Christie is happy!

Yesterday my Annie returned to my lap. I was so anxious for her to load up so that I could see if my files were still there. The anticipation was horrid and her loading process seemed to take FOREVER (even though I know it never takes log).

After what seemed like 10 mins (it wasn't), the screen brightened and there on the background of colorful beach rocks sat the one file I had most wanted to see....

The manuscript for Time For Death!!!

Yep, all of my files are still right where I left them, fully intact. I was so filled with joy that I immediately grabbed the closest flash drive and copied the file (and it's accompanying notes file) right on over to it. That mess won't be happening to me again. No way! No how!

Whew!

What was funny is that since my laptop had been out of commision for 10 days, all of my programs that regularly update themselves when wild as soon as it was connected to the internet. My antivirus, spyware, firewall, etc. all wanted to update at the same time. The Windows Defender was chastising me because there hadn't been a scan run for 10 days. GASP!! LMAO!

All is well now though. Annie is running smoothly. All of the programs have updated and ran their scans (soooo sorry Windows Defender). And I'm happy in the knowledge that my book hasn't been lost. As soon as Christmas is over I'll be back to work on Time For Death with a newfound urgency to get it finished. I love the story and can't wait to stand back and say, "Awww, even after all the trouble and scares, it's done!"

While I'm thinking about it, I must say that the Dell Support was superb during all of this. The people I spoke with, both online and over the phone, were so helpful, kind, and knowledgeable. And alk about fast! My laptop reached their repair facility on Tuesday and by Wednesday they'd shipped it back to me and it arrived home on Friday. Talk about quick!

Thank you Dell! I would have preferred that the motherboard NOT have gone out, but I'm so thankful that it was repaired so quickly. And I'll say it again... Thank goodness for warranties! LOL!

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone! I hope that Santa brings you everything that you deserve. Or at least a little of what you desire.
;-)

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Annie Update

Good morning everyone! It's a cool, dreary, rainy day here in north Georgia. I swear it never seems to stop raining here these days. I *think* we had a few hours of sunshine one day last week, but my mood was so dreary that I hardly noticed.

Well, as I sit here typing this, my beloved Annie is now in Houston, Texas. Very far from home. So now that they have Annie, it will be 5-8 business days for them to fix her and send her back home to me. I'm still being caustiously optimistic that she'll come back with all my files safe and sound. I really, really, REALLY do not want to rewrite the entire manuscript for Time For Death. I wasn't even finished with it, but it was getting close.

On another topic... With just over a week until Christmas, I've already been bombarded by the chants and pleading of, "Can I open my present? Please let me open my present! I can't wait another week to open my present!" And those are just from Tim!!! LOL! He's a 32 year old child! LOL.

The girls only have 4 days of school this week, meaning that they'll be home with me Friday when I'm having to do my last minute Christmas dinner shopping. UGH! I don't know why they couldn't keep then in school for Friday too. LOL! They will be out until January 6th. I'll be finding white hairs before they go back. LOL.

Okay then. That's all for today. I'm off to watch the Prison Break from last night that's sitting in my DVR and obsess over how soon Annie will come home. Have a great day, where ever you are!

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Morning Ya'll!

Yes I used ya'll up there. Did you forget that I'm a Georgia gal? LOL!

I thought I'd stop in while the little ne is eating her bowl of oatmeal and before I have to start a hectic day of errands. I have to go drop Annie off at the FedEx office since it was too late in the day for her to go out yesterday after I picked the girls up at school. So there was really no point in me making a trip to the next town when it wouldn't go out until today anyway. And I'm always over there on Fridays anyway.

So Annie will be leaving on her journey to a new her! No, she's not my only internet access, Sabre! I'd be in utter hell if I didn't have any access at all. UGH! No, I have a 5 yr old HP desktop (which I'm on right now) that still holds up, albeit a little slowly. I'm just not online as much with it because I hate sitting at the desk all day. At least with Annie I could just pick her up and go to the bedroom, or plop her down on the kitchen counter while I cook, or just curl up in the corner of the couch and chat with friends. It's kind of hard to do that on the old desktop. LOL!

Aw well. I'm more resigned to the fact that this is just one of those things that I'll have to move past and hope for the best. I documented everything under creation to make sure that Annie comes back safely and repaired. Hopefully all of my stuff will still be in there. I even wrote on the instruction sheet for Dell, "Please, please, please do NOT format the harddrive." Hopefully that's understandable and clear enough for them to know NOT to do that. LOL!

Okay, today's errands are:

1. FedEx Office
2. Bank Deposit
3. Buy Groceries
4. Get Gas
5. Go to the Post Office
6. Buy a gift for my sister's boyfriend (I forgot about him last week. Oops!)

