Computer Funerals are Depressing!

Happy Columbus Day! It's rather early still, and I'm on Day two of my "At Least One Blog Entry a Day" Campaign. I mentally started it yesterday, and I'd like to write at least one blog entry each day for a month. I seriously doubt my abilities to focus and stay on track in attempting this goal, but I'm still going to try. If I do indeed succeed at this, I will have kind of developed a new habit, so writing in my blog will be the "normal natural" think that comes first each day. Anyway...

About a week ago, my precious computer died. You have to understand this: My computer and I, well we really have a tough bond. I spend a LOT of time on my computer every single day, and I learn all of my features and buttons to make my system work for me. So if suddenly I can't get my computer to turn on and when it does come on, the computer randomly shuts off, I start to panic. I have a zillion pictures and documents saved on my computer of ideas for projects, family photos, and random images and stories.

When I dropped my computer off at a "Computer Repair" shop in Montgomery, Alabama, I was convinced that the issues I was having were due to a loose power cord and the computer somehow wasn't getting the necessary "juice" to run. The people running the place, an older couple who looked like they retired and got bored staying at home, seemed to think that it just may be the electrical connection as well. Tighten a little bit of this and twist a little bit of that, and I should be able to expect a phone call the next day to come pick up my phone.

And I did get a phone call the next day alright. To inform me that the motherboard had gone out in my year and a half old computer friend, and a new motherboard was going to be $220 and I still had to pay the diagnostic fee for them finding the problem. The owner lady kept telling me that it was cheaper for me to buy a new computer, and that they also sell computers. She said that if I will buy one of their computers, they will transfer all of my information from my old computer to the new one FREE OF CHARGE.

I don't know why, but this was where she started to rub me the wrong way. If I am paying you the diagnostic fee to fix my old computer AND should I choose to purchase a new computer from you, I would really hope that you would hook up the cords and transfer info from one computer to another for free. That's kind of like owning a store that only accepts checks and that store  is having a tough time in this economy. Then a very generous person comes in and spends $250. After they pay, you realize that you forgot to ring up a $5.00 shirt. Do you make the person write out another check for $5? NO, you show your appreciation, ESPECIALLY if they are personally helping you out, and you GIVE them the shirt to show that you are grateful! I went in the store two times, and each time there were no other customers. DON'T pick over each thing if you would be making a lot of month on one purchase.


 So what did I do? I made a responsible adult decision to wait a few days to decide. And, I was kind of in mourning over the death of my old buddy Computer, so I asked her to please let me speak with my husband and see if we could rub out hands together and make the $$$ appear to fix my old computer. Ok, I didn't say that about the money part, but either way, over the next few days, my mother told me I needed a second opinion. And I'm thankful that I listened.

The new place my mother suggested resulted from a recommendation from a highly trusted client of her business. He swore that a place where he gets his computers repaired is amazing, so we decided to try a second opinion after all...

(BTW, my mom owns an income tax business, Dease Accounting in Montgomery, AL, so if you are searching for a new Accountant to handle your personal or business tax information and returns, give her a call at (334) 270-9970. Of course, I recommend her because she IS my mother, but I also worked with her there for a few years. I was very impressed with how she genuinely cares about each person and every return, and her prices are PHENONEMAL compared to H and R Block, usually MORE than 50% cheaper. I know all of my old high school and college friends are learning the hard truth about filing taxes and it's confusing anyway. I promise, if I can work for her and understand what and why things are taken out, she will definitely be able to explain it to you... haha. FYI, I'm really proud of her bc that is one stressful job during tax season!)

Back to my computer:

The name of the AWESOME computer repair business that I also now highly recommend is Computer Commuter. The owner is Kevin Elkins, and his office is located in Montgomery, Alabama on Monticello Drive. (Click HERE for directions to their office.) Turns out, my motherboard was out of service, yes. But the cause was indeed the power cord and the over-amount of power that FRIED my computer and some other technical info that I can't quite remember. There was NO pressure to buy another computer, there was no stressed out Best Buy Geek Squad Assembly Line In and Out Quickly kind of atmosphere. It's was totally worth it.

