drifting away...

I'm in a much better mood today than yesterday.  I'm still a little bit stuffy, but I did actually get some sleep lastnight which really helped a lot.  I'm really looking forward to the weekend.  Tomorrow we are going to the hospital to tour the maternity ward so we'll know exactly where to go and all when Zachary decides it is time.  Then tomorrow night is the Sarah McLachlan concert.  I am so pumped up for that!  I've been waiting for years to see her live again.  I'm sure its going to be a great show.

My mom caught on to me yesterday.  I am having some serious nesting urges already.  I was telling her how I have been re-arranging some things in the house to make room for this or that.  I moved some things around in the kitchen to make room for the highchair that I don't even have yet.  She thought it was really funny.  If I had the energy to do all the things I want to do in my house, it would be looking fabulous right now.  Unfortunately, I run out of energy before I complete most of my little projects.  I'm getting very anxious to get Zachary's room finished.  I want to get some curtains made and maybe paint the room.  I just can't decide how to paint it.

I thought it was about time to post some pictures. The first one is a picture of my massive belly. This was taken before my baby shower on April 23rd, about 31 1/2 weeks along.



Next is a pictures of the crib, which looks much better now that it has some bedding on it. Now I just need a matching sheet because all I had was one yellow one to put on it. I also took a close up of the mobile. Hubby was very anxious to put it together and get it on the crib when I came home with it.





And finally, just because I think it is so cute, a picture of my kitties, Zora and Pedro, snuggling up in their bed.

I'm dragging today big time.  I worked hard yesterday and wore myself out.  When I got home, hubby wanted me to go with him to Sam's to pick up a few things, so we did that.  Then I fixed dinner, wrote out thank you cards, sorted through all the baby stuff, did 2 loads of laundry, and revised my baby registries before collapsing into bed 2 hours later than usual.  Just before I was ready to go to bed, hubby got paged and had to go to work for a bit.  So, I had to go to bed by myself, which I hate doing.  It just doesn't feel right to be in that big bed by myself, so I let the dog come snuggle with me until hubby got back home.  I also took some benadryl before going to bed because my allergies are going nuts right now.  I was thinking I would get a really good night's sleep with all that, but no, I laid there awake most of the night.  It is so frustrating to want to sleep so bad and all you can do is just lay there awake.

So, here I am today, tired as can be with a stuffy head and a bad mood.  It's dark and rainy outside which isn't helping much either.  I really need somebody to cheer me up!

On a bit happier note, I did go out and buy my crib bedding yesterday.  I can't wait to get it on the crib and start decorating the baby's room a bit!

I just wanted to add another quick post in here to congratulate my little brother and his soon-to-be wife.  They are both currently assistant managers at a nearby Hy-Vee grocery store.  This last week, my brother interviewed for and was offered a management position at another Hy-Vee which he accepted.  He'll be getting a $10,000 raise along with the higher position.  His fiance, a few days later, was offered a job at Babies R Us, which she also accepted.  Hers will be a little bit of a pay cut, but she will be able to complete her required internships for school while she is working there.  She also gets a 10% discount, so I may benefit a bit as well!  I'm really proud of both of them and excited about the new directions they are both taking.

Things have been very busy around here the last couple of days and I haven't had a chance to blog about my baby shower on Saturday.  Hopefully I can get through this pretty quickly before I get interupted again.

The baby shower went quite well if I do say so myself.  I got there a little early so I could help my friend M, who was giving the shower, get everything ready.  Shortly after I got there, my mom arrived and the three of us got all the food laid out and ready.  They did a great job with the food.   We had fresh fruit, fresh veggies, cheese and crackers, a pickle and olive tray, and of course a cake.  Everything looked and tasted great!

After everyone had arrived and gotten a bit to eat, we played a few games then moved on to the presents.  Everyone did a wonderful job picking out gifts.  I got a lot of the essentials.  I won't list it all out here because I actually ended up getting a LOT of stuff, but I did get several bottles, baby wash and lotion, towels and washcloths, a couple of blankets, burp cloths, a few outfits, diapers, wipes, a diaper pail, baby bathtub, and lots of other things that I'm sure I'm forgetting right now.  I was very pleased with everything!

After the gifts were opened, we had some cake and then everyone started breaking up and heading home.  M and I were both exhausted by the time everyone was gone.  We invited my hubby over and spent the rest of the evening watching a movie and just hanging out at M's house.  I couldn't stay awake for the movie, so we didn't stay too late, but I still had a good time.

