Monday, July 7, 2014

Scooby – Want to Go Outside…

Here is what I like to call the Scooby dance. 

When he wants to go outside he stands at the door and cuts little circles.  I shot this tonight but it’s not his best work.

New Computer…

Call me my own personal Geek Squad, but my computer blew up.  I took it to Best Buy and they did a diagnostic on it and the hard drive was dying with no way to fix it.  The best I can tell is that it was struck by lightning when we had the power surges last week.  I didn’t have it plugged into a surge protector.  Lesson learned the hard way…kind of…this is the 2nd time it’s happened to me!

I took it apart by myself like MacGyver instead of paying the Best Buy guys.  I replaced the hard drive and was surprised at how easy it was.  I was putting the restore disc back on and finishing up when the battery started beeping loudly.  It beeped a couple of times then the whole thing ended up blowing up again. 

So, I’m blogging from a new computer.  We decided to stop the bleeding and just buy a new one.  Luckily, we had a small insurance policy on it, so the cost of a new one was partially paid for.  I highly recommend this to anyone who has a Homeowner’s Policy.  I added a Personal Articles Policy to it and it cost me about $25.00 a year.  Money well spent.

I debated on a Mac, but just can’t make the leap.  I’m sure I would like it, but I’m a PC girl.  I have a PC at work and was afraid it would be too much of a change at home to switch to a Mac.  Millions of people do it everyday, but I didn’t think I was ready to be one of them.  The new computer is very sleek and slim and it’s got the touch screen and it’s really nice.  Liking it a lot.  Thank you Bill Gates.

One of my friends at work told me about a program to help with Blogging.  I loaded it but couldn’t get it to work with Blogger.  After about 8 hours of off and on trying, I finally figured it out this morning.  I say I figured it out…I changed a bunch of setting and tried it again.  It worked.  I actually have no idea what ACTUALLY made the difference, but something I did in settings changed it and made it possible to Blog from Live Writer.  I’m a hap, hap, happy girl.

Hopefully this makes it easier to blog more often. 

Testing a New Way to Blog…

Found a great new program to help me with blogging, just working out the kinks. 

A test post…

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Saturday, July 5, 2014

Happy Birthday America...

Another July 4th has come and gone.  What a fun day!

We had a BBQ over here with the following revelers:  Momma, Daddy, Aunt Mimi, Uncle Matt and William. 

We started the day with the kids in the blow-up pool.  They loved it.  Erin discovered she could take off running from about 10 feet away and dive over the side to land on her face.  Yes, her face.  She did this over and over again.  William does whatever Erin does, so he was trying it too.  Unfortunately, she has the height to do it, but he didn't have the clearance.  His attempts ended up with a run up to the pool and either a bounce off the side or a dead stop and then he would sort of lean in and fall.  It was hysterical.

Tommy fixed brisket and ribs.  If you've never had the pleasure of either, you'll have to come over.  My man is absolutely the best BBQ'er I've ever met.  His brisket melts in your mouth and the ribs are to die for.  I don't even like meat on the bone, but can polish them off like a dog. 

We moved inside to eat and then the kids played in the Play Room for a while.  Of course, what day would be complete without taking the "Tractor" (Gator) and the Mustang cars out for a spin.  These are Erin's 2 Powerwheels.  The Mustang is very fast and Erin only likes to drive it in top speed.  She literally spins the tires peeling out when she gets in.  William was game to ride along, but she ended up dragging him a couple of times.  She took off before he was all the way in.  Apparently, he moves too slow. William eventually got tired of shotgun and moved to the Gator.  He did really well for his first time at the wheel of such a Beast.

I started the homemade ice cream and the party moved to the backyard again.  It was delicious if I do say so myself.  While we were out there eating, the thunder and lightning started.  It was sprinkling and the lightning blew over so we started popping fireworks in the cul-de-sac.  It's against the Home Owners rules, but everyone in the cul-de-sac does it.  We were all out there popping them.  Anyone who knows Uncle Matt, knows he has a fireworks addiction.  The bigger the better.  He would light one, then our neighbor David would light one.  It was fun.  We had double the firepower because we were doing them all together.

William didn't much care for the fireworks and he went inside.  Erin on the other hand was fearless.  She was running up to the fireworks and had to be stopped multiple times.  Pawpaw about had a heart attack and had to go inside Erin was making him so nervous.  It worked out well.  He stayed inside with William and the rest of us were popping up a storm.  I tried to snap some pictures but I was trying to do it while I was watching Erin too.  Not an easy task.