So much to say....

Sir spent all evening and quite a bit of Thursday night setting my computer up for me. And yesterday was my first full day with my computer back - for real! And it works - it really does! Sitting on the floor at the kids' computer is no more!

Today I spent packing for our camping trip next week and trying to make a little more sense of the house regarding unpacking from the move. The kids are beyond excited about camping this time. I think they might remember a bit from our last camping trip or maybe they're just older and can understand more. It will be Butler's first camping trip and he's already 8 months old!

Now that my photo editor is re-installed, I can post pictures again... and there are so many pictures to post and write about. I should have plenty of material to last the rest of the year! But for now, I'm going to bed.

Could it really be fixed?

This morning the "Give-you" truck (PC's definition for a UPS truck) delivered my computer to our front door. If you're interested in the saga that's taken place regarding my all-in-one computer this year, keep reading. Other wise check back in a few days - I might have a chance to write about normal life sometime.

You might not remember, but sometime between March 26th and April 8th, my new computer (Sir got it for me on a Boxing Day sale) died. Apparently it had something wrong with the memory part of it, but as far as I was concerned it just wouldn't turn on completely which made it unusable. Sir looked at it for a couple of days, copied my files in case the hard drive needed to be wiped and then drove hours on his only days off to deliver it to a 'warranty repair' shop and home again. That shop had it for five days and decided that they actually didn't do warranty work for the company we'd purchased the computer from. However, they did 'take a look at it' reseated something and it looked like the machine was working again. Except five hours after I turned it on it died a second time.

I think it took us a week to get around to calling the computer company, but once we did they arranged for a technician to come to our house and repair it. The first tech showed up about 3 days after we'd contacted the company, but he had the wrong mother board. They had decided to replace the mother board, hard drive and memory 'just to be sure' they fixed the problem. The next week a different tech arranged to come with the right parts. He was hours late and then called me from our driveway to say he grabbed the wrong part and couldn't do the repair that day after all. Another week later, the first tech came back with the right parts and replaced the hard drive, motherboard and memory. In the process he broke the optical drive and lost the rubber foot for the monitor stand. Then we discovered that Sir's copy of my operating system was corrupted and we'd need a system recovery disk since the computer had a new hard drive.

So, we called the company back and told them about the optical drive, rubber foot and that we'd also need a system restore. 3 weeks later they were 'still waiting for the parts to be shipped to them'. Did I mention we were in the middle of moving during all of this? Anyway, they finally 'had the parts' (ten days later) and scheduled another service call for the following week. Except when the tech arrived, I discovered that they forgot to send the rubber foot and the system restore cd. The guy tried telling me that it wasn't the optical drive that was broken but he cover and he didn't bring the cover that day. I had to show him that the cover was just fine and that he did indeed bring the right part (the optical drive). He wanted to install the drive later when they had the rest of the stuff he was supposed to bring but I told him I'd rather he did what he could since the next guy they sent out wouldn't be any more intelligent in the matter and with the way things had been going, the optical drive would be forgotten. So, he fixed the optical drive and my computer was still out of commission.

June 22nd, the day after the optical drive was repaired, the computer company called to check that the repair had been done. I told them only the optical drive had been attended to and that we were still waiting for the rubber foot for the monitor stand and the operating system recovery cd. They said they'd mail the recovery cd directly to us and have the technicians come out again to fix the foot. Ten minutes later they called back and said that I had to ship the whole machine to the company because they didn't have any recovery cds that they could ship and that it had to be done at the factory. Two days later I receive a postage paid box to return my computer in, and the tracking number indicated my computer arrived in Ontario three days after that. The repair at the company was supposed to take three days. Two weeks later I called them to find out why I hadn't seen the computer back yet and they were 'waiting to receive a recovery cd, but they would make a note to "expedite" the repair'.

That was Sunday evening. Less than four days later my computer arrived at the door. Dare I hope it's actually repaired? For real this time? Now I'll go open the box and see what I can find.

Drifting

Today has been a slow day. I'm either really lazy, still exhausted from the whirlwind of activities recently or we're just in the eye of the storm of busyness. But it has been nice to not have to do something that needs to be done before I can get to something else on the TODO list because we need to get to yet another thing that needs to be accomplished. Yes, there's still lots to be done - piles of laundry to go through, stacks of boxes still to unpack, the bathroom to scrub and water seal, but I can flit back and forth between them or just leave them undone today because I don't HAVE to be anywhere doing something by a certain time.

Watch, halfway through nap time I'll remember something that was supposed to be done today, but right now all is escaping my memory and I'm savoring doing nothing (ok, not nothing, but very little). The next thing on the agenda is a camping trip in two weeks. Which means I need to find, collect and assess our camping supplies before it's time to go.

It's supposed to get hot this week! So last night the kids and I filled the kiddie pool in anticipation of our annual heat wave week. This morning was cloudy and cool but the kids donned their swimsuits and shivered away in the cold water anyway. I felt sorry for them and dumped about six gallons of scalding water in the pool to raise the temperature a little. They've been out there ever since. Emma added a frisbee of dirt to the water and now Dolly and PC are almost done emptying the pool cupful by cupful - their idea,not mine. I assume they're going to want me to refill it once they get all the water out. I did rescue Butler since he was crawling around under foot and getting dripped on drenched in the process. Now he's crawling all over me while I try to write.

