Changes!

Geeesh why does Blogger post 10 pics? I had to CHANGE this by deleting them .........

The weather here took a dip 2 nights ago....into the 30's. Our first frost. But that's OK, that means the collards will be much more delicious now that they've been nipped.

Which also has meant that our coastal climate is experiencing the change of colors in the foliage too....our leaves are turning and the wind picked up some this past weekend.

I did enjoy lunch this past Monday in the park - while I was there I tried out some photo shots, but the colors just aren't right yet. The dogwoods have berries now and the leaves are orange, red and yellows.

Miss T....ever changing. Growing into a young lady. She is a typical middle schooler, getting the attitude and the "teachers are mean" syndrome....she turns 12 next month. (I know I already posted her as 12 in my "all about me" section.) She wants to get some friends together and go ice skating for her birthday celebration.

When did my baby get this old?

When did I GET THIS OLD?

J-O-B....changes....3 day work weeks for me now. The economy is really hurting our business. I applied for some seasonal work, but I haven't heard anything yet. And wouldn't you know as soon as I started applying, Tom's brother called and said "come on to TX, I have a big job to do and need your help"...so he's thinking of going. To be gone, oh, 30 days or so. So that means no extra workie for me......gotta be home with Miss T.

I did look into some "at home" work - transcriptions. Digital of course and in the legal field. As a trained paralegal, I can transcribe dictation into documents and email or snail mail them to the customer. I just need the equipment i.e. transcriber and foot pedal. That's anywhere from $200-$500 depending on what you get.

Maybe after the holiday's I'll look into that harder. Right now, I have to focus on paying the piper, peter and paul and Santa. Kinda knocks out my wishes for a new sewing machine and camera for a while.

Changes.........I don't like changes.

What's up?

My computer troubles was more than just AOL....seems the automatic updates have been sneaking toolbars etc in the system and some of them were double firewalling me.....hence the reason I had such troubles.

Nevertheless, my xRoomie computer guru came over Sunday under the bribery of homemade Chicken Pot Pie and fixed my troubles.

YAY!!

The girls weekend was , well, ok...it rained ALL DAY Saturday so that put a damper on our outdoor activities. The Festival was just too wet to get out and walk through, so we tooled around in some of the local shops on the Island.

We hit the Libations store early enough to insure we'd have plenty of liquid entertainment if necessary. Then it was a stop for an early dinner at the favorite sub stop. A quick run through the grocery store and we were in for the night.

The blender whirled, corn popped and cards shuffled. Do you know how difficult it is to teach a drunk girl how to play Rummy? Poor Cindilouwho...said it was too much thinking for her.

Where was TnT you ask? Miss T was at my Mom's....Tom was, home. He had visited his friend "J", but come back home to hang out. Hmmmm, surprised here....

Miss T and I did a little shopping around on Sunday. I made the Chicken Pot Pie and put on a pot of Chili too. xRoomie came to fix my computer and had dinner with me.

Monday I stayed home....sort of. My Nanny found out I was home and wanted to go to Kohl's to shop for some "everyday clothes". We had lunch together and had a good time shopping.

Today I filed the "attached workers" benefit claim...since I'm still employed but working way less hours, I think it is a nice bonus.

Let's cross our fingers and say our prayers that it will pay off....literally. Since I do payroll, I am able to do some creative movements.............I can pay me "hourly" up to the point they will allow; anything over that I can add as "mileage reimbursement" or such. Every little bit helps.

Ya know, the Fed's bailed the big guys out, what about us little guys? Why not! And they want to "talk about" a second stimulous payment...wow, can ya spare it? http://voanews.com/english/2008-10-20-voa49.cfm I'd certainly take their money!

Gas us under $3 now....down to about $2.90 and dropping a little bit almost every day. That's GREAT news. Wonder how low it will go?

Back on track & Economy

It came to me that maybe, just maybe, McAfee was the culprit.

So I unplugged my modem; removed Mac and replugged the modem to restart AOL and viola! My AOL desktop icon worked! Then quickly reinstalled McAfee.

Now things are running much faster at the home 'puter. That IE and foxfire mess was suuhhhloooooow........and caused me to curse.

Whew! Now I can relax.

Back to "normal" if there is such a thing.

Back to the PSP group in full force. Back to "the Spot" and my friends.