Here it is Friday afternoon again.  The weeks seem to be going by so quickly these days.  I'm hoping my boss will call and tell us to go home early this afternoon.  I hardly ever work until 5:00 on Fridays anymore and I'm ready to get outta here!

I'm really looking forward to my baby shower tomorrow.  It still isn't looking like there will be very many people there unless they just chose not to RSVP and will show up at the last minute.  I think it will still be fun though.  I'm just looking forward to getting some gifts.  Then I will know what else I need to go out and buy before the baby gets here.

Other than the baby shower, I have absolutely no plans this weekend.  I'm thinking tonight might be a good dinner and movie night with my hubby.  He's been feeling left out of things lately.  I'm hoping maybe if we just get out of the house and spend some time together it will help him to feel a little better.  My thoughts are so consumed with the baby right now that he doesn't think he's getting enough attention.

I usually don't post things like this, but a co-worker sent this e-mail to me this morning and I thought it was just too cute not to share!

[b]The Middle Wife[/b]
By an Anonymous 2nd grade teacher

I've been teaching now for about fifteen years. I have two kids myself, but the best birth story I know is the one I saw in my own second-grade classroom a few years back.

When I was a kid, I loved show-and-tell. So I always have a few sessions with my students. It helps them get over shyness and usually, show-and-tell is pretty tame. Kids bring in pet turtles, model airplanes, pictures of fish they catch, stuff like that. And I never, ever place any boundaries or limitations on them. If they want to lug it to school and talk about it, they're welcome.

Well, one day this little girl, Erica, a very bright, very outgoing kid, takes her turn and waddles up to the front of the class with a pillow stuffed under her sweater. She holds up a snapshot of an infant. "This is Luke, my baby brother, and I'm going to tell you about his birthday.

First, Mom and Dad made him as a symbol of their love, and then Dad put a seed in my Mom's stomach, and Luke grew in there. He ate for nine months through an umbrella cord.

She's standing there with her hands on the pillow, and I'm trying not to laugh and wishing I had my camcorder with me. The kids are watching her in amazement.

"Then, about two Saturdays ago, my Mom starts saying and going, 'Oh, oh, oh!' Erica puts a hand behind her back and groans.

"She walked around the house for, like an hour, 'Oh, oh, oh! Now the kid's doing this hysterical duck walk, holding her back and groaning.

"My Dad called the middle wife. She delivers babies, but she doesn't have a sign on the car like the Domino's man."

"They got my Mom to lie down in bed like this." Then Erica lies down with her back against the wall.

"And then, pop! My Mom had this bag of water she kept in there in case he got thirsty, and it just blew up and spilled all over the bed, like psshhheew!" This kid has her legs spread and with her little hands are miming water flowing away. It was too much!

"Then the middle wife starts saying 'push, push, and breathe, breathe." "They started counting, but never even got past ten."

"Then, all of a sudden, out comes my brother. He was covered in yucky stuff, they all said was from Mom's play-center! , so there must be a lot of stuff inside there."

Then Erica stood up, took a big theatrical bow and returned to her seat. I'm sure I applauded the loudest. Ever since then, if it's show-and-tell day, I bring my camcorder, just in case another Erica
comes along.

Sometimes children help us to see the world as it is meant to be.

I just discovered that my new template, as well as the one I made for AliciaRose are totally jacked up when you look at them in Firefox.  I was in a hurry and didn't bother to check before.  They look great in Internet Explorer though.  Guess I have more work to do...

I had another check up with the doctor today and everything is going great.  I can't believe I only have 9 more weeks to go.  I'm still feeling pretty good with the exception of not being able to sleep comfortably.  In an effort to keep the swelling down in my feet, I've gone almost completely off of pop and I'm really trying to cut back on the salt as well.  Doc said I'm really doing everything I can at this point and that my swelling doesn't seem to be too bad compared to others she has seen.  So, I guess I can't complain too much.  I was just glad to hear her say that everything is perfect so far.

You know how hard it was when you were a kid not to peek beneath the Christmas tree and shake any present that had your name on it?  I'm struggling today not to take a peek.  My baby shower is on Saturday and I happen to know that a few people have been out shopping and bought stuff off of my gift registry lists.  It would be so easy to pull up my registries online and take a look at what has been bought, but I'm trying really hard not to give in to the temptation.  I know it will be more fun at the shower if I don't already know what I'm getting, but at the same time I'm so anxious to find out.  I don't know if I'll make it through the week without taking a peek!