Needless to say, I was better off to buy a brand new computer. And of course, Computer Commuter helped with that as well. They don't sell computers, but they were more than willing to help us find one at a wonderful price, AND (love this!) they explained what each little GB and tit tat means that now comes on each computer... THANKS!! If you need a new computer and a place gives you a quote that you think is too high, head on over to best buy or Wal-Mart, wherever computers are sold, and get a quote from them as well. That will let you know if you are getting ripped off or not. And we definitely were NOT getting ripped off by Computer Commuter!

Fortunately, in my situation, when it came to getting a new computer, their assistance was greatly appreciated, and our BRAND NEW computer is now supposed to arrive by Friday of this week!! Yay! That is also part of our Christmas from my Mom and Step Dad, Rusty, and I am SO thankful that they are going to allow me to have it early now! I really need to get to all of my craft information before this year's Holidays arrive, too.

Speaking of Parentals, Two days ago, I went grocery shopping with my Dad, and we had SO much fun! It has been years since we had been grocery shopping together, and it had also been years since he had been in a grocery store that small! I took him to SUPER FOODS in Tallassee, a place that is a little bigger than Dollar General but much smaller than Food World. In addition to common brand names of Today's World, they also carry random brands that were popular like 30 years ago. It was so much fun to hear Daddy say, "Chelsea, I haven't seen this or that in years!" I had a great day with him, and it was nice to go back in time!

I was going to fill you in on what I've been working on over the past week, but I'm getting a little antsy sitting at the computer right now. I've typed a lot, and my medicine has kicked in to wake me up. Scott is still asleep, so I'm going to go goof off... haha. Talk to you later!

Pinterest and Randomness: INSIDE My Head!

Sometimes I think I'm trapped in a nice girl's body, and underneath all that niceness is a layer of sarcasm just lurking around, trying relentlessly to find a way to escape. I forget it's there sometimes, but then I find my way back to Pinterest. That's when I realize that somewhere there is a secret very hidden community of sarcastic and impatient people just like me. And not just that, if you go a little deeper into that secret world, you will also find my other personality half, which is where people survive by saying random thoughts and mentally asking theirselved silent redundant questions.

Have no freakin clue what I'm talking about? Here are a few of my favorites: (WARNING: If you think, thought, would like to continue thinking, etc, that I am a perfectly normal person, just click out of this now, because you're about to go inside my random crazy thoughts! ALL THE TIME...

To check out more *awesomeness*, go randomly flip around on PINTEREST!
I'm addicted to this...

Love you ALL,
Chel

Have a Real CHRISTmas this year!

Merry Christmas!! At our house, I think we're just going to skip right over Halloween, take just enough time to eat a few bites of turkey and macaroni and cheese on Thanksgiving, and sail straight ahead into Christmas Season. Every year I hit Christmastime Full-Speed-Ahead... and every year I procrastinate certain gifts and things that need to be done.

Where in time did the true meaning of Christmas go out the window? When did it become easier to focus on buying, choosing, wrapping, and giving a million gifts than it is to tell ten people about the whole reason we even have Christmas? Imagine if this year you told your kids and family that instead of buying gifts for them, everyone else, and your neighbors, you were going to read them a special book about the Birth of Jesus. How well do you think that would go over?

The truth is, giving gifts, buying gifts, wrapping gifts, UNwrapping gifts, opening gifts, just about ANYTHING involving gifts, is forever a part of Christmas in America. That's just how it is and will be for at least the rest of our lives.  So, why can't we give gifts AND read our kiddo's the REAL Christmas Story? If God allows us the privilege to have the financial means to make our family feel special and loved through gifts and celebrations on during each Christmas season year after year, don't you think we OWE it to Him to include Him in all of the SPLENDOR? I think WE ALL do.

I admit, in the past years, I have failed to remember the true meaning of Christmas and WHY we have Christmas. Lately, I have been painting and making different Christmas Crafts, so I've been googling random ideas to incorporate into my own ideas. I've found a million crafts with SANTA as the focus, but I started noticing how hard it was to find BIBLICAL CHRISTIAN Christmas craft ideas. That's when I really realized that I'm just as much to blame for this as anyone else is. And I also realized that also, just as everyone else, I also have the ability to fix this problem. And this season, I'm going to make a conscious effort to not only spread Holiday Cheer, but I want to make a conscious effort to remember the real reason for Christmas, WHO we are honoring, WHY we even have Christmas, etc. I want to wake up POST Christmas this year, and feel like I did my job to make God smile by remembering Him, and I encourage you all to make sure you start NOW to remind your kiddos WHY we even have Christmas.

