Time Flies

You know, in a lot of ways, it really does seem like just yesterday that I was a kid.  I've always had a decent memory - I can recall a lot of details from my childhood.  My siblings used to tease me by asking me what underwear I was wearing during a particular memory because I was often able to recall what people were wearing.  And I still have lots of vivid memories from childhood...  Playing with blocks on cookie sheets when Grandma Sakis came over and asked if we wanted to go to Talarico's Pizza for lunch - I was building telephone poles...  Pushing my little sister up and down the street in her grey stroller (by myself!) and wondering if people that drove by thought I was her mom (ha! - I was so dumb as a kid)... Checking out the window at bedtime to make sure that the house behind us wasn't on fire because my sister was scared to death that it would be... Drinking the mist from the humidifier when we were thirsty after we'd gone to bed - such a musty flavor... Sneaking into the kitchen while mom and dad were watching TV to get a snack out of the cabinets on the west wall...  And these are all things that happened before I was 7 years old!

So it is hard for me to believe sometimes that my siblings and I are all grown up now.  All of us very happily married.  All of us blessed with beautiful children - who are not even babies anymore!  Full-fledged kids, we have!  We all live relatively close to each other and are all able to get together once a week.  It is time I cherish, first of all because I love my siblings and consider them some of my closest friends, and secondly because I know not every family gets that.  It's so awesome to be able to "talk shop" with my siblings about the joys (and let's be honest, the frustrations and difficulties) of parenting - 'cause we're all right there in the trenches right now.  I wouldn't want it any other way!

Tonight we got together to celebrate my brother's sweet little boy's THIRD birthday.  THREE!  I can't even believe that's possible.  Time. flies.  He is taller than Ruby by a couple inches and has just recently taken off in the talking department.  Tonight he was singing the Veggie Tales theme song during dinner.  It was adorable!  One of my favorite parts was when he said "brockolocki."  Pretty sure I'm going to have to start calling it that!

Anyway, here are some pictures I grabbed tonight:

Happy (almost) Birthday sweet nephew!  

Bathtime

Well, we finally got a(nother) new computer.  This time an Apple iMac.  We are absolutely loving it so far.  The transition has been smooth and simple.  And it WORKS.  Like a charm.  So we are thrilled and I'm hoping to get back to blogging.

I'm working on taking more pictures of our day-to-day life.  We have this incredible camera (a Canon Rebel T3i) and yet I rarely get the camera out anymore.  So I'm trying to improve my skills by taking more pictures (and I got an online photo school class around Christmas time that I need to work through as well.)

We're on Spring Break this week!  The kids spent Monday night and then all day today at Andy's parents'.  We got home with them just in time for baths and bed, so I decided to snap a picture during bath time.  Ira takes showers by himself (and is finally doing a decent job getting himself clean... boys...) and Andy gives Ruby her bath.  Ever since the kids were big enough to take baths in the big tub (not in the baby tub or in the sink), Andy has given them their baths.  He also reads them their books and puts them to bed.  It is a nice time for them to bond and it's a nice break for me at the end of the day!

I also have a question for my (probably very few) readers.  Do you view my blog on a mobile device or on a computer?  How much "background" (the sunshiny trees) do you see?  I'm trying to decide if I can make the body of my blog wider, but don't want to make it so wide that you would have to scroll back and forth, because let's face it, that's obnoxious.  So if you don't mind, shoot me a comment about your viewing experience with my blog!  Thanks!

Computer

I hate to make excuses for my absence on the blog lately, but I really do have a good one (but it's long, so if you're not in the mood for a LONG story...)