It seems that we're all worrying about the same thing right now. The Election and the Economy. I gotta say, so am I. My Boss recently added another day off without pay of course to my schedule. I'm going to file the "attached claim" through ESC soon. Just had to make sure of the legistics now that my status has officially changed. Not too many people building custom homes right now or buying the stock we have.

Miss T's birthday is next month; then Christmas. A very tough time of the year for the economy to be biting us in the

Well you know.............

But, I'm not gonna let that get me down.

Thank GOD Mr Man's retirement and SS is in tact....for now...(knock on wood - hope I'm not jinxning myself)....did I already say that?

Tightening up the old purse strings........I'm going to suggest to my brother that we make Christmas about the KIDS this year...no sense in adding any stress to the already stressful situation....his business is slow (land clearing) and at least he has a full time job as a firefighter. His wife hasn't gone back to work yet after the baby....4 months old....and she's a mortgage officer. YIKES....not good. Just as well, daycare would take all her pay, so why shouldn't she stay home?

My little brother's job is up in the air too....the England based owners have come here to take over - question is will they keep running this business here? and keep the bro on at his requested salary? He's been there for, gosh, 7 years? or more basically running the joint, AR/AP, shipping etc.

I really want a new sewing machine. There is a sewing place just up the road from my office that offers classes and new machines for sale too. I figured I'd like to take the basics over again and buy a new machine....she suggested the Singer Curvy or one of the Vikings. Now I'd LOVE to have the Viking....but see the above entry about purse strings.

Lately it's been about going to work, T's dance, sleep, repeat. Time to get back into some ME things.

A little of this n that

I am having such a time at home with my computer! Grrrr comes to mind and out of my mouth often. I don't know what's going on. At first I thought it was my firewall...so I deleted it; deleted AOL and reinstalled it. BUT it still won't connect....

I hate going into AOL through IE or Firefox..but it seems that IE is treating me better than Fox. They're both very slow about AOL. There is still so much information in my AOL account....trying to get to it to archive it at home is a bear!!

Which is why I haven't been participating in many of my PSP quests. I think I posted about this earlier.

Anywho, different subject.

Girls weekend coming up!
Hopefully Friday night I'll be slumbering with my pal Cindilouwho and a couple of girlfriends at her home; we'll have breakfast on Saturday and head over to the Island for the annual Autumn with Topsail www.AutumnWithTopsail.com celebration. Bands, food, artwork and a nice stroll on the beach....who could ask for more?

I should have TnT stay at Mom's beachhouse then I could just head on over there later Saturday and Sunday......then I'd feel guilty because there is still so much to do at home. Still finding stuff for that Nov 1st yard sale; cleaning out Miss T's clothes etc.

Yesterday I was off from work (instead of Tuesday) to spend time with my nephew. He and my Mom came over about noon and we jumped on the trampoline and had a picnic under it.....yes, under it.

He suggested Chips N Grapes. I brought out a tray with 2 kinds of chips (cheddar/sour cream and barBque); goldfish; dried fruits via Welch's; Hershey's 100 calorie snack bag and a cinnimon granola mini snack. Then I went in and made him a turkey n cheese sandwich. We found 5 baby snails under the trampoline.

I could just imagine my Nanny calling asking what we were hiding from....and I would have had to say "obviously nothing if you can see us from your house".....rofl.

Tom's birthday was Tuesday (14th) - we gave him a Giants Jersey #27; a tshirt and hat; he said he didn't want a cake, then later mumbled "and I didn't even get a cake".....so he promptly bought himself one on Wednesday, chocolate chocolate chocolate.

He's thinking of going to TX to help his brother on a hotel plumbing project (due to the hurricane). That'd be nice for him and me....time alone, little extra mooola (hopefully).

In the meantime I'm on short time at work. 3 days.....sigh.......

Butt......Projects

Oh yeah....it's been crazy.

Friday was Tom's visit to the VA hospital for a colonoscopy...woo hoo. Yes he's been the "butt" of jokes all week. Going to see Dr Ben Dover and all.

I went to bed very late 2am friday morning only for him to have to wake up at 5am to drink more juice. Then a quick nap for me until about 7am when it was time to get up and get busy. It's a 2 hour ride to Fayet-nahm from here. Get Miss T on the bus and start out.

We were early....about 10:15 so we checked in and he was taken right on in the Daybed area. She said I had time to get a bite to eat but to be back in that waiting room until they called me.

