July/August is, I think, one of my busiest months of the year. I have the honor (maybe responsibility is a better word) of celebrating three birthdays in a row. First comes my husbands, 8-days later my youngest son’s, and the 8-days after that, my eldest son’s birthday. Planning isn’t my strongest point. I am embarrassed to say that every year their birthdays sneak up on me.

My husband and I went shopping for a new television just days before his birthday. We had in our minds that we would look at 40″-42″ LCD flatscreens… That was all we had budget for… However, my husband being a techno geek kept perusing all the flatscreens… finally getting to the 46″ LCDs… The more time we lingered, the more he decided for himself that he really liked the 46″ screen. The sales rep even showed us how we could get a “special” deal with that particular model screen plus a Blu-ray dvd player… AND that nice shiny PlayStation 3 game sole too.

Oh heck! Who am I fooling? I wanted it just as badly as he did! We kept looking at each other trying to see who was going to be the family safety net. You know, the one between the two who actually has a brain that says, “Honey, we just don’t have the money!” Yeah. Well, we both played “devil’s advocate” very well. I finally looked at my husband and said, “Happy Birthday, Honey!” and “Merry Christmas!”

We came home that night with a 46″ flatscreen, Blu-ray DVD player, and a bundled PlayStation 3. We set up the TV that night and the following morning, I became impatient. You see we got the game console for our boys whose birthdays were coming up in a short time. So that morning, we called the boys upstairs and we were very serious… like they were in trouble… *grin* I said, “Boys, we got you a ‘together’ gift this year. It is the only gift you’ll get from us this year, except for going out to dinner, but you have to find it.” So they began their treasure hunt.

Of course, my oldest son went right for the closet… DUH! What parent doesn’t hide gifts in their closet? So, they find the game console and all the controllers, cords, etc. I sat waiting to hear their response because I know that what they really wanted was a XBox 360… but my husband is NOT a Microsoft person. He is UNIX/Linux all the way. We also didn’t like that Microsoft charges for online game play whereas Sony doesn’t. The sales rep there also told us that there are other problems with XBox 360 that he experienced too… so with all this our decision was made.

When our boys found their treasure, they realized they didn’t care that it was a PS3. All they saw were the games in the bundle and that did if for them.

I say all this to share the grand finale of this weekend. We invited cousins and friends over for swimming, cake, ice cream, and gaming. It was a lot of fun, well, if you like 102 degree heat.

When my oldest turned 13 a couple years ago,  he requested that for his birthday he be allowed to stay up all night and not have to go to bed. So, we told him that would be fine… Well, this is the year for our youngest. He turned 13 and he had the same request. So, we allowed them both to have friends over for an over-nighter and they would be allowed to stay up all night. There were only 2 rules. 1.) Don’t leave the house and 2.)Don’t wake the adults. Break either of those rules and to bed you go.

Of course, as “mom” I can hear most everything while I sleep. If my kids make a noise, I am up… I woke several times hearing footsteps going up and down the stairs. I heard whispers… But, I could tell they were really trying to be quiet. They were determined to stay up all night.

We woke at about 10 am this morning to find my youngest in his bed fast asleep. My oldest was alone downstairs still gaming and their friends had already gone home. (They live next door.) Apparently both my children felt that 10 am was good enough and they were going to “nap.” Of course, I was so tired… I don’t think I slept too well.

Now, birthdays are done… (well, one more is on its way, but we’ve done the celebrating). I have held to my word and only bought the one gift for the both of them. I am proud of myself there. However, we did take all our old PlayStation 2 games, console, controllers, cables, etc to a game store and traded it all in for store credit. Now our boys have $139 of store credit that they are using toward new games for their new ‘toy.’

It’s sad really… My mother, my cousin, my brother, all of them plan out birthdays to the enth degree… they even take pictures and make it all so very fun… but me, I don’t think I got to that end of the gene pool.

Well, I do hope all three of my ‘men’ had a fabulous birthday even though I am not a party planner.

– More later

Technorati Tags: Personal Note

I have issues with my computers.

You see, I have two computers that are mine. My desktop computer is primarily for personal and school use. I do all our home school stuff & checkbook on it. Then I have my laptop that I use for my business.

My Laptop is about 3 years old… the hard drive is filling up fast. Yes, I have an external drive for back ups but still … things are running slowly now. Normally, I would wipe everything and reload Windows, but that seems to be complicated because it’s a Dell Inspiron & it comes with manufacturer disks that seem to be “Dell” proprietary. I don’t have time to sit and sort through all that & I no longer have Dell Support to do it for me.

My desktop has parts that are old and others that aren’t so old. We built it up ourselves. It has been really nice… but I now have critical issues with it, which scare me. The original problem was that I was getting no video feed to the monitor. Sometimes it worked & sometimes it didn’t.  If the machine was shut off for a time & then restarted we could boot up fine. But if the machine was left on for too long, video would go bye-bye & I would be left powering down without Windows help. So, basically doing a cold boot. Not fun!