For those who aren't aware, lovely Microsoft will stop supporting all OSs below Windows 7 in April of this year.  Our computers at home are Windows XP and Vista, so, not wanting to open ourselves up to viruses and hacking, we decided to buy a new computer.  I was excited as our current set up works, but isn't ideal.  We have a desktop in the basement with Photoshop installed on it.  It runs SO SLOWLY, so editing photos is nightmarish, and doing anything else is on it is pretty much out of the question.  So the only time we "booted up the beast" was when I felt like gouging my eyeballs out needed to edit photos for pictures I'd taken for people.  Never for my own photos of course, that would be insanity.  Upstairs, we actually had 2 laptops (both of which were bought for pennies from a school district that was done with them.)  I used one, but without much memory, there was no way I was going to put Photoshop on it.  The others was actually supposed to be Andy's for work, but as mine got slower with ever bulkier programs, we kept it at home for Ira to use for his math curriculum.  Again, not perfect, but it worked.

Feeling like our hand was being quite forced, we started looking into new computers in December and ordered a relatively high end Dell with Windows 8 right around the first of the year.  I'd also made a commitment to myself to blog more, now that the computer would be lightning fast.  Well, a few days into January I got an email from Dell that our order had been cancelled and to contact our credit card company regarding the reasons.  I called our credit card company the next day who said they had no idea why it had been cancelled, they didn't even show an attempted authorization.  So I called the phone number/extension in the email from Dell and was told that that extension no longer existed.  How helpful...  I then spent 45 minutes being transferred from one person to another (6? more? in total), got hung up on by the automated system three times, and felt belittled by everyone I talked to because for some reason (which no one could explain) my customer number got tied to the customer number of the person who stole our credit card and bought a Dell Laptop 18 months ago, flagging our account and cancelling our order.  I have no idea how that happened because our credit card number is different and I've never bought a computer from Dell in my life.  I should have taken the hint at that point and just given up, but no...  Finally I talked to a woman who said "I will be the last person you talk to, and I will get this issue resolved."  A.MEN!  She got me a new customer number, ordered our computer, and shipped it to us 2nd Day for the trouble.

So the computer came.  We bought a thumb drive to back the OS up before we did anything to the computer.  Except an update needed to install for the MyDell program before we could use it to back the OS up.  And the update was corrupt.  So we restarted (our brand new computer) and the update seemed to install.  Then the computer wouldn't recognize the USB drive plugged into any of the ports.  After chatting with Samrat for 2.5 hours, him remote-accessing our computer and updating the PE environment, partially updating the BIOS (but it failed for some reason), reformatting the thumb drive, we restart the computer and he is gone.  Completely gone.  No chat window, no phone call back.  Nothing.  And the dang back up program still wouldn't work.  It was 12:30am by this point, so I went to bed, more than a little irritated. 

Given the fact that I homeschool and am busy teaching during the day, I couldn't call back until late afternoon the next day.  I spent 4 hours on the phone with Lourhey installing 64 updates, reformatting the thumb drive, updating the BIOS again, uninstalling and reinstalling the MyDell program (again on my BRAND NEW COMPUTER.)  Lourhey was remote accessing the computer to back it up and we were chatting when I realize that she's backing up the FILES and PHOTOS (which there were NONE OF YET), not the OS like I had been asking for for FOUR HOURS. 

Finally, we get the OS backed up.  Then the printer that was previously working/wirelessly connected wouldn't work anymore.  So we spent another 30 minutes to get it working.  Then I spent the entire night downloading Windows 8.1 on my brand new computer. 

After looking through the materials with the monitor, it said for optimal performance to install the drivers on the CD.  So I did.  Then the bottom half of the monitor started flashing.  And wouldn't stop despite restarting, shutting down, and reprogramming the monitor.  So I spent another 45 minutes chatting with tech support.  He disabled something and the monitor started working again. 

And then the PE Environment needed updated again.  And there was a new version of the MyDell program... so I got to spend an hour updating those. 

