From the monthly archives:

February 2010

I should call this…

by Claire on February 28, 2010

The year of broken things.

Well, really since the end of last year things have been falling apart around me. Material things, not family or emotional things. Last October, my daughter’s car died and it’s still dead. It needs timing belts, crank sensor, spark plugs, and a valve gasket replaced. Yeah, it can wait as long as the dealer will let me keep it there.

Then, just before Christmas, my work laptop died – a laptop I have to provide for myself, not company provided. I had taken it in to work to have the Windows 7 operating system installed on it when the motherboard crashed. Luckily I was able to commandeer my daughter’s identical laptop and got that up and running. Now, two months later, that laptop died. Same problem.

(As an aside, I found it rather interesting that both HP Pavillion dv6500 computers died almost exactly 2 years from when I purchased  them. Coincidence?)

So this last Monday I had to go out and buy a new computer. My job is dependent on me having a working, reliable computer. If I don’t have a laptop, I can’t work. If I don’t work, I obviously don’t get paid. So this time I opted for a more powerful (read: also more expensive) laptop. This time, I veered away from the HP and landed with a Sony Vaio with an HD widescreen monitor and all the bells and whistles. I love it – all except for the slightly squeaky keyboard.

Then today, my cell phone, which was limping along just fine decided that all I would be able to do was text people with it. I couldn’t hear anyone when I placed or received a call. So off to Verizon Wireless I went. I had been avoiding this for a long time because a) my contract had expired and I didn’t want to get locked into another one and b) I hate paying my astronomical cell phone bill every month and had been considering getting rid of it altogether, and c) if I was going to have a phone, I really, really wanted to hold out until the new Windows Phone 7 is released and I’d get that.

Have I mentioned that I am a sucker for all things techy, shiny and geekified? Well, I saw the HTC Droid and played with it for a few minutes and it wooed me over. I forgot all my resolve of not renewing a contract, my temptation to chuck the whole cell phone addiction in the toilet, and I walked out with a new phone and all the accessory gadgets.

Did I mention the PINK cover I got for it?

That just makes everything better now.

Tagged as: cell phones, computers, Droid, electronics, Sony Vaio, Windows Phone 7

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I keep going, and going, and going…

by Claire on February 13, 2010

Here’s a news flash for you: I’m an overachiever. That really surprised you, didn’t it? I’ve always been that way – it’s just who I am. This works out great for me in my career because I can do the work of three people in a third of the time and this keeps me employed, thank goodness. The downside of being an overachiever is that I think I can do way more than I have the energy to do.

I’m notorious for unfinished projects. Home improvements, sewing, gardening, scrapbooking, I’m not picky. I just have a gazillion brilliant ideas that I start at full steam and then somewhere I hit a snag and I stop, never to finish. For example, I still have the unrepaired patch of drywall from where I tore down a non-supporting half-wall in my family room nearly three years ago. I’m hoping that will get fixed this Spring, for sure.

Lately my work has been going hell bent for leather and that’s not really looking to slow down for a while. (Grateful, yes.) On top of that, if you’ve been here before, you know my daughter (who lives with me) is a few days away from full-term in her pregnancy, is sleeping a lot, and we’re waiting for the baby to arrive (and baby is taking her sweet time although daughter has been having a lot of practice contractions). So, on top of work, I’ve been taking her to twice-weekly doctor visits and all the other mandatory (read minimum cuz a lot is getting neglected) housework that needs doing.

So, it’s no surprise to me that I’m exhausted and my fibromyalgia is flaring something wicked. But remember I’m an overachiever, so what do I do? I sew some more. And two items (for my daughter) are finished, one (for me) is unfinished. I hit a snag on the one for me, so I hope to get back to it today and get it finished. I am too tired right now to take pictures, so stay tuned for another update soon.

Meanwhile, we got to see more in-utero really cool 4-D pictures of my granddaughter, Baby Laila. She’s too stinking cute and I wish she would hurry up and get here so I can smell her sweet baby skin.

Here are some parting pics to tide you over until I return with my finished project pics. (The first picture is my favorite. You can see her sweet little chubby baby hand that she loves to put up by her face in every picture.)

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Laila021210-5

Laila021210-1

Tagged as: family, grandchildren, life, projects, sewing

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Amazing, really, but it’s more than parental pride

February 4, 2010

**Apologies to my Facebook friends who have already seen these photos ad-nauseum**
My oldest daughter, Cindy, is an amazing photographer. The word “amazing” is often overused these days, in my opinion, as the go-to adjective to describe anyone or anything with slightly more-than-mediocre or impressive skills, talent, or results. In fact, I heard it in abundance [...]

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Coming up for air

February 3, 2010

Phew… there’s been so much going on lately that I’ve been a neglectful blogger. Sometimes I don’t blog because the hugely disparate thoughts that go through my mind are hard to congeal into any sort of substance that might make sense to my peeps. So I stay quiet. That, and I’ve been swamped with work [...]

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