It's so d-e-a-d

I got the call today. There was nothing he could do.... the infection was throughout the operating system.... sniff. It's a complete re-install. waaaaaahh! So many hours reloading software, I have to find disks, I have lost a week's worth of work files, and many more weeks of photographs. EEEK! At least I know I sent my sister a disk of the England pictures.

Shaw secure let me down. They didn't block it, they didn't find it, they couldn't clean it.

So I am switching to the pricey security software that my geek recommends. For the 5 computers it will just have to be considered a necessary expense.

I feel like I have been robbed, violated, my trust in Google is shattered, and my faith in my own techno-intelligence challenged and defeated. There is no lower feeling for the web... I want to give up on the web entirely at this point.

I won't know what I've lost until I start loading stuff. And I won't be doing that until I get back from T's brother's up North.

I hate computers today. REALLY HATE THEM.

Now what?

I don't know what happened.... one minute I was happily plunking on the computer, the next minute I had pop-up after pop-up after pop-up and I couldn't go to websites I wanted, and I couldn't delete the cookies or browsing history, there were shortcuts and other nonsense (sem very rude) on my desktop and my security software told me it was cleaning a virus... EVERY 20 SECONDS!!!!!

Well the security software provider couldn't help me. Bless them they were with me for a good hour trying to sort it. It's some sort of nasty thing I tell you!

I am presently typing from a different computer.... one that doesn't have my work on it..... ((GULP)).

I have an emergency call into a computer guy now... wish me luck!

Fence ho!

I had a client that ended his business owing me a few hundred dollars. He was in a tight spot so I told him we'd find a way to settle it and not to worry. He felt terrible about it and said he would make it up to me one day. Then he started a fencing business.... and the day to repay has arrived. Hooray for me, I am getting a fence between me and my crazy neighbour.

I want a tall, obnoxious, block-out-the-sky fence on that side.

But T would be happy with a 3 foot chain link one.

We will compromise with a moderately tall, wood fence that keeps the neighbour's yard inaccessible to my "destructive, delinquent boys" (tongue in cheek, acid sarcasm) and yet still offers some sight-lines down the road.

As soon as the fencers rolled up and started poking around for the property boundary pins, Mrs. Crazy waited in her carport until he put a foot on her side (literally to catch is balance while looking for the pin). She swooped down and gave him heck and told him how terrible we are.... and how awful our kids are, but he came to our defense saying he has known us for years and I have been very generous and helpful. (Yay!)

He came to an agreement over the property line with her and even shook her hand at the end, so I guess we have "permission" now. Bloody-Crazy-Woman.

The men were VERY careful about keeping all debris and themselves off her side, thankfully.

We have bedrock RIGHT close to the surface here, so a jackhammer had to be rented. And it went ALL DAY to dig 4 holes.

Cami LOVED all the action around the house yesterday: The noise! The dust! The heavy-duty power tools! And his excitement and willingness to help was great... he cleared debris, handed them tools, brought them water and even pitched in occassionally ... I was so proud!

All that progress AND my darling friend from Victoria came to visit me for a couple hours. It was marvellous to just sit and talk about sensible things and be in each others company with the jackhammer pounding away in the background.

It was a good day.

Another Victory!

First off I want to send the warmest happiest wishes to my dear friend Wolfgrrrl and her brand new baby boy! Many happy, healthy thoughts flowing your way my friend! I wish you good sleeps, good feeds and hopefully a sweet, helpful older sibling for your bundle of joy.

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And now for the less important meat of my post. I have turned the 3 computer towers under my desk into 2-- one is my working one (no one is to touch but me) and one is the "play" computer, a vintage 2003 Windows machine. That is the one that the kids can play their learning games with and cruise the net. It took about 20 minutes of fiddling and cleaning to get the hard drive out of the old Sony and be the slave on the Dell (with my father-in-law's help), and there it is.... tidier and easier to handle under my desk. Less cables, less speakers and no lost data.

OF COURSE I should have though ahead a little and properly uninstalled all the programs that were duplicated so that the hard drive would be more empty. Now I have to fiddle for a while removing stuff. And I'm not entirely sure how to get XP off the old Sony's drive either... I may have to copy all the documents then format it, but that idea makes me nervous.

There is the added bonus of a nicely vacuumed out tower too! WOAH NELLY -- there was 8 years of dust in that thing and it was NASTY.

Thank you Universe!

I wanted a new bed for my youngest. I have a loathing for loft beds now after many years of scaling ladders to change sheets (daily --until recently -- for 8 years straight with the older son). Sure the extra floorspace sounds appealing under the loft bed, but the reality is that it's an imposing piece of furniture -in your face- when you walk into the room. I thought an ideal replacement would be a mate's bed. The kind with drawers under it.

So the hunt was on!