And I have to get all of that done before noon; preferrably before 11am. Then after I pick the girls up a school at 2:30 (after sitting in line for an hour), I need to get home in a hurry, have the oldest clean up and change clothes and have her over at the 4-H office by 4pm. She's going on a "field trip" to a big Christmas play/show in Chattanooga and won't be back until nearly midnight tonight. Hopefully I can convince Tim to go pick her up when it's time. LOL!

Of course I'd already be out on the road if little miss would hurry up with the blasted oatmeal. Now my stomach is growling, so maybe I should eat something too. I'll be fnished before her, I'm sure. LOL!!

I hope you all have a fabulous Friday and enjoy your weekend. :-)

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Update about yesterday

Well, you all know that I had a hell of a day yesterday. Luckily, even though it's still pouring down ran here, today seems to be a bit better.

I talked to Dell tech support yesterday, did all the tests they asked me to, and it was determined that the laptop's motherboard has gone bad and needs to be replaced. Sooooo, they are sending me a box to ship the laptop to them in and then it'll be 5-8 buisness days after they receive it to fix and return it to me. So basically, I'm looking about 2 weeks without my baby. *Sniff, Sniff*

I'm hoping that all of my files will return in perfect condition since the problem is just the motherboard and not the harddrive. My computer savvy friends (or their husands) have said that my information *should* be safe. We'll see in 2 weeks.

In the past 6 months with my laptop--who we'll call Annie--I've been more productive, more accessible, happier, busier, and all around a better writer. Yes, you guessed it, I'm addicted to Annie and HATE having to sit at the desktop computer now. Annie makes working in bed much easier than the old, slow, 6 year old HP sitting in front of me right now. Blah!

Farewell Annie! Hopefully you'll return happier and healthier than you are now. And fingers crossed that all of my files will still be intact when you return to my lap. :-)

As for the van, Tim came home from work and fixed it for me. The stupid belt use to slip off anytime I hit a puddle of water, but Tim replaced the tensioner and that hadn't happened in about 3 years... until yesterday. UGH! It's a '97 Dodge Grand Caravan that's about to hit 180K miles. I'm thinking it's about time for a new one. It's been a good one, but I'm tired of it and it keeps needing more and more work over the year. Yep, time for something else so poor Sally (the van) can rest. LOL!

Okay, that's it for today. I'm off to watch a Mickey Mouse Christmas Carol with the 3 year old on this rainy, dreary day, and wait for the FedEx guy to show up with my Dell shipping box. *Sniff, Sniff*

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Having a bad day

Yes, it's only 8:30 in the morning, but I've already had a day's worth of crap all around me! I'm so mad, so disappointed, and so upset that I could cry. Well, actually I've already done that.

Last night my brand new, six month old, Dell laptop--the one that contains my whole life--shut down without warning and will not come back on. I've done everything I know to do, and even everything the Dell website says to do. Nothing has worked.

And yes, for those of you wondering, the entire manuscript for Time For Death is trapped in there. Family pictures, hundreds of favorite links, all my friends' email addresses, music, two e-books I've been waiting to find the time to read... all of it in there with no way to access it.

I'm just devastated at the moment. On the upside, Time For Death is so fresh in my mind that I can rewrite it with little difficulty. It won't be word for word, of course, but if the need arises then that's what I'll do. That's just a lot of work.

Anyway, I have a ticket into Dell Tech Suppot, but if have to send it in to be serviced who knows when I'll get it back. :-(

And as if all that wasn't bad enough, it's been storming so bad all night that the road in front of the girls' school was flooded just enough to knock the belt off my van this morning. I had to send the girls off across the school's parking lot with a umbrella while I attempted to make it home with no power steering and the van running solely off the battery. Thank goodness for a great battery and living only 5 minutes away from school.

You really find out just how strong you are when you have to steer a van with no power steering.

I'm having a bad day. Tim is on his way home from work to save me from it, but I doubt even he can help with more than just the van. I'm now in the most sour mood I've been in in a long time. Heaven help anyone who crosses me today.

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I love it!

Yep, my new laptop came yesterday and this thing is awesome! Having the old one certainly makes me appreciate this one all the more. I can't believe how fast it is and I didn't even get a big one. It's crazy.

This one has Windows Vista in it, so that takes a little getting use to. But it's not that much different from XP that's on my desktop. I expected something terrible to use with all of the negative reviews out there for Vista. But I don't see the problem. Could be that I've only been using it for less than 24hrs... LOL!

It took me about an hour to get all of my files, images, favorites, email addys, and book drafts moved over to the new one. Then I had to clean out the old one for the girls to play with. I set up their email addys and then let them add all of their favorites themselves. They were ecstatic. LOL!

Oh, and the hubby has already started asking to use it to track his Nascar races on Sundays. BLAH to him! He's not touching it for a while. LOL!

So I'm off for now. I just thought I'd stop in and update about the new laptop. I see many days of writing ahead for this lovely purple computer. :-)