Intervention Needed!

We love the annual electronic advent calendars from Jacquie Lawson, we share them as dowloads with the grandchildren and get one for ourselves too. This year the theme is Victorian Christmas, there are lots of activities (things to create and decorate) that build on each previous day, creating a more Christmassy Main Street to revisit as time goes by and Christmas day draws closer. There are fun diversions as well: puzzles, books and games. My daughter-in-law shared this photo; Gregory and Lynnleigh enjoy their calendar each night before bed, she says that they LOVE it this year. Well, there's a certain obsessive attraction for me too: the ornamant breaking game! Ornaments apper in a large grid, clicking on three of the same color ornaments that appear in a row breaks them, allowing different ones to drop down into play. As the levels progress the speed picks up and bonus points appear for accumulation by breaking "special" ornaments. This morning I could not make it from the desk chair and laptop until I reigned victorious over this silly merciless game. Dishes to wash? Cards to address? Gifts to wrap? Trees to decorate? Nothing on my "to do" list could break the temptation to play or sway my competitive nature to beat the computer! I was definitely rendered powerless and in need of an intervention. Thank goodness this screen suddenly popped up. Whew! Now, I can get on with my day; tomorrow might just be another story!

Life is Good!

Think Before You Click!

It all began so innocently (doesn't everything?), I was scanning a few e-mails before bedtime and ran across a shipping notice for a recently ordered purchase. The e-mail contained a tracking number and, rather than copying that number and going the the FedEx website for more information, I clicked on what I thought was an imbedded hyperlink to that same destination, located just beneath the e-mail. I was wrong; I actually clicked on an ad for some horrible, virus-laden site called package tracker or some such thing. That one click of the mouse erased my browser and populated my programs with a whole list of evil malware! It was a long weekend, my husband spent many frustrating hours cleaning up my computer; uninstalling and reinstalling needed programs. I am usually uber-cautious about computer navigating, but a single moment of inattention slipped me up big time! Be careful; learn from my mistake, think before you click!

Life is Good!

... again!...

On Demand!

I joined QNNtv as a subscriber last month and it's been money well spent. On the advice of a friend (one who's been stitching out some knock-your-socks-off quilting lately)  I decided to try it out for a month before I jumped in the deep end. It's great; I have since become an annual subscriber; I never knew what I'd been missing. I can watch any of the quilting episodes whenever I want, replay the technique oriented episodes over and over, and then go right to Sundance and try them out! This is "on demand" viewing at its absolute best! Check it out, there's some complimentary videos to give you a taste of the programming, there is something for everyone; fabric selection and design work through quilting, traditional to contemporary. Thanks, Gina, for pointing me in right the direction, I've learned a LOT, it's all good, and I'm not looking back!

Life is Good!

Time's Up!

I'm still around! Don't send the search dogs. I have been focused like a laser beam and have limited, seriously, my computer time the last few days. In fact, when I have been on the computer I have set the timer to ten minutes, answered

e-mail, and jumped off at the beep. I downloaded a timer to my homepage from some free gadgets offered and it works like magic, I love it. I shall return, before too long, with 'show and tell'!

Life is Good!

Need To Know

I couldn't access my blogger account anymore. I could, however, get to my Gmail, and since they're set up within the same account this was supremely frustrating! I sent off a frantic e-mail to my daughter-in-law for assistance and she telephoned me right away; suspecting it was my browser she put my son on the phone to walk me through the diagnosis and cure. When he learned I was still using Mozilla Firefox he immediately got me started installing Google Chrome, he explained that what I was using had been good... back in 2006! Now, Google accounts are happier using the Google browser; that made sense to me. I asked him why he hadn't advised me to make this change sooner, his response: "you didn't need to know until now". That's the very best way to describe my computer skills (or lack thereof), I'm on the "need to know" plan; and that's absolutely good enough for me.

Life is Good!

Time For A Tune Up

I'll be away for a while, and the ever-so-sluggish computer is checking in to sick bay for a tune-up while I'm gone. I've backed up my files and, hopefully, when I return from Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival BOTH OF US will be posting once again with renewed vigor!

Life is Good!

Off Limits

There are a few things that should be kept locked up and off limits. Sharp objects and dangerous chemicals should be kept away from small children and computers should be off limits from my dear daughter and daughter-in-law when they spend time together. They mean well, God bless them (as we say here in the south). I knew I was in trouble yesterday when I answered the telephone to hear my daughter exclaim: "welcome to 2008!". She followed her exclamation with this: "have you checked your e-mail yet this morning?" me: "no, I haven't, why?" her: "you have a Facebook account, and, you have friends!" me: (groaning) "Wh' huh?" ... then the futile protestations began, but it was too late. The 'damage' had already been done. They had spent Friday night together in the Capital City and they thought they knew just what I needed. I want to go on record by saying that I am not a willing participant in this world of electronic social networking, I've done my share of kicking and screaming. The very last thing that I need is to be sucked into any time-wasting black hole! The girls have been extolling all the positives attributes of Facebook for months. I laughed at them, I reveled in the fact that my generation was beyond this, we were being spared. Or so I thought, at least until now.... maybe I'd go ahead and sneak a peek, just to see who was there. There were already quite a few responses, my daughter was right; they had added a profile photo and some personal information, where I had gone to school, things like that. I wrote on someone's "wall" (left a public comment) and sent an e-mail to old and new friends alike. Oh, and did I mention that I found a friend I hadn't heard from in years? She's living in London and has two grandsons, she'd posted photos, too; the boys are so cute! We've already sent messages back and forth! I'll admit it, I have been the loudest Facebook protester, I can't cave too soon, I do have my pride after all. The holidays are coming, I'll need to hide the computers from the girls when they're here, who knows what's next? God bless them.

Life is Good!

Embroidery

I've been spending the hot afternoons this week inside, working with my embroidery software program, creating gifts. These are more of my burp cloth creations; luckily, there's no shortage of babies being born right now! I am also working on personalizing a blanket and pillow shams as well as a few sets of towels. My daughter was at home yesterday, she watched me at the computer for awhile before asked if she could try her hand at creating some monograms. She took to it quite easily, actually I think that she really enjoyed doing this type of design work. She wouldn't necessarily enjoy the stitching portion, I don't think; she's never really taken to sewing! (How'd that happen?) Her computer skills, however, are top notch. She showed me some handy shortcuts for cutting and pasting that I will definitely use, too... ahhhh, the time I'll save!

The forecast is for another hot afternoon.
Looks like I'll be doing more of the same today!
Life is Good!

Uh-Oh!

I had a crash on Thursday, well... not me, but my lap top. It wasn't good... noises I shouldn't have been hearing coming from a computer (squeals and whines) and the screen flashing black-white-black... then black, full time. Kyle was able to open it in safe mode and extract my files onto an external hard drive, so nothing's lost. Except me. I feel lost. The most frustrating part of this is my embroidery software, I'm not sure what I still have on file as that's what was running when things went from bad to worse... I can always recreate anything I really need, I've done it once; and I can load the software onto a new laptop, I own the discs. And yet... there's a feeling of helplessness when things like this occur. I am also experiencing a feeling of abandonment, of a trust that's been broken... silly, to feel that for an inanimate object manufactured by Hewlett-Packard, and yet I did (perhaps blindly) commit to it my plans and schedules, my files, everyone's contact information and my photos! I can use the PC that we have in the study, (that's what I'm doing now) but it's just not the same; it's a "right church-wrong pew" kind of feeling. This will impact my blogging short-term; I'll be back, though...

I'm down, but certainly not out!

Life is Good!