I tried all the usual used-online classified ad sites, and it all seemed over-priced and just plain ugly to me. and choices were limited.

New?


Ikea offers one similar to this: For $500, and then there is the added complication and expense of going to Ikea (well over $100 with the truck and food etc...) But I LIKED that one!

I asked my step-dad if he could build something like it.... he said if I drew up some plans he may be able to. HOORAY!

Of course, ONE sheet of the birch plywood is $50, and there would be several involved (and hardware, and paint, and time)

I am feeling very cheap at the moment. So I put it out to the Universe that I want a mates bed, with DEEEEEEEP drawers for less than $100. (very specific request)

Well as it happens I had to let go of a computer monitor. It still worked, but the thrift store wouldn't take a 15" CRT (even if it was black) and advised me to take it to the recycling depot.

A total pain in the butt -- clear across town and always a gong show of disorder and ugliness. But I went.

And boy am I glad I did!

Handing the monitor to a great young man, I noticed a nice rolling drawer, deep, birch fronted and clean. Hmmm..... if there were more of those, maybe I could cut down Cam's loft, get rid of the rails and ladder and MAKE a mates bed? So I dug deeper into the chaotic piles of furniture parts and found two more drawers, some bed slats and the coordinating head and footboard!
Frabjious day!
I called the manager over and she said I could have the lot for ten bucks.
YAY!!!!
I was still hesitant, after all there were no RAILS -- maybe my stepdad could make the missing pieces? But I dug just a little farther afield and found a big stack of bed rails INCLUDING the missing ones to the mates bed!
AND the manager knew where the baggy of hardware was
AND it was all $10!!!

I ran home, got the truck and came back to collect my spoils.

I got an Ikea bed after all.... and it had not been rained on or abused too badly at the depot yet (it must have been very recently dropped off) The drawers are super deep, the parts were easy to clean, everything fits.... happy me.

I asked, and the Universe provided.

And as a wonderful footnote, I found someone that really wants a loft bed for her son.... and she's willing to pay a decent amount for it. (She has to wait for her student loan to come in so I'm not holding my breath at this point)

Next I need a low, white bookshelf......

too darn hot

Hands swollen, feet throbbing, brain made of slugs.... ugh.

I am a heat wimp.

Anything over 27 C degrees (80.6 F) and I am a complete blob. And today is well over 30 (86 F).
Wimpy wimpy wimpy.

We have at least until Sunday, and it won't be cooling off enough at night. I may sleep in the laundryroom tonight..... subterranian coolness.... sweet sweet coolness.

(Ya, I know we were whining about how wet and cold it was just a couple weeks ago, is there no happy medium?)

PS I went and saw Sex in the City 2 with my sister last night. It was a glittery, mindless romp of girl-bonding fun, I was exactly in the right mood for it. They tried to throw in a few meaningful messages about women's voices, marriage and motherhood, but I'm pretty sure that was just to justify the over-the-top wardrobe and shoes. 3 words that kept coming up "voice", "vintage" and "sparkle".... oh and hormones.

More success

My office looks much better today thanks to me waking up kind of antsy. I just couldn't sit still at my desk for long, so I found myself running around putting things away. I wanted to tackle computer clutter in particular with a little bit of success. I had originally wanted to see if I could condense my 3 towers into 2 but I couldn't GET to them with my desk so full of stacks!

In putting the stacks away I tripped over piles on the floor so I dove into those too. I consolidated all my software disks into ONE area, got rid of some to equipment I no longer owned and games that don't work on newer windows platforms (pet peeve alert!!!). Also finally recycled most of my hardware boxes (the warantees had expired, why did I keep the boxes?) And old computer books that were too outdated to reference.

WOW!

I should have taken a before and after picture. Though I didn't get through it 100%, I did make a significant difference.

My day is full of meetings today, but I am excited to continue with the computer stuff (and maybe be more productive at my desk too).

Happy Birthday to my House!

It was 11 years ago to this day that we got occupancy for this house of ours!

Since we got this home (even though it was a new build), there have been a whole lot of changes.... let me list them for you here.

1. Flooring in the foyer (it was bare concrete for several months) - 10.5 years ago
2. Powder room in the basement - 10 years ago
3. landscaping (turning the clay-mud into grass and landscaping tie levels) - 10 years ago
4. office downstairs (with built in bookshelf) - 9.5 years ago
5. built in shelving in the basement - 9.5 years ago
6. gas fireplace in the livingroom - 8 years ago
7. fencing for the backyard - 8 years ago
8. much bigger back deck - 6 years ago


*my usable back yard as seen from my accessable back yard (WAAAAY up) '04



9. mezzanine for the garage - 6 years ago
10. laminate flooring in Steve's room (bye bye stinky carpet) - 5 years ago
11. familyroom in the basement (that project nearly broke our marriage) - 5.5 years ago
12. hardwood floors in the livingroom - 4 years ago
13. beadboard and valance lighting in the kitchen - 4 years ago
14. built in eating nook for the kitchen - 4 years ago
15. Gazebo for the back deck - 4 years ago (it was a big $$ year)
16. new kitchen faucet - 1.5 years ago
17. new vanity sink for the main bathroom - last year
18. VEGGIE GARDEN! - last year
19. master bedroom floor gets cork flooring - this year
20. 1/3 the retaining wall for the north slope - this year
21. painting nearly every wall.... room by room over the years.

