with Mandy tomorrow, and Hubby and I also need to find a room for the night before the cruise. We called to make sure our friend remembered we were coming, only to find out that he didn’t! Yikes!

So now to find a nice room that will not bankrupt us, for the night.

Between now and the day we leave for our vacation, it sure will be a busy time. So glad that when I called our house sitter, she is all set to move in!

Friday Fill-Ins (A Day Late)

Friday Fill-ins mb skijpg

And…here we go!

1. Finally, I have my computer back, and I have found more questions than answers on it!.
2. Windows Vista is a royal pain and sure takes some getting used to!
3. Dad says: hurry up.
4. MB is my favorite nick name for me.
5. It took a long time, but after 12 years I have a brand new love seat for me and the dackels in our family room.
6. I sleep with three dackels and Hubby though I wouldn’t have it any other way.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to shutting the computer down and reading my book, “The Descendents”, tomorrow my plans include laundry and Sunday, I want to drive down and have brunch with Mandy and perhaps feel my grand daughter move! Won’t that be something special!!!!

And We’re Back

Yesterday I go the call. The laptop was ready to be picked up. Vista working system and all. I am not exactly thrilled with the new working system, but it goes like this.

I wanted Windows XP when I got this laptop from Toshiba a year and a half ago. I also wanted the rescue discs. All arrived as requested, and I never thought to check out the back up discs.

Flash forward to this past weekend when my laptop was hit by a nasty virus, which systematically went through the machine, hacking all my links. Rendering it almost useless.

I brought it in to be backed up, and then have the hard drive wiped and reloaded. I was so happy, because it would make everything so much easier for me with a clean machine!

Except, I did not count on the fact that my computer’s back up disc’s were Window’s Vista. Yes, I bought a machine with XP, but originally the machine was a Vista machine that someone in China had loaded XP onto.

My computer person assures me that all is well. Nothing really is different (HA! It sure is!) and that even her 80 year old father can master Vista. What I am finding is that Vista is a challenge. I’m not really sure I like it. I am willing to give it a few months to learn it, and after that, if I still hate it, I will buy the upgrade to Windows 7.

The biggest problem right now is that while I work on the computer to get all the systems reset, I can’t read my book “The Descendants”! I am really enjoying that. It’s a great read!!!

Are We Off The Air?

If you are reading this instead of another post, it means that my laptop is still in the Laptop Hospital getting it’s hard drive fixed! I have tried to down load everything and back-up all my documents, but it will take a while for the shop to get the problems under control. They said, if all goes well, I might get it back on Wednesday night!

So i will see you all on the other side! Wish me luck!

Update: the laptop’s recovery discs are Windows Vista. Not XP! Not happy but hope I can work with it. I guess now is time to start learning new things. The machine should be back on Thursday or Friday.

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. George Washington-Abraham Lincoln-Thomas Jefferson…who would you most like to meet and why?

Abraham Lincoln. He had such a hard life, and yet, he kept persevering. He accomplished so much during his presidency, as well. I would also tell him to stay home from the play!

2. What’s your favorite chain restaurant?

I tend not to like chain restaurants. I like family owned places. But up here in New England we have a chain called “The Weathervane” and it has so many yummy seafood treats!

3. I spied this question on the Bears at Home blog last week and she gave me permission to steal borrow it-

When you look back on your life, do you imagine you’ll think about the goals you failed to meet with regret? Or will you look at what you accomplished and say: it was good?

Good or not, I am hoping I learned from it. We cannot always meet out goals, but learning from what we experience is so important.

4. Grapefruit-take ’em or leave ’em? Given the choice between an orange and a grapefruit which would you choose? Would you prefer it served as is or squeezed into juice?

I LOVE grapefruit! I eat 1/2 every day. Except right now, I must not eat any for a whole month while I am on some medication!

5. When was the last time you cleaned out a closet? Is there a closet in your home that currently needs cleaning? What are you waiting for?

I want to go through my own closet this week because I need to find out what fits before I go on vacation.

6. You get to have lunch with three famous people…who would you like to see round your table?

This is tricky. Are famous people any more real or interesting than my friends or family? I think perhaps, Prince William and his bride, Kate. And toss in Mark Harmon, just because I think he is gorgeous!

7. On a scale of 1-10 how would you rate your ability to parallel park?

It used to be terrible, but now I have been making myself do it, and I have gotten very good! So a solid 8!

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I feel so blessed to have my family and friends in my life. They support me when I feel down and share my joy when I am celebrating. I wish I could share that little biy of widom with peopl. Ooops, I just did!

Happy Wednesday Everyone!