Tech? support...

I spent most of the afternoon at home trying to get my wireless internet connection to, for lack of a better word, connect. Since I moved, I have had intermittent connection issues. I'd lose connectivity, then regain it. This happened numerous times a day and often at the most inopportune times; while uploading my work websites or worse yet, when talking to the ones I love on messenger.

Last night, after numerous attempts to upload a rather large website update, I called my internet provider's tech support for assistance. He had me restart the cable modem and wireless router, all things I had done numerous times on my own but was more than willing to try again just in case doing so under his tutelage would somehow correct whatever problem there was in my system. Unfortunately, it didn't and he scheduled a service call for today.

Harry, the very kind and knowledgeable service rep, was a bit late to arrive and while I was waiting, my cable TV quit working. I hoped that the TV would remain on the fritz until Harry arrived, so that he might have a better chance diagnosing the problem, but it did not and by the time he arrived I had both cable TV and cable internet.

As he walked through the door, he asked if I had lost service completely for a few minutes. I responded that I had lost cable TV for a little while, but still had internet. The look on his face was priceless. Apparently Harry had replaced the main line to my apartment, hoping that it would fix my connectivity problem. Since both cable TV and cable internet come from the same line, I should have lost both during the replacement.

We finally figured out that I had been "borrowing" internet from someone in the area and had never actually been connected to my own router. Aha, we thought, that should solve the problem. We hooked to the router through a hard line and went through all the steps necessary to set up a network, but no matter what we did, it still wouldn't connect to my own router.

Harry called his tech support person who told him it must be a router problem. He told me to contact my router's tech support, which I did through live chat. The first tech (yes this is a long story, so smoke 'em if you got 'em), had me go into dos, change some settings, stand on one foot and wave a magic wand. Finally, after about 2 hours and several dark moments, I was connected to my own router!

Yippee! I was home free.

Or not.

After about an hour I got the horrifying "blue screen of death". After watching my system crash and restarting the computer, I connected again.

As you can see, Emily was VERY concerned about my computer problems...

About 15 minutes later I was rewarded with another blue screen. I hooked up to a hardline again and contacted the router company. After at least an hour and so many changes to my system I had to copy and paste the instructions into a word document to keep track of them, my system was once again, connected to the proper router. I checked email, chatted with some friends and finally uploaded the large file to my website.

Now, about 3 hours later, I have still not had another b-l-u-e s-c-r-e-e-n o-f d-e-a-t-h (yes, I'm spelling it in hopes that the computer does NOT recognize what I'm saying and reward me with yet another) and it seems that it may actually be working.

Another strange thing that has happened since I moved in to my own place is that my TV has decided it needs to display close captioning. I have tried everything to remove it, to no avail.

I was chatting with some friends tonight on yahoo and they had several suggestions. They told me to go into the menu, which I did. I started clicking on things and ended up with the entire menu in Spanish.

Since I have no grasp of that language and frankly a very limited grasp of English, I was at a loss as to how to change it back to English. I kept fiddling with things as my cyber friends urged me on and I ended up with what I can only imagine was the Arabic language on my menu.

Since I couldn't figure out how to turn off close captioning in English, I was pretty sure I wasn't going to be able to change it in either Spanish or Arabic. I was about to give up when I noticed a button on the remote that said CC. I pushed it and viola, close captioning disappeared. Who'd have thunkit? CC stands for close captioning.

Hmmm, I never made the connection.

I think I'll join my kitty in bed now. I've had enough fun for the day...


Sigh...is it Friday yet?

Shop til ya drop!

Tomorrow, kid cousin Sadie Rose has surgery on her knee. She has had an infection behind the knee cap for some time and they decided the time has come to go in and remove whatever is causing it. It's out-patient surgery and she will be home by 2 pm tomorrow, so it isn't anything dangerous or horrible, but kind of scary to a 9 year old (and to a certain 51 year old).

Being typical women we decided some retail therapy was in order and we hit the mall with a vengeance. We left the house at 3:30 pm and only returned when they shut the doors behind us at 9 pm (yes it's Montana...the sidewalks roll up early here, even at Christmas time). The only time we stopped our shopping extravaganza was to use the rest room and haul bags to the car when our arms got too tired to haul them around any more.

We finally arrived home around 9:30 and unloaded some of our bounty. We were giggling and laughing on the way up the walk. I turned around to use the remote to lock the car and somehow managed to hit the alarm button. I had so many bags in my hands that I couldn't free a finger to push the cancel alarm button and when I finally did I accidentally opened the trunk instead. By now Sadie Rose was practically ill with laughter and I had to admit, it was probably quite the scene. The car lights were flashing, the alarm was...alarming and the trunk was wide open.