Anyway, we started thinking maybe we needed a new monitor… So we get one, but now we get the following message:

“Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
<Windows root>\system32\hal.dll.
Please re-install a copy of the above file.”

Great! Yet another issue! Yeah, well this one could be because of the powering down cold… OR it could be a virus…

Well, I do know how to fix this error, if its not a virus. I’ve had to do it before. However, you have to be able to get to a command line prompt. I am not able to boot into Safe Mode either… because hal.dll is either missing or corrupt. Ugh!

The only other thing I can do is load my Windows XP CD to run the Restore/Repair option.

Now, I have to go into my CMOS & changed the boot order so I can boot from CD.  I put my CD in & boot up, but after a very long time of running through all the set up files I finally get to the screen that allows me to hit the “R” to Restore. I get the beginning screen…

… but my command line prompt NEVER showed up. I let it sit, thinking maybe it is just slow… No, it just won’t load. So, I reboot again. Nothing! Not even my CMOS prompt. So, now I am wondering if,

1. Maybe the video card is fried
2. Maybe my machine is overheated
3. Maybe it needs a thorough cleaning
4. Maybe there’s a virus

Well, we’ve cleaned the machine, checked all the fans, everything seems to be o.k. there. I can’t check for viruses until I can get the machine to boot from CD…. So the only other thing I can think of is the video card is toast. So, now we’re off to buy more hardware.

I’ll have to update this story after we find another video card.

– More later.

Technorati Tags: Computers, Windows XP

So much has happened over the past month. People ask why I don’t blog… I have been so busy trying to unpack our home AND work on Christmas. There just hasn’t been a lot of time.

My parents drove from northern California in their RV about 3 weeks ago. My brother and his family have been great hosts for my parents as they enjoy looking for a house to move into. I only wish I could have helped with their accommodations. I know that my brother and his family had an incredibly busy month… First, they housed us for a couple of days before we could actually move here to our new home, then his inlaws came for a welcomed stay before they left for Texas, and finally our parents came for the Christmas/New Years holiday. (I think I’ll leave my brother and his family alone for a while now.)

I love to take my time picking out gifts for my family and friends, but this year I couldn’t do that. First off, our house was in complete disarray. (It still is, but it is getting better.) Making sure we had beds to sleep on and clothes to wear was very important.

Finding adequate shopping spots wasn’t difficult, just getting there was. I became very dependent on my cell phone’s GPS and Google Maps. That posed another problem… driving with one hand on the steering wheel and the other holding my phone to view the map… Oh my! Tucson is incredibly large. I have never seen so many MALLS! There is the Tucson Mall, Foothills Mall, El Con Mall, Park Place Mall, and then there is the Mall just west of the I-19 corridor that I can NEVER remember it’s name. Needless to say I don’t lack for shopping!

Then there is all this dang construction! Not just on the freeway, which is bad enough, but then there is construction either at the Malls or around the Malls, which makes for some interesting driving!

Anyway, I digress.

It has been so many years since we have been NEAR family, it became difficult to know what to get for them. (I am still not done shopping either!) I am a firm believer in GETTING gift cards. I love them. I know, I know… Gift cards say, “I didn’t know what to get you, so you find something for yourself that you like.” Yep… that is what I have become, a gift card giver. (It’s also an excellent way to stay on budget.) However, when you are trying to tell a family member that has been distanced for a very long time that you love them and care about them, gift cards don’t work! So, I did do some shopping with my sister in law who was able to shed some light on the subject… thanks Cher.

Well, for the most part, the holidays were very nice. We watched movies, sat in a hot tub, watched football, and the kids got to play XBox 360 with there cousins.

Now the parents are home safely and the new year has begun. It is time for me to get my head back into business. Even though I have been working on business stuff over this last month, it hasn’t been as dedicated as usual. With personal stuff out of the way, now I can begin getting my head back into the game.

Have a happy and prosperous new year!

More later…

Technorati Tags: Personal Note

I keep myself incredibly busy, with homeschooling our boys by day and web design all other hours, I hardly have time for me. This really has never been a problem because I really do love what I do.

My two boys and my husband are very involved in Boy Scouts and recently had a camporee scheduled where they would campout for two nights. I thought to myself that this might be an excellent time for me to push away from my desk and fly away. My best friend had extended an invitation to my family to come to her city for an enjoyable time visiting a Museum/Civil War era spectacular … Since the boys couldn’t come, I took a look into JUST ME going!

I was amazed to find there was 4 or 5 days I could spare, there was availability to fly out on the days I wanted and EVERYONE, including my husband were giving me the boot to leave! So I did.

I did things like go and get a manicure and a pedicure… I NEVER DO THAT… too girly for me… but my girl friend enjoyed it too. It was relaxing and addictive… I think I want to do it again!

The sad part, and I did tear up on this.. was leaving. I didn’t want to leave. It was very fun and very relaxing to be in my ol’ stomping grounds!

I do want to say to my friends in Boise, Thank you for such an enjoyable and peaceful visit!! I loved it and hope I can do it again sometime!

More later…

Heidi

Technorati Tags: Downtime, Personal Note, Vacation