Online!

When the girls have a sleep over, I tend to get a PC virus. The guests are never trying to get a virus, or going anywhere "naughty." Teens and preteens tend to enjoy ring-tone download sites, and lyric sites. Here's a warning: Both are prone to virus problems. I'm just sayin'.

My most recent PC is a cheap WalMart eMachine. It's way better than my old PC, but we use free anti-virus, and it missed one. I finally got it "healed" and we were back in business. The second time it happened, no dice.

Everything indicated that the ugly virus was gone, but it would NOT get online. I bet, with no exaggeration, that I have spent 10 hours on this mess...just trying. I did everything I could. No internet.

The other day, I happened to be sitting there, playing around with settings, when it told me that there were updates available. Huh? How would it know if it had no internet access? Hmmm. I downloaded the updates and restarted, still no internet. Based on 47 other things I've done, I knew the problem was with a setting in IE. I was sure I'd checked them all, but still...

Tonight, I downloaded the Windows version of Firefox to the MAC. Then, I copied the installer to my jump drive and installed on the PC. It installed fine, but no internet. HOWEVER, Firefox does a LOT better job of telling you what the problem is. I fixed that problem, and then launched IE and changed the same setting.

Oh yeah, that little PC is BACK ONLINE, BABY! I almost cried. I even high-fived both girls (a big pet peeve of mine...the high five. More on that later,) and let them go play on there. My kids know what sites are approved, and which will get them beaten within an inch of their lives. No lyrics, no ring tones.

Oh yeah, I'm JUST that good! (even if it took 3 months)

I'm still on the verge of tears, just knowing that it's fixed.

Fixing my car

My car had an issue. It sounded a lot like a bicycle with a card in the spokes. The problem, as diagnosed by our neighbor/friend Jimmy, was a chunk out of a gasket between the manifold and the exhaust pipe. On Saturday, Kevin decided to take it to Dad's and work on it. I usually go along to be the gopher when he works on my car.

When we put it up, as high as the jack would allow, and then put a jack stand under it for stability, both left tires were off the ground. It was funny looking.

Kevin crawled under and got to work. The catalytic converter was still hot, so he may have uttered a bad word, but it was a mild one. I mostly saw this:

My job is to go for tools. He has to be pretty specific, but I'm good at it. If he says, "I need a 3/8" ratchet, longer than the one I have," or "I need a 1/2 wrench, open on one end, box on the other," I know what to get. That's what's nice about using Dad's shop. All I have to do is go over here:

After updating my facebook status to state that he wasn't cursing, he let out a short tirade, but I didn't tell. He did so good that I didn't want it to sound like he was a bad guy. A Neon is a tiny thing to work on, and he kept plugging away.

At one point, he barely touched Hawkeye's butt with the toe of his shoe, and said, "Hey, move over, Buddy." Hawkeye yelped like he'd been beaten, and hid out the rest of the day. Wussy dog. I know he's mostly deaf, and didn't know Kevin was there, but sheesh!

Finally, Kevin got the offending gasket off the stubborn car. The stock ones are a ceramic type of thing, but the new ones are shiny. Quite a difference.

In this one, you can see the missing chunk that caused all the noise.

When Kevin finishes working on a car, he is filthy. He is often covered in grease.

So, the car is fixed, and Kevin has since washed his arm. It sounds great now. Thanks Kevin!

A facebook pet peeve, and an English lesson

I wasn't good at a lot of things in school, but I did OK. My strong subject was always English and grammar. I can talk hick, don't get me wrong, but I know the proper way to express things, and when I see consistent mistakes, it gets to me.

OK, the disclaimer is over. Now, on to what bugs me recently. On facebook, a lot of people post images. If I post an image of Monica and myself, I would caption it with "This is Monica and me at a concert." Most folks would post, "This is Monica and I at a concert." No, no, NO!

It's happening so much that I couldn't be silent any longer.

Please, do not caption pictures with "my husband and I." That's just wrong.

Thank you.

P.S. If you want to know how to prove the rule, do this: You would say, "This is my husband and this is me." You would not say, "This is my husband and this is I." If they don't split up well, they're not correct when they're together. Don't get me started on "they're" and "there."