For some reason this morning I am thinking of old friends.  Not just old friends really, but the people who really made a difference in my life and made me who I am.  As a kid I always hated moving around every couple of years because it seemed like I was always leaving friends behind.  I was always a shy kid, but seemed to make friends fairly easily.  Each place I lived I always had a "best" friend or group of "best" friends. 

I have lost contact with most of them, but today for some reason I find myself wondering where they are and what they have done with their lives.  Some of them I hear about every now and then.  Others are out there in the world and I have no idea what has happened to them.

I wonder about Timmy, my very first true best friend.  He was my baby-sitter's son and we had some great times together as young kids that I remember still today.  There was the chicken pox party, playing with the GI Joes and racing cars, marrying our MonChiChi dolls, and of course our not-so-legal marriage at the ripe age of 4 where I was not only the bride, but the preacher as well.  We moved away shortly after that.  We saw each other a few times after that, but eventually lost contact.  I think our parents still send Christmas cards, but I have no idea what ever happened to Timmy.

Then, there was Jessica, my first true girl friend.  My mom baby-sat her and her brother for a while and we instantly became friends.  We spent almost every day together for the 4 1/2 years or so that we lived in Smithton.  After I moved away, we wrote letters for a while, but eventually they became few and far between.  Every once in a great while I'll hear an update about her, but they are never positive and some seem to be more rumors than fact so I really don't know what to believe.

After Jessica was Sabrina.  During 4th and 5th grade, we were inseparable.  My sister and her oldest sister were best friends too, so it worked out really well.  The 4 of us spent a lot of time going back and forth between each other's houses.  Every time I hear the song "Rainbow Connection" I think of Sabrina.  She had a Muppets electronic keyboard that played that song and we would sit for hours singing it over and over again.  We also did some great (award-winning) science projects together.  After we moved away we lost contact quickly.  When I was in high school I ran into her sister at a concert but didn't think to get a phone number from her. 

Then I moved to Odessa and met a great group of girls.  There was Julie, Heather, Erin, Lucy, Christi and myself.  Of all of them Christi was definitely the closest to me.  We spent our summers at the swimming pool and jumping on her trampoline.  In Jr. High we loved to walk home from school in the rain.  We had the absolute best slumber parties I've ever been to.  When I found out I was moving, these girls gave me a great going away party.  They made me feel like I was really special.  I still have the t-shirt that they all signed in puffy paint.  After I moved we actually kept in touch for a while and visited back and forth whenever possible.  Christi and I ended up at the same college our Freshman year and had the opportunity to get to know each other all over again.  She was a bridesmaid in my first wedding.  A few years later I attended her wedding and got to see all the girls again.  We all promised that we would get together, but it never happened and I haven't heard from any of them since.

And then, there's the happy ending.  I met Amy just a few days after moving to RockPort.  Her dad lived across the street from us and had a pool in his back yard.  One day there was a knock on the door and Katie, a girl I had met at church, and Amy were standing there.  They invited me over to swim at Amy's dad's house.  I was nervous as could be, but with a little coaxing from my mom, I decided to go.  I spent all afternoon over there in the pool and didn't once think to put any sunscreen on my ghostly white skin.  I ended up with the worst sunburn I've ever had in my life and couldn't go outside again for weeks.  I figured they would never want to hang out with me again after that, but to my surprise they did.  Amy and I became great friends and eventually built the kind of friendship that I think we'll have for the rest of our lives.  We went through some rocky times during college when I was just a bitch to everyone I knew, but fortunately, she was able to look past that and our friendship survived.

There were lots of others that deserve mention as well, such as Patrick, Ryan, April, Danielle, Jeremy, Jody, Michelle, Jared H., Jill.....I could go on and on.  But, if I took the time to write about all of them I would be here all day.  There are so many people that have made an impact on my life and left me with such wonderful memories.  I wish I knew where they all were today.  I would love to know whether they are married, have kids, have a successful career, or just where they are in the world.  I would love to share with them the things that have happened in my life.  Perhaps someday I'll get ambitious and start searching for them, but until then, I'll just have to wonder.   