I should go while my kids are still being good. I guess feeding them lunch might be a smart idea. Now that the pool is empty they're going to remember that they're hungry and it's not going to sound very cheerful.

Online again!

You wouldn't think two weeks could be so long - until your internet provider cancels your account since they don't provide service to your new neighborhood. We discovered (the day after our actual move) that we 'might have been notified by e-mail' that they cancelled our account when we tried arranging our internet to be set up at the new house ten days before the move. Except, why would someone tell you they might have sent an e-mail to you to the address they just cancelled AFTER they cancelled your account? We're still trying to figure that one out too.

But that's past, and we're finally set up with a provider that does service our area, Sir set up the network here and as of last night I have interent access again after almost 3 weeks without it! I'm still borrowing the kids' computer, since we're STILL waiting for the warranty people to finish fixing mine.

The house is starting to look more like a house and less like a giant cardboard box finally. Tonight I got the dining room looking like a dining room and I love it! I think my favorite room in the house is my laundry room - I have a real laundry room (well, it's also the furnace room) and I can do laundry any day of the week, and any time of the day!!! I love this little house and there's something I love about probably every single room too.

Saturday we got Butler's 6 month pictures taken. The last month has been so crazy and busy that it was almost impossible to get them done any sooner. Sir also set up most of the swing set in the back yard that day which was a relief to me because our kids were having a lot of fun climbing outside the railing of the deck. Now they climb all over the swing set and stay on the right side of the deck railing most of the time. We also got mattresses for the kids that day so they've been off the floor for almost a week now. It's really made a difference in their attitudes now that they're sleeping more comfortably.

My eyes are crossing, my legs are going to sleep, and I have the slightest feeling that I'm a little bit rambling here, so I think I'll end this and the day for now. :)

'good night!

Not that I have time to be writing....

I should be packing furiously - we're down to the last 5 days before this place is history.

The kids and I picked Sir up from the sky train this evening and on the drive home Dolly started talking to Butler. "Butler, you can't go to sleep yet... no you can't." She cooed to him in a sing-songy voice. "You haven't been feeded yet." I don't remember if it was Sir or myself, that corrected her, "It's not feeded, Dolly. You FEED something, and when it's full, it has been FED." Then the other of us, repeated the lesson in almost the same words. "It's kind of like 'feet' and 'foot', Dolly." I explained, You have one FOOT, but two FEET - not FEETS." "And not FOOTS either, right Mommy?" She clarified. "Well, FOOT'S would be something that BELONGS to your foot - Like your foot's shoe" I answered. "WHY?!!" Sir whispered to me incredulously amused, "Let's stick to the subject on hand!"

The subject was interrupted by the sighting of a tow truck pulling a mini-van and the 'foot/feet fed/feed' conversation was forgotten. Until we pulled into the alleyway just before our driveway. "Butler," Dolly cooed to him, "You have to be FEDDED before you can go to sleep!"

Emma has been falling and scraping her knees a lot recently - well, she's always falling, but recently it has come with scraped up knees. After re-opening a scrape a day or two ago, she came to me and said, "Mommy, I need a bandee (band aid). See, wook! my weg is blooding!"

I gave the kids their laundry to put away last week. A few minutes later, I went to their room, and told them we had to get going (I don't remember where we were going now) and to put their socks and shoes on. PC was still putting his laundry away, but he was quick to respond, "OK! I will put my shoes on, Mommy. You can put (the rest of) my laundry away - it's only a little bit!"

"Be Bwerry Quiet, Mommy. Ok?" - Emma

After lunch I was clearing the table when I heard, "Mommy! I need to go potty" "K, PC! go to the bathroom then!" two minutes later, "Mommy, I peed on my pants and my underwear and the floor." "Ok, just clean it up - use toilet paper." I instructed. "But I can't! it melted on my pants."

As I write this, sitting on the floor in front of my little old computer, Emma has been playing 'meeting' by herself behind me (the other kids are still all napping). She just finished raiding Dolly's bible case for hats. The whole time singing various lines from an assortment of hymns. "Oh, yes, oh yes, dare's sdumpding more, trust and obey! Yes Jesus wub me bor duh Bible dells me so - Jesus ded caa ur neh on deh right side... no sdumpding, sdumping more!" Then she became very quiet, said, "Shhhh! deh baby's sweeping!", selected just the right hat and carefully put it on my head. "Be bwerry quiet, mommy. Ok? I gunna be wite bwack." and she ran off to the playroom for a toy bottle for her baby and my own bible case for me. I had moved while she was gone, and the hat slipped off a bit. "Don't Mommy! oo need to hab ur at on pwroperwy!"

This morning in the car PC was singing, "Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes, oh yes" Dolly interrupted him, "No, PC! That's not how it goes! You're supposed to say, 'Oh yes, oh yes, there's something more. Yes, there really is, yes, oh yes, there's something, something more'" I had to smile since I've never heard the 'yes, there really is' version before.

And Butler weighed in at 16lbs, 6oz at his 6 month shot appointment this morning.