I thought maybe just maybe we were in the clear, when I decided to try our 30 day trial of Microsoft Office for the first time.  Except that I click on it and NOTHING happens.  And I restart and click on it again and NOTHING happens.  And I realize that the screen saver sometimes works and sometimes doesn't.  So I get to call tech support again and spend 2 hours "trying to figure something out."  And get told "If we can't figure something out, you can always download Open Office."  (Which is a free office suite that has nowhere near the functionality of Microsoft Office, and has nothing to do with Microsoft.)  No thanks, I'd just like my 30 day trial.  So first she tries some work-around like I'm a company, getting a 90 day trial of Office 365.  Except that doesn't work.  So then she (remote access again) has be download Microsoft Home and Student.  Again, it's going to take all night (our internet is S.L.O.W.)  I asked her 3 times before we hung up what the product key was so that I could run the program.  And 3 times she completely ignored my question before saying "Thank you for choosing Dell Premium Customer Support, have a nice day."  CLICK. 

So I try to run Office first thing in the morning and guess what, it needs a PRODUCT KEY.  When she called back the next night, I she said she would need to check with her supervisor about other options.  The next night when she called back, I let it go to voicemail, because I'm sorry, this BRAND NEW COMPUTER that doesn't work is CONSUMING ALL MY TIME.  She proceeds to leave a message saying, not "We've got it figured out, give us a call so we can step you through it." but "We have some more options for you to try out.."  At that point I was just done.  Are you kidding me, TRY MORE?!  No, this is just insanity.  I've let all the calls roll to voicemail since.   

In the meantime, the Chrome App has stopped working completely, the screensaver still doesn't work, the USB ports sometimes work and sometimes don't, Windows 8 is as buggy as all get out , I'm still doing lesson plans on our old, slow laptop because I don't have OFFICE on my BRAND NEW COMPUTER and I am just DONE.  Seriously... a person can only take so much.  Getting this brand new computer to work like it should have out of the box has consumed my life for 2 weeks and it STILL DOESN'T EVEN WORK.  I've felt bullied (into upgrading in the first place) belittled, and beyond frustrated.  And I'm done.

We made the decision tonight to send it back and will be researching other options, the problem being, what options do we really have?!  We can't do a Chrome Book because everything is stored remotely and with our internet speed, that just isn't going to happen.  We're considering Apple but really know nothing about them, just that they're NOT MICROSOFT.  Are there other options? Are any of my readers Apple users?  What's it like being a Mac in a PC world?  What do you use for an Office Suite?  What has your experience been with the reliability of your Mac?  I want to know.  Because this Microsoft user is a VERY UNHAPPY CAMPER right now.

So yeah, that's why I haven't been blogging.  Fun times, eh?  Hopefully we can return to more regularly-scheduled programming following this happy post (although they'll be from my old, slow laptop, so be patient!)

Artist at work

Little Ruby has been our little artist ever since she could hold a crayon.  More hours of her day are spent 

doing art than anything else (okay, sleeping excepted.)  For Christmas, Santa brought her a tub full of art supplies (glitter glue, acrylic paints and a palette, foam stickers, felt sheets, glue, pipe cleaners, feathers, jewels, pom-poms...) and let's just say that present has been thoroughly enjoyed!  For the first couple weeks after Christmas, that was ALL she did!  The last couple of days though, she has reverted back to crayons/markers/colored pencils, and I've LOVED seeing her drawings!  I thought you might like to see them too!

Snowmen with LOTS of buttons

Flowers

A rainbow and "Hello Kitty with pinchers... like a crab..."

A sister with a monkey bars on her shirt, a coconut (the top circle-looking thing), a baby (to the right of the coconut), and Mama Mary (laying down.)  Notice the orange "frame" she colored around it - that's her latest thing - frames

Sunshine.  She drew this about 6 months ago and it's been hanging on my fridge ever since because I love it so much.  It just makes me smile every time I see it!

A girl with a bug on her shirt

We also got a beautiful surprise in the mail today from another artist dear to our hearts, Amber Pitts.  She was here this summer with the Love Good Music tour and painted this beautiful picture, upside down in three minutes during one of Jimmy's songs. It was incredible to behold!