I'm not even really sure where to begin with this post.  I didn't post much at all last week.  There just really wasn't a whole lot going on I guess.  Most of last week I spent trying to figure out a CSS issue.  I was working on our website at work and another one at home where I ran into the exact same issue.  After 2 days of frustration and reading millions of online articles, I finally found the answer.  It worked on the website at work, but when I tried it on the other site, it didn't work and I can't figure out why.  There has to be something conflicting with it, but I can't find it.  So, I gave up for a couple days and need to get back to it and take a fresh look at it this week.

The big excitement in my family this weekend was my future sister-in-law's wedding shower.  My mom and I left work around noon on Friday and spent over 3 hours shopping for the perfect gift.  I think we did good though, because she seemed to love the gift.  The shower was actually more fun than I expected it to be.  I wasn't especially looking forward to it because we had to drive over an hour to get there and I just wasn't in the mood, but it turned out really good.  The only bad part was that one of the other shower guests scraped the side of my car.  I really tried to be nice about it, but I was very aggravated.  Now I have to take my car in and get estimates, then get it fixed which will be a big pain.  At least she told me about it.  My car was parked at the time and she could have not said anything, but she came in asked around until she found me and told me that it had happened.  I would have been really mad if I had found it later.

Other than that, I had a pretty uneventful weekend.  I still didn't manage to clean my house, which looks like a total disaster right now.  June is quickly creeping up on me and I have so many things I need to get done before then.  Not only do I have to get ready for this baby, but my brother's wedding is coming up quickly and I am in charge of putting together a slideshow of pictures for them that I haven't even started on yet.  If I don't get on it soon, I won't get it done in time.  Most of the pictures will have to be scanned, cropped, and touched up which will take some time.  But, procrastination seems to be the best motivation for me so I'm sure I'll get it done just in time.

I very rarely eat at Taco Bell.  But, every once in a great while, it just calls out to me for some reason.  Today was one of those days.  I was really craving a chicken burrito.  So, I took my paycheck to the bank and decided to spin through the drive-thru and get some lunch.  First of all, I had to wait forever at the bank.  The nice teller added $5 to my account for my trouble though, so it wasn't that bad waiting.  Then I went on to Taco Bell to grab my lunch.  After waiting in line FOREVER I finally get up to the speaker to order.  I got my usual order and headed back to the office.  I sat down at my desk and scarfed down my food (because my little outing took over 45 minutes and my lunch break was almost up).  By the time I actually got to eat, I was so hungry I don't think I could have eaten any slower anyway.  I ate way too much cause my stomach just doesn't hold as much as it used to.  All I want to do is go crawl in my bed and lay down until it is all digested.  I can barely move, much less work, in this condition.  Today would be a good day for the boss to let me off early!

I wonder if my boss will notice while I'm gone on maternity leave just how little work I actually do around here.  And, if he does notice, I wonder if he will say anything about it.

Now that I got my griping out of the way, I'll write a bit about my weekend.  First of all, the weather was absolutely beautiful!  It was in the 70's both Saturday and Sunday.  I came home Friday after work to find that my hubby had gotten off work early and had already mowed most of the yard.  While he finished that up, I went to the grocery store to pick up a few things.  When I got back we decided to go over and watch movies with some friends.  Fortunately, our friends have 4 kids and understand that I'm just not up for doing a whole lot some days.  We went over to their house and just relaxed for the evening.  They even gave up the "sweet spot" on the couch so I could put my feet up and get comfortable.

Saturday morning we got up and drove the 45-minute drive up to my sister's so we could watch my nephew play soccer.  He is hillarious to watch because he really doesn't pay much attention to the game.  He spends most of his time flapping his arms around and making sure everyone is ok when they fall down.  He does get a kick in every once in a while, plus they all take turns throwing the ball in so he does get in a little participation.  Perhaps soccer just isn't really his sport!

After the game, we had lunch with my sis and her family and then ended up hanging out there most of the afternoon.  My sis and I both were needing a trip to Wal-Mart, so we left my hubby and nephew at her house and went shopping.  We took the baby along and got our shopping done pretty quickly.  My big purchase of the day was a brand new bbq grill.  We've been needing one for a while so I decided to splurge.  Hubby and I got home around 6:00 and had a nice relaxing evening at home.  I got my sister's new template (which she loves) all loaded up on her website and then sat back and did nothing the rest of the night.