We have certainly made it unrecognizable from the spec-home we originally bought. It's ours, through and through. And there is still more we'd like to complete... (finish the laundryroom, tile for the bathrooms, side yard, access to the very back of the property, fence along the North side.....) Craziness. By the time we get through all that we'll probably need to start replacing things like the roof.

This house has seen some real love: Steve doesn't remember any house but here, Cameron was born here, our great old cat is buried here, we raised 2 puppies here, and 10 happy wedding anniversaries (and counting), all the big family Christmas dinners, family birthdays and so many unbirthday celebrations have taken place in my back yard or kitchen. 1000's of home cooked meals (and dinner conversations), countless bedtime stories and cuddles... sweet sweet memories abound on this property.

Of course there are broken bones, broken teeth, ambulance rides, arguments, kid-conflicts, homework battles countless loads of laundry, diapers, dishes, chores, and other not so happy memories too... but really they are what make a house a home as much as the good stuff.

The neighbourhood has changed too... FOUR more houses were built on our side of the street, neighbours have had babies, neighbours have retired, graduated, moved, renovated.

Our street 4 years ago...

Our street today...It has weathered our lives quite adequately the last 11 trips around the sun... happy birthday little house!

Winning another Cluttter Battle!

I chose my clutter battle last night in a long-neglected area of my home. Tired of my music CDs piled in the wrong places, (beside my desk, on my desk beside the CD storage, on top of the CD player, in with my office papers.....) I gathered them all together with the dream of having them all near the stereo system! WHAT A CONCEPT!

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I have 2 pretty little cupboards for CD storage.... could I make them ALL fit in those? It would mean some fierce editing and not all the CDs are mine to purge.... it was a mean challenge, but I felt ready!

(CD towers I have had for over a decade)

No, it was not possible to be that ruthless. I'm sad to say I did have some over-spill. Even with the amazing advances in MP3 technology, I still like to listen to my collection every once in a while. Entire albums. So they need to be stored somewhere. (and I like the cover-jackets, so a CD binder wouldn't work for me either)

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It wasn't a complete waste of time though! I did manage to get rid of 28 CDs, I am sneaking SOME of my husband's away -- the ones I always hated and he never seems to listen to anyways. Bad me.

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The remaining ones are sorted into categories that make sense:

Rock / Blues / Jazz / Metal / Children's / Pop / Classical / Big Band / Sting / Christmas / and the biggest single category.... Annie Lennox (my fave).

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The ones that didn't fit into the towers by the stereo are now in their own tidy section of my office.... Annie Lennox has her own case and Christmas and Children's are here.

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I am not done here.... I know more will go. Spider, do you think there is a place for 28 CDs in your craigslistings -- or are CDs only a cheap novelty now??

Did you know....

They pass kids through elementarty school no matter how they think the child is doing?

It is our district's policy to never fail kids.

Though I understand the reasoning on a "be nice" level, I do feel the pressure is off the teachers to make sure the kids grasp the learning materials. There are no consequences for not learning it. My 13 year old will be entering highschool next year with weak reading, poorly legible printing (my 9 year old prints better) and not knowing where Ottawa is on the map of Canada..... I am not proud of this, not at all. ADHD or not, this is unacceptable to me. The poor boy will be getting "homeschooled" this summer.

WHEN I'm going to have TIME to homeschool may be a different matter. At the very least he needs to learn how to type this summer.... at the very least.

Not Gonna Do It

The neighbours are still decidedly mean and crazy, she went door to door yesterday talking to the rest of the neighbourhood and pointing in our direction.

If I didn't have hope that the others could see her madness, I'd worry about expecting a lynch mob any day now.

BTW: the rest of that plant fell over last night in the heavy rain... we KNOW that's what happened to it, so we are quite sure that's what happened in the first place. We accept that as truth... but I bet mad-neighbour thinks Cam snuck out of bed to crush the poor defenseless flower!

BUT we have chosen not to be chased out of our cozy situation, not right now, especially not by them.

So I will be happily continuing my decluttering to fit into THIS home.
If tempted to curse at lack of book storage, I will repeat "Suck it up buttercup, you are here to stay for a while!"