Within the last two weeks, the two technical items we have that I use most went out. First my laptop died. Just quit. I had been using it earlier that day, went back later to check my e mail and it wouldn’t turn on. Frustrating, but not the end of the world. Thankfully Zale was able to take the hard drive out and back up everything. I’ve been using his laptop on occasion when he doesn’t need it. But that’s mainly in the evenings and I prefer to check my e mail, do the checkbook, follow up with friends and family on Facebook, and pay bills during the day. Still not really a huge deal.

My other option for getting on line is actually in our living room. Zale hooked up a computer my Dad gave us to the TV so we can watch things on line easier. The idea came when we downsized our Dish Network package to save money, he figured we could find things on line to watch. It has been a nice perk, but I never thought I’d be using it the way I have these last couple of weeks.

Even though it’s really neat to have such a big monitor, it’s not the most ideal situation. A good example comes from earlier tonight. I’m sitting in the middle of our living room floor (also thanks to Dad we have a wireless keyboard and mouse, but they don’t quite reach the couch) getting run over by Griffin (who is now 8 1/2 months old and 100 pounds) and the girls. Griffin was working hard on his bone, and for some reason that requires walking all over the living room with it. I’ve been bumped from all sides during his process of getting to the meat of the bone. Earlier he even sat on the keyboard while I was sending an e mail. The girls take it as an opportunity to use me as a jungle gym. Reagan is either climbing me like a tree to try and sit on my shoulders, or trying to force the keyboard further away so she can sit on my lap and punch the keys too. Which makes it lots of fun to try to do anything on line. Hannah is a bit more polite about it, but is usually still circling trying to find the best place to land that Reagan hasn’t already taken up. It’s a bit easier now that they’ve gone to bed. But Griffin is still circling the living room working on his bone.

Several days after my laptop went out, our DVR stopped working. I have to admit, this might have affected me more than the laptop. We’ve become quite spoiled by our DVR. It’s very rare for us to watch live TV anymore. We record what we want, watch it later and fast forward through the commercials. But what was even worse than having to watch real TV, was all the things we had recorded were just gone. Of course, every cloud has a silver lining, and I’m actually okay with not having to watch some of the things we had recorded for the girls anymore. We saved Shrek the Halls when it came out before Christmas, it became the girls favorite show. Even after Christmas. They took the news better than I thought they would, but I’m sure it helps that they can still watch it at their Gran Gran’s house.

Dish Network sent us a replacement DVR pretty quickly and we just had to pay shipping, so that was taken care of within a few days for very little cost. The lap top was going to be a bit more of a problem. Zale began researching for my next lap top and we had settled on one of the new mini netbooks. Even better was that since my Dad works for Toshiba we are blessed to have access to their B stock inventory for good prices. So we found what we needed for less than $250.00. Great price, but we don’t usually have an extra $250.00 laying around. We were hoping to be able to get it in a couple of weeks, but Dad called a couple of days ago with even better news.

He remembered that a couple of years ago he and his girlfriend, Karen, had gone in together to get a laptop for her daughter, Leeanna. But she didn’t really used it much, and when she graduated nursing school last May she got a Macbook. So it really hasn’t been used since then, and even though it’s a couple years old, it’s still like new. So here’s the really good part. They’re being so generous and giving it to me. For free. Cause they are just that awesome!

Even though these material things aren’t what life is all about, it sure is nice to have them! I’m so blessed and so very thankful! Not to mention excited that after tomorrow evening I’ll be able to e mail, pay bills, and blog from the comfort of a chair instead of the floor! Thanks again Dad and Karen!! Love you both!