Well, the new computer isn't getting picked up today. It's ready, but the roads up on the caprock and into Amarillo are all iced over, and I'm not about to brave them for any reason. Especially since I'm such a chicken about driving in icky weather. So the computer will have to wait till later.
We should have no problems heading south however, to pick up the grandboys (and parents) in Dallas. Originally, we were only going to have the one boy for Christmas, but plans have changed, and our older son's two boys are going to be able to come for Christmas morning as well. Their dad will be flying out to work right after Christmas, but the boys will get to stay till he comes back on the weekend. The house may well be straining at the seams, but we'll have lots and lots of fun.
Wish me luck, and sanity. :)
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Dead Computer
Yep, mine finally bit the dust. It's several years old--more than several, actually, but I don't need a lot of bells and whistles. I need internet access. I need to run my word processing programs, etc. I'd like to run games, but I do have the "spare" computer in the boy's room, when he's away at uni with his bells-and-whistles supercomputer. (Not the one he leaves behind.) Anyway, I have a new one ordered, and should be able to go pick it up on Tuesday, I hope. I like the open architecture computers that I can take in and swap stuff out as needed, and have a good local company to build it for me, for a quarter of the price of the boy's supercomputer for his engineering classes.
But, this means I'll be having trouble getting online for the next little while. First, because the available computer is in the boy's room, and he's in it much of the time, and when he's not, he has a tendency to unhook the computer and take it to friends' houses to network all their computers and play vast games of ... something. (I wonder if he brought the folding tables back...) And second, by the time I get the new computer and get it all hooked up, it will be time to go pick up the grandboy at the Dallas airport. Oh, and his mom and dad too. And once the company arrives, it will expand and contract to various amounts--as various parents, in-laws, children, grandchildren, and nephews and Boy Scouts stop in for visits--all the way through New Year's. And when there are curious 2-, 4- and 5-year-olds wanting to help you on the computer...well, it's really best just to leave the poor thing turned off.
It's also really hard to write when one has lots of company and has a broken computer, so I won't be getting much of that done either. However, I did get The Eternal Rose manuscript turned in, so there's not much to be done.
If I don't stop by before next Monday, y'all have a Merry Christmas. (And a Happy Hannukah too!)
But, this means I'll be having trouble getting online for the next little while. First, because the available computer is in the boy's room, and he's in it much of the time, and when he's not, he has a tendency to unhook the computer and take it to friends' houses to network all their computers and play vast games of ... something. (I wonder if he brought the folding tables back...) And second, by the time I get the new computer and get it all hooked up, it will be time to go pick up the grandboy at the Dallas airport. Oh, and his mom and dad too. And once the company arrives, it will expand and contract to various amounts--as various parents, in-laws, children, grandchildren, and nephews and Boy Scouts stop in for visits--all the way through New Year's. And when there are curious 2-, 4- and 5-year-olds wanting to help you on the computer...well, it's really best just to leave the poor thing turned off.
It's also really hard to write when one has lots of company and has a broken computer, so I won't be getting much of that done either. However, I did get The Eternal Rose manuscript turned in, so there's not much to be done.
If I don't stop by before next Monday, y'all have a Merry Christmas. (And a Happy Hannukah too!)
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Firsts for Me
So, the fella has a meeting in Orlando, Florida. Neither one of us has been to Orlando before, so we decided to come early and play for a few days. So at the age of grandparentness, we both got to go to Disney World for the very first time. (We've never been to any Disney park before, though I did get to watch the fireworks at Disneyland from across the street once...) Anyway, since there was just the two of us, we went to Epcot and Disney/MGM parks and walked my legs off. Don't know if the fella walked his off or not, but I do know mine are gone. Well, okay, they're still attached to the body, but they are sore. Still, we had a great time, riding the rides and watching the shows. We're definitely people who like shows.
We also got to watch the space shuttle launch from the beach over in Cape Canaveral. I'm pretty sure we were in the town of Cape Canaveral and not Cocoa Beach, but it's hard to tell where one starts and the other one leaves off. The fella is a fan of NASA and space stuff, so he really, really wanted to go see it. Enough that we drove over Thursday when it was cancelled, and drove back on Saturday when it finally went up. And we did get to watch. I took pictures, which are still in the camera. Then I called the boy and told him we got to watch the shuttle, and he'd forgotten that we were going to be in Florida and was all trying to figure out how they'd moved the shuttle to west Texas... Then he was really, reallyjealous. Mostly because we got to go to Disney World without him. (neener, neener) Hey, he gets college tuition. He doesn't get Disney.
So, today the meeting starts and there are a bazillion college people running all over this hotel, and there's no room for me to get in anywhere and eat, and there's nowhere else nearby for me to go, and I'm really hungry, so I think I'm going to see if the lunch rush has finally faded, and I will take my manuscript with me to edit while I eat, because I'm not in a mood to read about the history of the Solomon Islands, and none of the novels I brought are speakin to me either. Ooh, but I did find a book I want to get--it's a history of the real Scarlet Pimpernel people (there were apparently a number of them) in the Napoleonic era. I'll have to look...
I'll blog later, if I do anything else interesting... (Aren't y'all lucky I brought my computer glasses with me so I can see the computer screen?)