I looked around to see if anyone was watching and noticed the new neighbors to the west were staring out their living room window. The lights of the house to the east suddenly turned on and I hoped they weren't calling the police to report a theft next door.

I finally managed to extricate myself from the bags, push the proper button(s) and the ruckus stopped. Sadie was giggling hysterically but we finally got the car locked, the trunk shut and staggered into the house.

Six hours of walking, shopping and hysterical laughter later, we are both in our jammies, tired but content. Everything is going to turn out just fine for Sadie...that much we know. It does, however, remain to be seen if I survive the opening of my next credit card bill.

UPDATE: Sadie sailed through the surgery and is doing just fine. She's already home and set up like a princess in the family room, remote in one hand, bon-bon's in the other. We will be waiting on her until she heals. Life IS good!

Wanton Woman

Seems like I'm always "wanton" something and today is no exception.

My son emailed me today to ask for my help. One of his friends has a son in the 5th grade. Their class project this year is the 50 U.S. States. Their goal is to receive postcards from every state. They would like the postcards to be state-specific and postmarked in that state.

I am going to participate and I hope that you will too. I don't really want to put his address online, so I'm giving you his name and my work address. I will forward the cards you send to him as soon as I receive them.

Rosebud Conservation District
Attn: Peter Russell
PO Box 1200
Forsyth, MT 59327

Thanks in advance for your participation.

I'd also like to thank those of you who sent birthday cards to my dad. It means so much that you chose to honor him in that way.

And on a final note, I wonder what kind of google searches are going to bring up today's blog post?

Because it's all about me...

You've all seen the before pictures. My lovely feet, covered in dirt from a day of yard work. A productive day, I must say, but it did take a toll on my feet, which weren't very lovely to begin with.

After looking at the photo (above) for a short while (it's all my stomach could take) I decided to take a cue from Sherry and treat myself to a little spa time. I had my hair done and had a (heavenly) pedicure and manicure.

I've had quite a bit of spa time in the last several months because my wonderful and most splendid son spoiled me rotten while I was with him in Denver taking care of Dale. He paid for two facials, leg waxing (I'm not sure his motives were pure on that "present"), a couple of haircuts and 2 pedicures. Am I a lucky mom or what?

I've become somewhat accustomed to being doted on, so I decided to pamper myself a bit. And since I've been a little short of blogging time lately, I decided to document the process photographically and share it with you all.

Disclaimer: I will not be responsible for any psychological damage that may be caused by viewing the following photos.

Well I'll be dipped in wax! Ha ha!! It was hot, hot, hot, but it felt really really good!

Especially when she took it off!

And there you have it, the final product...the end result. The color on my toenails, by the way, is called Tequila Sunset. Isn't it beautiful (the polish, certainly NOT the toes)?

I have a busy weekend ahead. It's our annual car show and we will be bustin' our tails putting it on. It's a great time, though, and one I've been looking forward to for quite some time. Rest assured, there will be pictures.

By the way, this is the car we will be driving this weekend.

It's a 1938 Chevy 2-door sedan.

Isn't it a suhweeeeet ride?

I hope you all have as fantastic a weekend as I plan on having!

My new best friend

There were several reasons that made me take the 200 mile drive to Billings today.

My cousins were having a bit of trouble and I was able to help them out of their dilemma. If spending those months with Dale taught me anything, it is that the people you love are what matter most in this world. It's a long-standing family tradition to lend a hand to those in need and I was able to do that today and it felt DAMNED GOOD!

Another reason I went to "town" was to pick up kitty litter, cat food and a new stash of cat toys. The poor darlings had lost or damaged all of their cat soccer balls and had resorted to fetching their stuffed toys and I certainly couldn't expect them to keep doing that, now could I? I spent a small fortune replenishing their stock.

I also picked up a couple of toys that resemble carpenter's tape measures with a twist. Instead of the little pull tab on the end, there's a little mouse stuffed with catnip on the end. You can imagine what the little darlings do when it is fully extended and then retracted, can't you? I'll try to get a picture to post later on, right now they are all catnipped out and snoring on the couch, bed and chaise lounge. As a matter of fact, I think one of them is in the bathroom sink (again).