Sunday we went to church, then went up to my sis's house again.  My nephew had a make-up soccer game scheduled, so we went to that.  He actually did a little bit better and got several good kicks in, but kept giving the ball to his friend that was on the other team....who in return scored about 4 goals!  The best part of it was that the sun was out and it was HOT!  I complained of course about being hot, but in reality it felt SO good to have the sun on me.  I came home with a bit of a sunburn, but I'm not complaining! 

I spent a couple hours cleaning up around the house, doing laundry, and cooking some dinner on the old grill while hubby put the new one together.  When he was finished we watched some TV for a while.  I decided to work on the baby blanket that I have been crocheting and actually finished it finally.  I feel so accomplished having completed it. 

All in all, I had one of the best weekends I have had for a while.  It was busy but relaxing at the same time.  I really enjoyed getting to spend some time with my sister.  And, of course, seeing the baby all weekend was pretty fun too.  He is so responsive now and laughs and smiles all the time.  It is so much fun to watch and to imagine that I'll have one of my own soon!

I won't go into details because I'm sure nobody wants to hear it, but my mother and boss are driving me insane.  I only wish there was some way to let her know how much stress she adds to my life by making me listen to her bitch about how mad she is at our boss.  I guess I just have better coping skills.  When he makes me mad I can just let it go most of the time.  She can't.  She just has to hold a major grudge forever and I am so tired of hearing about it.  Fortunately, she had to leave for a doctor's appointment this afternoon so I'll be spared for the rest of the day unless she decides to call me and bitch some more.

I don't know why, but for some reason after complaining about my lack of motivation and inspiration to complete the blog templates I had promised, I just whipped one out in about 30 minutes.  Somehow it just all fell together right.  It is the one for my sis's blog, so as long as she likes it, I can cross that one off my list.  Yay!

I have been a bad blogging friend this week.  I've been reading and posting here and there, but I just haven't felt like commenting much lately.  In fact.  I just haven't felt like talking to anyone much the last few days.  My hubby gets really irritated with me when I get in a mood like this.  I'm perfectly happy just to sit in silence and do my own thing.  I haven't even been listening to music much which is very unlike me.  I also haven't been working much, which I'm sure is going to come back on me next week.

I spent the last couple days helping my mom set up a new website and a blog.  The website is for a breast cancer message board that she is very involved in.  It is a very simple site that basically exists for the purpose of being able to share pictures and links with other members of the board.  It was kinda fun to work on with her.  The blog site is just a personal site for her to update family and friends with what is going on in her life.  It still needs a template built for it, but she can wait for that.  It is fun for me to see her getting into building websites and blogging because I know she probably wouldn't have ever done it if I hadn't started first.

I really need to get on the ball and finish up a couple of other blog templates that I have promised.  My sis has been waiting for a couple months now for a new design on her site, plus I have a couple others I need to get done.  I've been really dragging my heels on these and just can't get motivated.  The creative juices are just not flowing lately.  Plus I think all the coding and css is just too much for my brain to handle right now.  Maybe I can fit in a few hours of computer time this weekend if I don't get too busy with other things.

I actually have no set plans for this weekend so far, but many things that are possibilities.  A friend of a friend is supposed to be in town for a visit and we may possibly all get together to hang out either tonight or tomorrow night.  I really want to go to my nephew's soccer game on Saturday morning.  Hubby wants to go see a movie.  I absolutely have to get to the grocery store.  Plus, the yard is ready for its first mowing of the season and the house is in desperate need of being cleaned up.  Sunday is already mostly taken up with church and dinner with my family afterwards.  My brother-in-law's birthday is Monday, so we'll probably spend a little extra time with them Sunday afternoon.  If we manage to cram all of that in, it leaves very little time for rest and relaxation.  Of course, I'm still looking forward to it because at least I don't have to be at work!

Well, I promised the new picture of Zachary, so here it is.  He doesn't want us to see his face, but he did show us a little bit more than last time.

You would not believe the drama that goes on at my work place.  Well, maybe you would, but it was so crazy here this morning.  If I hadn't known better, I would have thought that World War III was starting right here in my office.  I don't even know what started it all, but everyone seemed to be yelling at everyone else.  The worst of it was coming from my mom and our boss.  So, I just stayed back here in my little corner and tried my best to stay out of it.  My mom got so pissed off that she eventually just left.  She hasn't been feeling well anyway, so she just went home.