When I got the mail, there was a package of greeting cards from Amber with beautiful watercolor depictions of Pope Francis and Mother Teresa.  I really want to put pictures of them on here, but I really don't want to spoil anything for her either, so unfortunately for now, you'll just have to imagine them.  The painting of Mother Teresa is titled "Peace Begins With a Smile" and Mother Teresa just exudes joy and love.  The painting of Pope Francis perfectly captures his humble, loving spirit.  Oh goodness they're wonderful.  If you're looking for beautiful cards to mail out for any reason, I would highly recommend getting in touch with Amber (comment here and I'll put you in touch with her.)  You would be supporting a beautiful young woman's gift!  We are so blessed to have this beautiful artist as a role-model for our beautiful little artist!

Baptized in Christ

Today we celebrated the Baptism of our nephew and Godson, Hayden!!

Cousins and best friends, Hayden & Ira

Father Andy had all the kids' attention as he explained the significance of water being used for Baptism

Baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit

Anointed with the Oil of Chrism

The AWESOME book we found for him.  I think he likes it!

Hayden, may God bless you and keep you close to His heart today and always!!

 

Tooth Fairy

Soo... I may or may not be a terrible mother who forgot for like a month... or more (I've honestly lost track it's been so long) to "tooth fairy" Ira's last tooth he lost.  He has for several months known that I am the tooth fairy (He even told Andy, "Dad, did you know Mom is the Tooth Fairy?!")  but, just like with Santa Claus (who he bluntly told RUBY was fake this year... thanks a lot...) confuses me with how exactly that works out in his big honkin' brain.  He does this thing where he still acts like he believes.  And he's good at it.  Too good.  So much so that I don't really think he's acting.  Because I'll unapologetically admit the kid can't lie to save his life so I don't think he could  so convincingly pull off "fake believing."  Does that make any sense?   Because it doesn't for me.... I don't know what reality he has created for himself where he knows, in fact, that his parents are aforementioned mythical figures, but then still wholeheartedly lives as though they are real... I don't know... it boggles my mind.

Sooooooo...... anyway... He finally decided last night (after he had to have a tooth pulled at the dentist yesterday) that he was going to write a note to the tooth fairy.

And the tooth fairy, having an affinity for imaginary worlds herself, left him this note back:

He was ecstatic.  And said not one word about it being from me... mind. blown.

Then tonight when he went to bed, he wrote her another note:

Oh... My HEART!!!  What a doll!  I'm rather enjoying this fun little conversation with my sweet son!  

To be continued...

My Girl

We were out of milk this morning (and Ira and Ruby always always have cold cereal/milk for breakfast), so I got up early to make some muffins for the kiddos for breakfast.  I hadn't been up 15 minutes when Ruby came bouncing in all mussy-headed.  She is just about the cutest thing ever when she wakes up.  With a lot of my time being consumed teaching Ira during the day, I kind of cherish the mornings when she wakes up early, even if it does infringe on my "me time."  So she got to help me make muffins!  I used to be really good about letting Ira help me in the kitchen, but with Ruby it seems like I'm always "too busy" or "in a hurry" or "not in the mood to deal with the mess."  I really need to work on that.  She loves to help!

When Ira got up, he wanted nothing to do with my muffins... hmph... and made himself cinnamon toast for breakfast instead... little stinker...

Then today was one of those days where neither of us was really.... hmm... focused?  I guess that would be the word for it?  We just weren't very in sync.  I was tired... He was... unfocused?  Yeah, I think that's probably a good description of the combination.  So it took him forever to do things and it felt even longer to me because I was tired and just wanted him to finish.  We got it done, but it wasn't necessarily pretty. Then we went and threw our route of 800 papers.  It also was not pretty but it got done.  (The combination of heat blowing full blast to keep the car warm and two windows down with 30 degree air blowing in and the stop/go/turn, etc. of throwing papers this time of year makes all 3 of us a little queasy by the time we're finished.)   The house was a wreck when we got home, but a couple focused hours of cleaning up/putting stuff away and it has returned to some semblance of decency.  Pretty much today was just one of those days we pat ourselves on the back for surviving, get to bed as early as we can, and thank God that tomorrow is a fresh, new day!