We also got to watch the space shuttle launch from the beach over in Cape Canaveral. I'm pretty sure we were in the town of Cape Canaveral and not Cocoa Beach, but it's hard to tell where one starts and the other one leaves off. The fella is a fan of NASA and space stuff, so he really, really wanted to go see it. Enough that we drove over Thursday when it was cancelled, and drove back on Saturday when it finally went up. And we did get to watch. I took pictures, which are still in the camera. Then I called the boy and told him we got to watch the shuttle, and he'd forgotten that we were going to be in Florida and was all trying to figure out how they'd moved the shuttle to west Texas... Then he was really, reallyjealous. Mostly because we got to go to Disney World without him. (neener, neener) Hey, he gets college tuition. He doesn't get Disney.
So, today the meeting starts and there are a bazillion college people running all over this hotel, and there's no room for me to get in anywhere and eat, and there's nowhere else nearby for me to go, and I'm really hungry, so I think I'm going to see if the lunch rush has finally faded, and I will take my manuscript with me to edit while I eat, because I'm not in a mood to read about the history of the Solomon Islands, and none of the novels I brought are speakin to me either. Ooh, but I did find a book I want to get--it's a history of the real Scarlet Pimpernel people (there were apparently a number of them) in the Napoleonic era. I'll have to look...
I'll blog later, if I do anything else interesting... (Aren't y'all lucky I brought my computer glasses with me so I can see the computer screen?)
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Sunday Stuff
I just have...stuff...going on. Yesterday, the fella and I put up the Christmas tree. It's always a fun time, even though it was just the two of us--I think we may have waited till the boy came home to put it up last year. Anyway, we found, in a box of package decorations, a big bunch of new ornaments neither one of us remembered buying. There's a lovely "crystal" nativity, and a little boy playing "Indian", and Santa in a canoe fishing, and a bear in a canoe fishing, and Santa ice skating... It was a nice surprise, but we're still accusing each other of buying the ornaments.
Of course, putting up the tree is always preceded by moving furniture, so we have extra tables in the front entry, and chairs in weird places. Had to find places to put away tea sets and dragons and things so we could set out snowmen (they're on top of the piano, and one of them dances whenever the piano is played. He danced himself right off the piano once...) and angels and stocking holders and things. The house looks very festive...as long as no one looks into my office. Hmm. I wonder if that's why he suggested putting the Christmas tree in the corner in front of the doors to my office, instead of in front of the front bay window... Hmmmmmm.
Cute story. Thursday, the fella had to fly to Galveston, but it was snowing and snowing and he wasn't sure whether his flight would get off. He had a 7:00 p.m. flight, and kept checking all day to see if it was on time or canceled or what. Well, about 3:30 Thursday afternoon, when he checked, his flight was canceled. There was a flight at 5:15, or the next one after his was delayed till 10:30 or so. Since our town is at least an hour from Amarillo (where the airport is), he had to hop in the car and drive through the snow right away to get to the airport.
On his way out of the office, he grabbed a can of Coke (diet caffiene free, actually) to drink on the road. But it was such a tense drive, with the blowing snow and the hurry to get there, he never opened the can. The weather guys were predicting temperatures in the teens, and he didn't want the can exploding all over his car, and when he parked in the garage, the snow had blown in and made a drift in front of the parking space. So he took the can of Coke out of the car and dropped it down in the snow drift.
Friday was gorgeous, and snow melted all day. By the time he got home late Friday night, the snow had melted enough that he could see the top of the Coke can in what was left of the drift. So he picked it up and inspected it. Looked fine--no bulges, no leaks. So he popped it open and drank it on the way home. Snow drift ice chest...
So, we have the Christmas tree up. We've started wrapping stuff. Still have grandboys to shop for, and nephews (we have a LOT more nephews than nieces--and the girls are easy to please) but we're ahead of where we were last year.
And next week, I want to go over the second proposal I want to get out and see about getting it in the mail. Onward and upward. Or onward, anyway.
Of course, putting up the tree is always preceded by moving furniture, so we have extra tables in the front entry, and chairs in weird places. Had to find places to put away tea sets and dragons and things so we could set out snowmen (they're on top of the piano, and one of them dances whenever the piano is played. He danced himself right off the piano once...) and angels and stocking holders and things. The house looks very festive...as long as no one looks into my office. Hmm. I wonder if that's why he suggested putting the Christmas tree in the corner in front of the doors to my office, instead of in front of the front bay window... Hmmmmmm.
Cute story. Thursday, the fella had to fly to Galveston, but it was snowing and snowing and he wasn't sure whether his flight would get off. He had a 7:00 p.m. flight, and kept checking all day to see if it was on time or canceled or what. Well, about 3:30 Thursday afternoon, when he checked, his flight was canceled. There was a flight at 5:15, or the next one after his was delayed till 10:30 or so. Since our town is at least an hour from Amarillo (where the airport is), he had to hop in the car and drive through the snow right away to get to the airport.
On his way out of the office, he grabbed a can of Coke (diet caffiene free, actually) to drink on the road. But it was such a tense drive, with the blowing snow and the hurry to get there, he never opened the can. The weather guys were predicting temperatures in the teens, and he didn't want the can exploding all over his car, and when he parked in the garage, the snow had blown in and made a drift in front of the parking space. So he took the can of Coke out of the car and dropped it down in the snow drift.
Friday was gorgeous, and snow melted all day. By the time he got home late Friday night, the snow had melted enough that he could see the top of the Coke can in what was left of the drift. So he picked it up and inspected it. Looked fine--no bulges, no leaks. So he popped it open and drank it on the way home. Snow drift ice chest...
So, we have the Christmas tree up. We've started wrapping stuff. Still have grandboys to shop for, and nephews (we have a LOT more nephews than nieces--and the girls are easy to please) but we're ahead of where we were last year.
And next week, I want to go over the second proposal I want to get out and see about getting it in the mail. Onward and upward. Or onward, anyway.
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