At 1:30pm I decided I should find some lunch....but first I checked on him. He had just gone into a recovery area (geeesh - a 30 minute procedure????). In about 10 mins she called me back to the area....there he was sitting up fixing a sandwich....with his shirt on backwards!

One polyp removed.....eat more fiber and fruit!

Was a quiet ride home.....I made it just in time to get Tom to the potty and to turn around and head to town to see Miss T's last 10 minutes of her solo practice. Off to dinner with the 'rents for my baby brother's birthday celebration.

If that wasn't enough, one of Miss T's friends called "Let's go Ice Skatin"...so I took her and stayed with them till we left at 10pm.....

Whew! Finally home and bed!

Saturday was tough....I was so tired from the day before. I had also promised to go to the local Spot Pagaent to support a friend and her daughter. The kid was 1st runner up, but that's ok, she already holds a title (and has held many others). She was so sad because last year she was 1st runner up....she said "what am I doing wrong?" and of course we assured her it was NOTHING. The only difference I noticed was in the confidence level of the winner....she ACTED like she WAS very confident.

Today....Sunday....
Aye...Miss T and her school project. She and her BFF were going to do a Bake Sale and buy supplies for the animal shelter with the proceeds....only the BFF mother said at the last minute NO WAY when she found out the local grocery store was already booked for an event. Well, we COULD have gone to another venue.

Thanks.....so we took off to my office and snapped some pictures of her working...filing, answering phones etc...things she had done for me this past summer. Her project was based on "Service". She dolled up 8 pages with information and pictures. I hope it's acceptible...they said that helping parents wasn't allowed. But what do you do when your BFF bails on you at the last minute?

I think I'll turn in early tonight. ExCoworker is in town and we're supposed to meet tomorrow, early...it will be great to see her!

I Did It! I Moved EVERYTHING!

Whew! It was tough, sweatty and worth it.

I was able to IMPORT Coastal Comfort over here!

Same name....Coastal Comfort.

Hmmmm wonder if now that I "own" both, can I merge them together?

Until then..........

It's been a busy hump day. Loads of office mail to go through, bills to pay, tis the tenth soon ya know.

Miss T is having a bake sale this weekend with her friend "P" for a school service project. They plan to sell goodies and Miss T is making some refrigerator magnets ... we're devising a business plan; dividing costs with goods and determining a sales price.

I told her we should use some seashells and name them "Tshells".

Jury's still out on that one.

At home, my AOL icon STILL WON'T work. I've uninstalled / installed 3 times. Next plan of action? Kick the computer.

For now I'm accessing AOL through IE which isn't fun. Firefox is easier...but I liked having the option of AOL downloaded. I'll keep pressing forth!!

What's that???? The 5 o'clock whistle! I'm outta here...gotta go post a Bulletin to "return stolen money"......someone stole $22 from Miss T's wallet at dance last night. Gonna request they "leave it in this envelope anonymously"....we'll see.

Nite all!

Weird Horoscope

CANCER: "You are being pulled off course by strong feelings that you thought were processed a long time ago, but something has reactivated these ghosts from your past. It's challenging for you to reconcile your current situation with the preferences that arise from the depths of your imagination. Pay attention to your reactions to your memories, for you must learn how to move beyond your current habits if you are to make progress."

That is today's horrible scope for me.

I rarely read those things, but on AOL's homepage via Firefox they were up so I peeked.
Funny thing is I visited with my father and his Aunt yesterday and rehashed some of the past. I walked next door to where my Great Grandparents home used to be (their son & co had it burned down illegally for insurance money). I looked up at the old oak tree....I remembered fondly playing in this yard and not so fondly falling into the ditch. I rehashed stories with my hubby about events that happened as I was growing up....from being very scared one night when my father took off with his gun to "kill" his cousin (didn't happen), to how my Aunt shot her hubby - which is probably why yielding a gun is so easy for me ROFL.

"Move from beyond your current habits....to make progress" - this is a bone of contention with me. I like my safe place. I am not one to just pack up the house and move away from my family and dear friends. I depend on them emotionally too much especially with Mr Man's (DH) situation.

Funny thing is I was dreaming last night of agreeing to MOVING.....to Florida. Martha & Shelly you KNOW where I'd be heading if that were the case.

Hey Y'all

Did ya know it's Domestic Violence month? One of my favorites because I can get away with anything....it says so!