I'm just sayin'.

Dancing in the rain

I could tell you about y'allapalooza, but most of you follow me on facebook, and you're fed up.

I have recovered from the "cheese" like substance. My intestines were much more kind to me today.

I loved the experience, and will continue to attend each year.

Now, on to more pressing matters: I taught my girls, long ago, to "never curse the rain." Ask Mom. I got it from her. No matter what happens, you NEVER gripe about rain. In fact, I taught them to appreciate it, love it, and DANCE in it! We've done this together many times.

I didn't dance with them tonight, though...I taped it. At one point, you see Kevin's hand open the door to let the dog out. He was begging. When he felt the rain, though, he said, "eeeewwwwww!" and wanted back in. LOL Wussy dog.

And now, I present to you, Monica and Natalie...Dancing in the rain:

Randomness

The plans are growing for my annual Ya'llapalooza weekend! Brian, Heather, and 3 of their gang will arrive tomorrow evening. We'll BBQ and BS and have a ball catching up. Saturday, big breakfast and big lunch to get everyone full before the concert. Food is very pricey there.

We'll leave around 2 and not get home until after midnight. I will take 4 gazillion pictures, and update via facebook every chance I get...until you're all sick of it. (and me) Can you tell I don't get out much? This is such a big thing for me each year. SO. HUGE.

Kevin had his teeth yanked today. They wound up taking 3. He is OK, but not happy with the gauze in his mouth. He can remove it around 8. He wanted to take it out early, but I've heard horror stories about dry socket, so I wouldn't let him.

OK, I'm getting harassing voice mail from Brian, now. I guess he's trying to make plans for the weekend, and here I am blogging.

Ciao!

Juggling time schedules-a logistical nightmare

Today, the girls had a swimming party to get to at 6. I usually get home at 6. It's our night to get Kameron. No problem: I'll just pick up Kami and let Kevin take the girls to the pool, right?

Maybe not.

Kevin has oral surgery tomorrow, and his X-rays needed picked up at the dentist's office. OK, I can do that. WAIT! I have to pick up Kameron and get there before...what? I'm confused. Kevin can pick up Kami, but then he can't get her and both girls in the truck to go to the pool.

New plan: I pick up the X-rays, Kevin picks up Kami. Kami goes to my mom's for 20 minutes or so until I can get there. Kevin takes the girls to the pool. Beautiful. (thanks, Mom!)

Tomorrow, Kevin has to have some teeth yanked. He could drive there, and have me pick him up, but then his truck sits in Lees Summit until we can get back up there to get it. No go. I can come home, get him, take him to the oral surgeon, wait for him to get done, and bring him home. Coolio. The problem is that I have to leave work at 1:30 get him to a 3:30 appointment. Sheesh. I guess we live a bit out-of-the-way.

It's all set, and it will work out, but DANG! Sometimes the logistics become a nightmare. Anyone wanna tote a cute baby home tomorrow morning? Anybody want to tote a dude to an oral surgeon's office? Anyone wanna tote me to the looney bin?

Ya'llapalooza Plans

It's getting closer! Ya'llapalooza is this Saturday! I cannot wait. Most of you know that I attend every year, and it is SUCH a good time. It is a festival of country music that will start at 3:00 and go until midnight or so. It's an all ages show, so the girls can join me, and this year will be even bigger.

I went to several "ticket hits" from the best radio station in the world (Q104) and they are so generous with the tickets. I was able to gift a couple of tickets to coworkers that could not afford to attend. I can take Brett and both girls, and we could not otherwise afford to attend. Now, Kevin's BFF and his wife and a kid are coming up (150 miles) to attend. You have no idea how stoked I am about this. This is something that I could NOT afford, otherwise.

Sure, we can't afford to get T-shirts or hats or anything, but they allow coolers with water bottles, and there is plenty to see and do. It will be so much fun. We'll see the cool staff from the Q, and say "Hi" and "thanks for the tickets" and they'll talk to us like we're not one of the thousand folks who stop by...even though we are.

Kevin doesn't go. Kevin doesn't care much for country, and he's not good in crowds, so he'll stay home. That's what's great about being married for this long: There are things that are important to him that do not interest me, and things that are important to me that don't interest him. We're both OK with that. Why guilt someone into doing something that they don't like?