Fortunately, I had a doctor's appointment this morning so I got to leave for a bit while everyone else calmed down.  My doctor's appointment went great.  Doc said that everything looks good.  I've gained a total of 15 pounds now with this baby.  I know it is natural and good for the baby for me to be gaining like that, but it is getting harder and harder to look at the number on the scales.

We attempted the 3D ultrasound again yesterday afternoon and Mr. Zachary still wanted to hide his face.  He was moving around more this time, but he just didn't want to pull those hands down.  We did get one more picture where you could see most of his face, but it still wasn't very clear.  I haven't scanned the pic yet, but maybe I'll have it tomorrow.  After the second try, I'm giving up.  He must just not want us to see him yet.  At least I didn't have to pay $125 to see his hands in front of his face!

I'm really irritated at myself this morning.  I'm still working on getting my computer back to normal operation.  I discovered this morning that I didn't back up my e-mail right and I lost about the last year and a half of e-mail I had saved.  It wouldn't have been such a big deal if it was my work e-mail, cause that is backed up pretty regularly.  But, this was my own personal e-mail that I lost.  Important stuff with registration codes and passwords that I actually did need are all gone.  I am so mad at myself for screwing it up.  Instead of backing up the current file, I actually backed up an old backup file from 2003.  I don't know what I was thinking.  But, the good news is I finally did get my accounting software to load right.  I don't know what the problem was with that either.  This whole process has been very frustrating.  Something I thought would be so easy and maybe take up one day or so of work time has ended up taking way too long!  Two more major programs to load, then the rest I can just load as I need them.

Well, it's been a few days since I've written anything, so here's an attempt at a quick summary.

Friday
I arrived at work Friday morning to find out I had a virus on my computer. I had kinda suspected this, because I was getting really strange pop-ups for a couple days prior to that. I had run several different spyware detection programs and a virus scan, but somehow they must not have detected it. I had been planning a reformat and clean up of my computer anyway, so I decided to go ahead and just do it Friday morning. When I was about 50% done reformating my drive, my boss came in and told us to go home at noon because it was such a nice day out. That was at about 11:00 I think. I wanted to leave and enjoy the rest of the day, so I waited until I at least had Windows loaded back up and then left.

I went home and tried to take a nap, but kept waking up with the phone ringing, so I gave up. When hubby got home we went and hung out with some friends for the evening.

Saturday
Saturday morning hubby and I got up and decided to go run some errands. When we got back, our neighbors were out in the yard so we started chatting. They offered to let us bring our dog over to run in their yard for a while. They have a very nice fenced in yard and we don't have anywhere to let him out to run, so we took him over for a little bit. He loved getting to run without being on a leash!

Saturday night I talked hubby into going to a sneak preview of the movie Fever Pitch. It was one of the better movies I have seen in a while. I love Drew Barrymore and I love the Red Sox so it was a great combination for me. Hubby loved it as well. I guess the trick to getting guys out to the romantic movies is to combine the romance with a sports story! I would definitely recommend this movie if you like the romantic comedy type movies or if you like the Red Sox.

Sunday
Sunday we did our typical church and dinner with the family. Then we came home and did a bit of yard work. We still had a bunch of branches in the yard that had fallen down in the winter storms, so we worked at cleaning those up. It was a beautiful day out and I really enjoyed being out in the sun for a while. When we were done, the dog and I both needed a shower. He was nice and muddy from digging holes in his pen and I was just sweaty and dirty! After cleaning the both of us up, hubby and I watched a movie and then the depressing Red Sox/Yankees game. It was quite a disappointment after re-living last season the night before.

Monday
Today started out wonderfully. I left my house at 8:15 and didn't get to work until 9:15. There were 3 wrecks on the highway on my usual route. I got past the first one thinking that it would be clear the rest of the way, then about 1/2 a mile down the road things started slowing down again. All this time, my mom was waiting for me to pick her up, so by the time we finally got the office, we were both frustrated. I finally got here and started on the process of re-laoding all my programs onto my computer. I have all the main programs that I use on here finally, with the exception of my accounting program and for some reason it wants to give me fits. If I can get the accounting program loaded up, I can start copying my data back over. Then load a few more programs and I'll finally be done. After that, I get to start on the work that I should have done on Friday. Ugh......

At least today is another beautiful day outside. The report on the radio just now was that it is 78 degrees. I think I'll take the dog for a nice long walk when I get home. We both need the exercise!