Therefore, I started cleaning out Miss T's room...whatta mess. Violence to ME I guess LOL.

The other Violent thing going on in my house is this possessed computer. It will NOT log into my separate AOL Icon...I'm having to do this through Firefox (which is a pain!) ... oh yeah, I've reset, restarted, rebooted and it REFUSED to cooperate.

(Now don't yell at me...I'm not making light of DV ....I've seen my fair share of it)

More violence was that today I made Miss T go to the airport (didn't tell her we were going)....I wanted her to ride in a real live airplane just to see that it's OK. My SIL's Dad has a lil plane and he was out there anyway and said we could go.

Once she figured it out she was ADAMANT about not getting in that plane. She got in.....buckled up....unbuckled and got out.
Nephew, his mom and her dad took off for about a 10 minute ride and came back. All the while I'm showing Miss T how well the plane is balanced and smooth and not sputtering etc....do you think she bought it? Well, yeah a little.

They got back and she got back in!! They taxi'd a bit and then they were done....they couldn't take off this time because they were having radio burps....he said once he got them fixed we were welcome to come try it again.

Miss T was so proud of herself! Kept repeating "I got in a plane" over and over.

24 Hr flu via AT&T

I called AT&T this morning saying WTH? and through a series of clicks and questions we found the trouble.

Thank you AT&T for redirecting my USER ID to some no name "attreg@" person.

That is why I couldn't log on. But how was I to know? I never log into the bellsouth.net site anyway.....I always go in directly through AOL or Firefox.

HA!

It wasn't my fault after all.

So after 24 hour bedrest Blueboy is up and running online just perfectly again.

Yes, his name is Blueboy because he has a flashing blue light.

Oreo is my other computer which sits in the room just behind this one.

Why Oreo you ask? (Let's hope and pray this doesn't offend anyone - it's certainly not meant to)

Well.....he's black and he was rebuilt and saved from a white computer. So he has the "white" filling....like an Oreo cookie.

With all this packing and moving here to "the Spot" I haven't made time to play in any of this week's PSP challenges, much less start anymore lessons.

Instead, I've started a BIG challenge..............

Miss T's room. (See my eyes rolling?)

After this quick update, I'm charging back into that room.

Wish me luck!

(PS Is anyone else experiencing multiple picture loads and large spacing?)

Home Computer has the flu!

Well, almost.

Last night as I was scanning and defraggin and de-everything else, my spybot popped up and said something then "do you want to" and do you think I read it?

Noooooooooo.

So now I've lost my ability to connect to the internet.

But my DSL says I'm connected, I just sorta kinda ooopsed and now I gotta go home and figure this out.

I've already tried all the "fix it" clicker things. Did the System Restore thing too.....notta! Time for xRoomie to come by and fix me.

I'm such a nut about this stuff....I wasn't reading what it said and was already having a hard time with some photo adjustments etc.

My second computer MAY be able to connect to my yahoo or aol accounts.....lets hope so because

HOW CAN I GO ALL WEEKEND WITHOUT MY CYBER FIX????

Well, I could go to our local RIVERFEST celebration. An arts, crafts, food, band display downtown by the river....could take some pictures. But I don't usually enjoy getting out there with those a$$'s to elbow crowds.

Maybe I'll finish the mess Miss T and I made while cleaning out her room. Can you believe she's actually getting rid of some TOYS!?!?

She IS becoming a pre-teen.................sigh.

Our New Adventure

What do you think was the first thing I did when I got up this morning?

No it wasn't Peee.

I turned on my computer. Checked a few emails, then I peeed. TMI I know.

Then I said "HEY make those screenshots and post them in AOL". At least there those who still have their alerts active can have a tutorial.

I'm lovingly refering to this place as "the Spot".

I must say, the thought of losing JLAND began to terrify me. Seriously. I was so grateful to have started my journal - it has taken me to places I never thought I'd be. It is great therepy. My dear friends have given me the courage and strength I knew I had deep down somewhere. Losing this emotional contact would have devastaed me.

We ARE JLAND........and will always be. That is ours alone and no one can strip that from us. When we say JLAND, only WE will know the true heartfelt meaning behind that.

But just like the great friends and family we are...we're here, struggling together, calling for that "cup of sugar". It's as if we've all been dumped on an Island together, we're rebuilding our "homes" and asking for decorating tips.

I love you all dearly.....