kapachino

Author: Kathleen

  • on my own with a disabled computer

    Well, it appears I jumped the gun on the whole “my computer works!” thing. My computer DOES work, but it is impaired. I think it may have had a stroke, and is now experiencing some residual disability. Half of its brain works, the other half is paralyzed. The good news is it’s the internet side that works. I am typing right now from my computer, and I seem to be able to navigate the wonderful worldwide web without difficulty. But the second I try to open iPhoto my poor little compie just freezes. So I’m taking him to the hospital (aka the Apple store) on Thursday to see the doctor (aka genius). You may laugh, but last time they actually pulled out a stethoscope on him.

    Anyway, I won’t be able to show you the photos of my new living room/kitchen/breakfast room/laundry room quite yet. My husband up and went on a business trip to Nashville without me, and took his computer with him! (Full disclosure: I told him he should.) So here I am at home with the dogs by myself. It is quiet around here without the TV on (although I do seem to be becoming quite the reality TV junkie lately), and already just a tad bit cleaner, but oh the loneliness!

    I hope this doesn’t come as a shock to you, but my husband and I like each other. A lot. And we much prefer to be together than apart. Unfortunately, we have already spent many nights apart since we’ve been married, and I admit it’s completely my fault. I’ve done some house-sitting for friends a few times, and I went on my annual girls-only vacation. But now I’m experiencing it from the other point of view: the One Who Stays Home. It’s much worse.

    So my plan to minimize the ache in my heart while he is away includes the following:

    1. Stay busy. I have something planned for every day and night that he’s gone, except today. And today I will be doing chores around the house and hopefully getting a bike ride in.

    2. Be around people. Tomorrow I’ll be at the church’s youth group pool party (I’m a volunteer), Thursday I’m spending the afternoon/evening with a good friend, and Friday David comes home!

    3. Take up the whole bed. There’s nothing quite so lonely as a single person in a king-sized bed, so I plan on sleeping smack dab in the middle of ours. Also, I’m going to force one or both of the dogs to sleep there with me so I have something to cuddle with.

    In conclusion: I miss my husband bunches, my computer is post CVA, and now I’m going to go eat some leftover lasagna and channel my inner electrician. Those outlets won’t rewire themselves.

  • my computer works!

    It’s Sunday night, and while most of the country is basking in this long weekend, I am preparing for another day of work tomorrow. In case you’re wondering, it isn’t too fun to have a job where you are forced to work holidays and weekends. So it’s almost my bedtime, but I just wanted to write something, because we got so much accomplished this weekend.

    First of all, I am so excited that my computer is working again, thanks to my brother-in-law Scott. What happened was what they call a “logical failure” of the hard drive. Nothing physically wrong, but the computer no longer recognized it. So I paid $99 for this program from Prosoft Engineering, ran it overnight, and most of my files were recovered and are now stored on my external hard drive, aka the thing that I should have used weeks ago, BEFORE all this happened. Sigh.

    Anyway, it’s a bittersweet ending because although the files were recovered, they lost their file names. There is also a lot of COMPLETE JUNK that I had no idea had made its way onto my hard drive that I have to sift through to find the files I’m looking for. And unfortunately, some of the files were “corrupted,” including the presentation I worked so hard on.

    When I turned on my computer today it was like it was brand new. I had to reinstall all my programs and set up my system profile and internet bookmarks again. It’s kind of cool to start fresh, in a way, but also kind of annoying.

    As for the other stuff we did this weekend, I was going to tell you about it now but I’m getting too tired. So I’ll tell you about it tomorrow, or the next day if I’m feeling lazy. But the living room, kitchen, and utility room are looking great, and I can’t wait to share pictures with you!

  • Need Paint Color Advice Quick!

    Here is a sneak peek of what the new painting looks like in our house. These pictures were taken with my iPhone because I don’t know how to upload pictures onto my husband’s computer with my camera just yet.

    Here is the breakfast room before:

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    Here it is after the wood paneling was painted:

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    The light fixture and the blinds will be gone soon. This color scheme is carried throughout the living room and the kitchen cabinets are now white. I’m showing you this picture now because I have the weekend off, and I’ve recruited some willing and able volunteers (by the name of Dad and Mom), and I really want to get the walls painted (the part above the white/green paneling. It’s only in this room and a small amount in the kitchen.

    My question is: what color? So far I’m thinking either white or a more tan/brown neutral. The fireplace in our living room is a creamy tan brick, our couches are beige, and we will have espresso furniture whenever it comes in.

    If you have any ideas or an opinion at all, please let me know now! I want to buy paint tonight or tomorrow morning.

    Not my best post here, but I’m in a hurry – gotta get to work! Kthxbye.

  • How To Start Your Wife’s Day Off Right

    This morning when I woke up (yes, at 4:30 a.m. as usual) I immediately headed for the bathroom per my routine, and the first thing I saw on the counter was a note for me from my husband on top of Mariah Carey’s first CD. David had just shared with me the other day that this was one of the first three CD’s he bought as a teenager, a fact that I proceeded to tease him about. (The other two were Metallica and Boyz II Men…ha.) The note talked about how he wanted to share it with me since I never really listened to Mariah Carey, and some other really great mushy stuff that I just LOVED, but will be keeping to myself. :)

    Then when I went to wake him up to say goodbye, per my routine, instead of turning over and telling me he loves me or reaching out to give me a hug, he looked me straight in the eyes as if he was totally awake and said:

    “If you put me back to sleep right now there’s a really good chance that I’ll be able to pop popcorn in my mouth.”

    Of course, I burst into subdued laughter. Sleep talk is hilarious. I asked him, “Do you know why you just said that, love?”

    “Yes. Because I turn into a fried chicken. On the outside.”

    Someone must have gone to sleep without dinner.

  • Whew

    Alright. So. Sorry about being gone for a week and then coming back with a really depressing post. But some things I just have to write about. If you’re wondering, my patient died yesterday and it was sad. I was glad that I was able to be there for the family, but it was a very surreal experience for me. I’ll just leave it at that.

    On to happier things! The painters finally finished with our house last week so we are back home. It’s amazing what a difference my own bed makes. When I walked in the first thing I noticed was that it wasn’t painted exactly how I had asked it to be. But once I put furniture in the room and lived with it a few days I realized that I like it this way. So that’s good. The painters charged us $400 more than they said they would, and they painted a drawer in the kitchen shut, but let’s not focus on the negative.

    I am really looking forward to showing you the pictures, because there are still some parts we need to paint ourselves and I need advice on what color. However, there is still the issue of my computer. The good thing is that I think I recovered all my data, and it only cost $100 for software and an IT savvy brother-in-law, who is now attempting to fix my busted hard drive. It’s going to take some time for me to sort through those files and make sense of them, but I’ll be working on it.

    I had the day off today and got a whole lot done around the house. I learned how to install a doorknob, and in the process I also learned that standard doorknobs don’t fit in our doors. I’m not quite sure what the solution to that problem is yet, but I know that our old knobs have got to go. I also went for a swim, and although swimming is definitely getting easier for me I still have a looong way to go to be able to make it triathlon distance without killing myself.

    I think that pretty much catches you up on the past week. It’s my bedtime, but the Dancing With the Stars finale is on and I DO have my priorites. I’m postponing sleep so I can (hopefully) watch Shawn Johnson take home the mirrorball trophy!

    XOXO,
    Kathleen