Breathe in, Breathe out, and this year don't stress about whether you spent too much on someone or if they will know how much you spent. I wish EVERYONE, myself included, would pick out each and every gift, stocking stuffer, etc, by putting emotions and feelings into it. It's the beginning of October, so you still have time. Take your paper, and write down everyone on your list that you WANT to buy Christmas for. Beside each person, write their interests, what they enjoy doing, etc. Then, instead of hitting Dillard's when they have their special sale days, hit odds and ends stores NOW before the traffic and hustle picks up. If you put thought into their gifts instead of $$$ signs, you will find yourself making your new recipe for Christmas cheer in your life and the life of others. Who knows, you may be the only person who really put thought into that person this year. And the $5 pair of fuzzy gloves that you know the lonely housekeeper would love... put down that cosmo magazine and buy them for her in it's place. That's what we all should do. You NEVER know when your smallest of gestures may be their only gesture at all! What's small to you may be life changing for them. You could even send anonymous gifts!!

If there is a particular area of your family that is rather large, and the thought of buying for the ENTIRE family stresses you out, make the the phone call and tell them that you want to draw names this year. Set a limit and stick to that limit. If the limit is set for $25 and you stick to the limit, but they spend $40, don't feel bad about not sticking to it. I bet next year they'll spend $25 like you all agreed to, so it's only like one year of uncomfortableness... :) And don't run out and pick up random things until you reach that $25 limit... Add that person to your list of people to buy for. What do they like? What do they collect? You would be surprised what kinds of things you can add to people's collections from antique stores...

Bottom line(s):

              This year, remember the wise men brought Jesus their finest oils. They did this willingly and they wanted to give Him this gift to show Him how important HE was to everyone. Show your friends and family how important they are to you, not by buying the hottest item, but by making this Holiday CHRISTmas season count. For everyone.

My Obvious Path to Video Stardom Awaits...

Hi. Good morning. How are you. I am fine.

Gosh, don't the words above just sound so BORING? Yes, they do, which is why I need something to spice them up a bit. I need a new HD VIDEO CAMERA!! Aaahhhh.... I want one SO so incredibly bad. I want to post snippets of my life on here, and I don't know why. Well, I kind of do know why, and it's mainly because you really don't know me until you have really "seen" me. Words do not really "TELL" what I'm trying to say. They don't really show me. And I can't really let it all out with words. So, really, YOU need me to get a video camera too, right? Yea well... tell that to my checking account.

I still want to write my blog posts, but I really would like to do like one "Blog Video" once a week. Not only would you get to have like ten minutes a week of random babbling by me, but I would have a real actual excuse to fix my hair and put on make-up. My husband would thank you. Seriously. My current style is like:

Every single day. Except that in the place of the baby, you can put a WAY cuter Chihuahua. Score, right? No. Not hardly. But, see if I actually get a HD video camera, on the days that I record my blog video, I will make sure I look like THIS when the hubby comes home.

Now, I'd have to get breast implants and buy a gallon of self-tanner, but I promise that I won't bore you with those teeny minor details any longer. I can even wipe this smile off my face right now to fully complete the look above. So what's it going to be? AWESOME Video Camera Recorded Snippets or just a boring blog filled with...words.*GASP*  I think we all know the answer to that, right? Again, my checkbook is pleading for your opinion and generosity! haha...

Ugh, I know. The virtual world will just have to wait for the recorded clips of myself. Obviously, with my luck, my first video would go viral and I'd end up on a talk show that makes fun of people who Idiotically (is that even a word?) put video's of their Idioticness (definitely NOT a real word, but oh well) online for the world to see. Then I'd have to go into hiding or something, because I'd be so famous. And I may even be able to have a FAKE name... something like... Charlonza. Something inconspicuous like that.

Ah, well, I think maybe I should just need to wait on this whole video recording of myself and getting famous overnight thing... I just don't think I could handle the pressure of becoming an overnight sensation. Maybe later in life.

haha... C-ya later!