Let's Play "Catch Up"!!!

Wow!  It's already July 4 of 2012!  So much has happened in the last few months that I don't know where to begin and what to leave off.

I will leave off all the health stuff.  Let me tell you this, tho.  There has been plenty of that to go around for an army!  LOL

I will leave off all the drama from extended family that makes me feel like I'm living in my own personal soap.  Some things people do, makes me wonder "what are you thinking????"  It doesn't matter if it's family or not....some people do some crazy stuff.  But, that can all go to the back burner for now.  This isn't the place....

I will leave off the bulk of the disappointments, the frustrations and aggravations of friends, who simply don't understand.  Seems like those things could fill a book!  sigh.  But that's not going to go here, either.

Then there's having three teenagers in the house that can make life a little chaotic at times.  Seems like everyone is going in different directions.  I'll leave most of those off.

I'll not go into the day to day grind of having for neighbors, family members that need constant help.  It's a privilege to help, but sometimes the load gets heavy and frustrating.  Actually the helping isn't all that bad, it's more the drama (different than the before mentioned) and health issues that make this a complicated situation.  But, that doesn't need to go here, either.

I WILL tell you that one of the reasons I haven't been on to write is....... my computers.   Oh I just love computers!!!   Really!! I DO!  I really enjoy sitting down to a PC and doing various stuff.....that is when they WORK!  LOL....  

I have a laptop that was putting two and three letters when I'd type, often not even close to the ones I
wanted.  I still haven't figured out how that was happening.  One of my girls thought it was my bad typing.....and some of it was....I don't do that great at typing sometimes...but for some reason they needed my PC to do something, and quickly brought it back.  I think they thought it was possessed.  *laughing*  "Mom, this thing types things that I didn't type!"  "Oh, really?"   LOL  It was very frustrating to have to re-type EVERYTHING.  Spell check couldn't figure out what I was trying to type.  (so funny).  I just quit trying for a while.  I didn't have time to deal with it.

I have a desktop.  I think you can call it that...yes, I know you can, because that's about all it was..... a desk top.  Let me tell you, it was so slow that I literally would play a game, or do some paperwork, or work on a craft of some sort while I waited for it to load or process or complete whatever it needed to do.  When I was on the computer, I felt I was waisting time.  And I wasn't getting anything much done.   So, I only did what I absolutely HAD to do.  That meant no facebook, no blog, I didn't even check my e-mail but maybe once or twice a month, if that.

Tax time came and went.  The little bit of money we received back needed to go in so many directions, that we weren't sure just how to divide it up.

We don't own a vehicle right now, (since our last one was totaled in an accident last year) so, we tried to find a cheap one to get us by. But, there just hasn't been one out there that we could even come close to.  So, after much talking back and forth (hubs & I) we decided that maybe we should put some back for a trip we may have to make, and since there was a big sale on desktops at the local store, perhaps now was the time to replace it.  After much consideration and even some regret (I hate to spend money) we purchased a cheap boxed PC that came with no monitor. (The old one still worked and it saved us quite a bit by going that route) 

O course, you get what you pay for..... but after a few minor problems (minor now, but very frustrating at the time) it is up and running.  I took the old desk top and saved all the data and tried to take it back to factory settings.  It refused to co-operate.  It would NOT go to that part of the PC. 

In the meantime, someone said that they felt impressed to send me a ZOOM.  I received it, and like a dummy put it on my desktop.  I wanted to check it out and that was the computer that would halfway work.  Not realizing that it could only be on one computer.  After thinking about it, I realized I should have out it on my laptop, since that was portable.  So I saved everything and took my laptop back to factory settings.  To be sure it was working correctly, I went to a couple of programs I use to check it out and to know that everything was OK.  And you guessed it, I was constantly coming up with errors  and "driver" problems. Since I hadn't downloaded anything and I didn't have anything on there yet that needed to be kept, I again took it back to factory settings, hoping to get all the correct drivers installed.  Extremely long story made a wee bet shorter, after several attempts to get it going I sorta have it running. 

All is well.  I install the ZOOM.  Only, it won't install because it was installed on the other PC.  (Another very long and involved story here. Trying to make it shorter )   After, tech help, for which I find that they can't really help and have to contact another tech help company, who didn't bother to reply, I figured out a way to bypass the problem.  I am looking forward to learning all about the ZOOM, but honestly, right now, my frame of mind is not where it needs to be to learn a complete new hobby, that I am totally interested in, but have zero knowledge of. 

Went back to the old desk top and after much prayer and constant frustration, I finally got it to reboot and go to the correct place and get it to go back to factory settings.  But it is still sssslllloooowwww!  I am not sure what I'm going to do with it, but it is now ready to do whatever I decide.

Let's see, what else do I need to bring you up on.  

The roof over my main sewing room has been leaking when it rains for many months now.  It has gotten to the place where it's almost like not having a roof when it rains. (not in that place anyway).  Anyhow, hubs decided that it had to be fixed (I agreed).  What I didn't know was how he plan to fix it and what he had in mind.