I will take 4 gazillion pictures, and try to edit them down to the good ones. You'll probably see 6 pictures. LOL

Wow, this is fun to think about. 5 more days!

The short version

The short version is this: Natalie wanted to have a driveway fire. I was OK with that, but we had no firewood. With this morning's storm, I knew we'd have neighbor limbs in our yard. She gathered them, all was good.

I added some cardboard from Coke boxes and such, and knew the limbs wouldn't burn well. Too green. So...I dumped some gas on the pile. Maybe I should have waited a bit. I didn't. I lit it and it blew. Yeah, burned hair off my head, hair off my arm, and my hand hurt.

I went in to shower, because my hair smelled bad. OK, my hair still smells bad but it's better. My left hand has 7th degree burns (or maybe it just hurts, who knows) but all else is good. Oh, and when the gas burned out, so did the fire. It was a bust.

Ouch. Stupid ass.

Thursday nonsense.

Sorry, Mom. I never answered your question. I got to watch the end of the race at the party, so you can delete it from your dvr. I'm sure you already have. Just in case, though...

Kevin is getting nowhere with his injury. He's in this holding pattern...wait and see what we'll do while you wait and see. *sigh* His check (much less than he makes while working) is supposed to be issued on Friday, and he usually receives it on Tuesday. As of Tuesday, he had nothing. He called and was told, "sorry, that was my oversight. *insert her giggle here*"

This morning, the check should have been here. It was not. I'm not pulling punches, here, we have checks out. The bills demand to be paid. He called, and she explained that they only had a PO box, so they couldn't overnight it. Kevin asked why she didn't call him. She said that the people who send the checks had trouble getting ahold of her. Kevin said (I kid you not), "Seriously? Someone couldn't reach you? NEITHER CAN I! DO YOU SEE WHO THE PROBLEM IS?"

Anywho, his check should be here tomorrow...and I get paid tomorrow. However, it's spent. I have decided that I may need to get a part time job, evenings and weekends. I don't want to, but I want to keep my house. Kevin's stuck in a bureaucratic, red-tape nightmare, and I am doing all I can. We'll see what happens.

If I get another job, I'll need ya'll to tend my farm on facebook, OK? LOL I'm keeping a good attitude. I really am. It'll be good. There is no debtor's prison, and we've rented before. Nobody will die because of this crap. Nobody has ever died of embarrassment, right? Nah. It's all good.

And, to top it off, Big Brother started tonight. Oh yeah! That's some sweet white-trash viewing, there.

The Monday After

Friday was a good day, and we accomplished a bit without cutting into our relaxation time. Monica came home from Carthage, so we're all together for the first time all summer.

Saturday, we headed out to the home of some work friends to celebrate the 4th. We had a lot of fun (some of us had a bit too much fun...ahem) and didn't get home until 1:30 in the morning! They live quite a distance from us, but it was worth it. It's always fun to go to their house.

Yesterday, I slept in until 11! Crazy! Then, I accomplished NOTHING at all, other than relaxing and watching movies and TV with the family. We seriously did nothing productive whatsoever. And you know what? It was awesome!

Kevin made fish filets, green beans, and Velveeta shells and cheese for dinner. One of my favorite meals, I say! It was fabo.

Wow, a whole post about nothing. Maybe that's because Seinfeld is on in the background? Yeah, that's probably it. LOL

Getting there

I've been making the climb. I was blown away by the comments, both here and on facebook, offering kind words, prayers, and support. I even got a couple of phone calls, checking on me. I've got a lot of awesome people around me, and for that I am thankful.

I am loving the 3-day weekend. I think we should always do this. 4-10 hour days would be the most awesome shift ever. Even though it's raining today, it's nice to relax. Q104 is going to be in Odessa later, so we'll run over and get some Ya'llapalooza tickets. I'm so excited! It's only a couple of weeks away. Pat Green is headlining this year.

I think I'll go rearrange my bedroom now. I don't plan on doing much constructive this weekend, but I'll accomplish a bit here and there. I hope I didn't sleep so late that it affects my afternoon nap. LOL