After spending a truly obscene amount of money on others, I did spend a few shekels on myself. After trying on every single pair of dollar store reading glasses, I picked out the pair that made the kid cousins laugh the least.

At the big box store I bought a pair of shorts in a size I haven't been able to wiggle into in years! Like I said before, about 4 or 5 more bouts of the flu and I'll be in perfect shape!

I also bought one more item. After yesterday's marathon bike ride on the fantastic new blue bicycle, my poor Norwegian bum was feeling mighty abused. I might be fluffy, but not a whole lot of that fluff is in the area that makes contact with a bicycle seat.

So please, without further ado, meet my new best friend!

Oh the joys of dirty (ugly) feet...

I am so over the flu!

This morning I got up (shocker, I know) went outside and mowed the lawn, pulled weeds and removed a pickup load of junk from the backyard. The sun was shining, the birds were singing and the gnats were stinging. OK, so it wasn't perfect, but it truly was a stellar morning.

I came back in the house, had a bottle of water, played with the cats and then set off for downtown to buy the new bike I've had my eye on for a couple of weeks. I purchased said bike, rode all around town and then headed home. I could feel the sun on my shoulders, the wind in my hair (I know, next time I'll wear a helmet) and nearly everyone I saw waved and smiled.


I returned home feeling all warm and fuzzy and came into the house to play with the cats some more and figure out my next project. I was in the bathroom brushing the tangles out of my hair when I noticed that I had on a thin white shirt and a bright blue bra. I wondered for a moment if perhaps people weren't really waving at me so much as pointing out my very obvious fashion faux pas.


No wonder my roommate and co-workers keep threatening to nominate me to be on What Not to Wear.

Did anyone get the license plate number of the truck that hit me?

I've had many nice comments and a few concerned emails in the last couple of days, and now that I'm able to lift my head, I thought I'd update you. I don't have anything deadly or life-threatening, just a case of the summer-time flu (which I can assure you sounds a lot more glamorous than it is).

For the last several days I've not been able to keep anything down, including water, but today I had a breakthrough! Not only was I able to drink water, but I ate a peppermint lifesaver too! Woohoo, I'm so on the mend.

In better news, my diet effort is going better than ever. Another month or two of this and I'll look like I did in high school!

Hugs to all my favorite people (from afar so's I don't infect you).

YOU could be the lucky winner of one of these fine prizes!

And the answer is...

We were out on an adventure; Dad, Mike, Shasta and I. Of course Shasta had to Nature Poo, so Mike, being the responsible pet owner he is, picked it up with a doodoo bag to dispose of. There were no trash facilities nearby so he tied a knot in the end of the bag and shut the trunk lid. I teased him mercilessly until he threatened to remove it and put it in the trunk for me to smell all the way home.

The X over the Bush/Cheney bumper sticker is my doing. Imagine that...

The first person to correctly guess not only what this is, but how it came to be where it came to be, will receive their choice of one of these fine prizes:

1. an all expense paid trip to beautiful eastern Montana or
2. a bottle of Boone's Farm Strawberry Hill wine.

C'mon folks, give it your best shot.

And for those of you who don't have anything to do tonight (no hair to wash, paint to watch dry, that kind of thing), feel free to click on this link to see what I was up to last weekend.

Too tired to write a post, but I can cut and paste...

This is especially for Cathy, who is allergic to cats, and for Carol who is currently catless...

How to tell if your feet stink...

This is not my cat...

Now where'd I put the number for the H.P. help desk?

This is why I don't get quite as much done when I work at home as I do when I work at the office.

Feelin' a little sheepish...

...about not posting anything, so here's a photo of a sheepherder's wagon I took on Grove Creek near Absarokee, MT.

Day one of the 7 day, too many hours per day to count marathon, is over. Only six more to go.

Wish me luck.

Bee-cause...

Bee-cause I'm brain dead from working too much...

Bee-cause I've got to work 7 long days in a row next week...

Bee-cause I'm sunburned and tired...

All you get is this.

And yes, I do know it isn't a bee, it's a Yellow Jacket, but I'm tired, so cut me some slack, OK?

Cruel Shoes

Because my son might have mentioned that these shoes aren't very attractive or trendy (I think the words "ugliest shoes I've ever seen" might have been mentioned)...


I present to you these "keen" shoes.


They might not be very attractive, but they ARE trendy (and waterproof)! And speaking of unattractive, get a load of that left ankle...I twisted it on my walk today. It is just now starting to turn purple. Ain't it purdy?

Don't forget to check out the music video on my sidebar. You won't be disappointed!