The short story is, we moved my sewing room to a different location in the building.  In the last couple-three years three or four different people gave me all their (or a large portion of) sewing supplies.  One gave me all of their material she had that she didn't think she would ever use.  Another moved and wasn't going to be sewing anymore and gave me everything they were wanting to get rid of. (they thought she had Alzheimer's)  There was a lot of double knit in that bunch.  Someone else gave me all the double knit that they had and a couple of boxes of other things.  Before that I had found a couple of rummage sales that I purchased very cheaply some boxes of miscellaneous sewing supplies.  So, needless to say I have accumulated quite a bit of sewing supplies.  I had it all over the place.

Having said that, I am in the process (Very slow process) of trying to get all my sewing things in one place, organized and such.  I have been moved to a large room that is slowly but surely getting smaller and smaller.  LOL

While we have been moving the sewing room, I have re-upholstered a wing backed chair, and a "stationary" rocking chair.  I have started the second wing backed chair, but have been distracted from it for the time being.

I had a quilt in the frames to be quilted, but realized that the backing wasn't quite right, so I removed it from the frame and am trying to fix the backing as I quilt it by had with a lap hoop.  Sure wish it was a regular size quilt hoop, but this one works.

We have built two large "bookcases" to house some of my supplies.  Both are nearly full, may have to build some more.

As I read over this I am amazed at all the things we have done, considering that we have zero money to work with.  The roof repair has been slow, but the supplies and labor have all been donated.  The PC was purchased for way less than $500 and was done with the tax return. ( I don't remember what we actually got it for, but I know it wasn't even close to $500).  The bookcases were built from wood that was headed to the landfill, and used nails that was found lying on the ground, or that was saved in a container.  The fabric for the re-upholstery was given to me, as was the batting and the padding I replaced.  And the thread, also.  Oh, yes, I ran out of staples and someone gave me a brand new box of staples.  I hope to replace those in the near future.

The doctor has me walking (It's good for the "ticker") and the kids have me riding my bike (It's good for the "mully grubs").  This takes time from my day, but I think it is good to do what one can to make others happy.....if it is in reason.....and it gets me outta the work for a few minutes.

Of course we  have had the normal weddings, funerals, hospital visits and the other things that go along with hubs pastoring a church. 

Speaking of church......hubs decided that he didn't like the job he did on the Tomb on the east side of the platform in the auditorium of the church.  So he took it down and redid it, changing it completely.  One of the things on my to-do list is to repaint the Muriel in that part of the auditorium.  I started it the other day, but it was so hot that day, and along with my not liking heights, I had to quit.  It was mostly due to the heat, oh, and daughter needing help with a sewing project that she did NOT want painted.  It has been very hot since then and I haven't been able to get back to it.  It is on the agenda for me to get done ASAP.

We had to remove the carpet from my original sewing room because it had become soaked from the rains.  We are in the process of cleaning it and getting it ready to store until time to use it again.  The ceiling has fallen in the orig. room, so I'm glad the sewing supplies have been removed.  The roof is almost fixed there.  Hubs has moved on to other areas that have to be fixed.  We are using used wood and nails and such as we can find, trying desperately to salvage the roof before it rots out completely.  They have been working on four main spots, places where the rafters have completely rotted in two and had to be taken care of so as to avoid the possibility of the roof collapsing.  We will have to get some paint and repair the ceilings once we know that the roof isn't leaking any more.

I'm trying to get all my work spaces compiled to one place.  I have my paint supplies in one corner, my "office" area, the sewing area, a place for my quilting supplies, a place for my embroidery supplies, crochet and knitting storage, scrapbook, and of course all my fabric and odds and ends including books and machinery.  I'm hoping to get through everything soon and get this little project out of the way.

I am probably just being selfish and a wee bit lazy, but these are some of my excuses for not posting the last few months.  I love blogging, but you sure can't tell it.

Some days I don't post simply because I have made it my mission to try not to post super negative things.  And some days are cloudy and dark and hard to see the bright side of things and by all means I don't intend to bring that to the table, so I don't post.

Today wasn't a good day to post, but I am hoping I have kept the negativity out of this and brought some light and laughter to the reader.  Maybe it is just a little candle of hope, but I'll take what I can get!  LOL!

All in all everything here is looking good considering.  God is good and the devil is not happy with us, but we have an advocate.

Maybe next time I can post some pictures.  And I haven't forgotten the candle pictorial.

I was just wondering....what's been happening in your life, these days?

Until next time,

Ronda

Oh, I almost forgot...... I don't see a place to leave comments on my blogspot.  I don't know why.  I have tried resetting and reconfiguring things, but I still haven't a clue as to how to fix this problem.  I thought that perhaps it was just not showing up on my end, and no one has any comments, and perhaps that's what it is, and if so, that's OK.  But I do wish there was some way for me to know for sure.  Anyway, I'm just saying all this so you know that I realize that there may be a problem, but haven't a clue how to fix it.  If you know someone that knows me, you could let them know if you know how to fix this.  Thanks for all your help.