It’s been a very busy week in my household but with that busyness comes stories of how ridiculous things are in my life 😁.

Last week I finally bit the bullet and made an appointment at the Apple store in Charlotte so that I could upgrade my very old computer and have the Genus bar transfer the data from old to new.  If you’re wondering why I didn’t do it myself, might I remind you of the numerous occasions where electronics get squirrelly around me and things happen that aren’t supposed to, allegedly. I know enough about myself to ask for help when needed. But this adventure was not without its challenges.

Challenge one: Drive to Charlotte. Why is this a challenge? Two reasons – 1. I don’t consistently drive in a large city anymore so it stresses me out when I have to navigate not only a large city, but one that I am unfamiliar with (yes, I have GPS, but I constantly worry about being in the wrong lane or about other people who know I’m from out of town and are annoyed by your very existence in their city); 2) I have become such a hermit that I will put off going places because I get overwhelmed by the whole adventure (a touch of social anxiety, I suspect 🤔). But I persevered and made it with time to spare.

Challenge two: Getting past the gatekeepers to buy my new computer. You see I had already decided on the MacBook Air with 512 GB of memory. I didn’t need to speak to someone to review all of my options, I knew what I wanted. So, I tell all of this to the check-in guy and he was kind enough to place the order and send me to someone who would pull the product and check (cash?) me out. Problem solved. I walk over to the cashier, for lack of a better description, and I kid you not, her device disconnected from the server as she went to pull up the payment app they use 🤦‍♀️. Took the obligatory three steps back and everything works just fine. The electronics thing hadn’t happened for so long, I had to laugh at the timing. But this went more smoothly than anticipated because challenge number three was nearly pushed me over edge.

Challenge three: Bringing my computer in from my car. For those not familiar with an iMac it is a 27 in monitor with the hard drive built in and weighs 12.5 lbs. It is awkward to carry and gets heavy due to that awkwardness. Now when I took my iMac for service in 2019, they were kind enough to send a gentleman and a cart with me to my car to bring it in. They were not inclined to do so this time around (“we can’t have employees follow you out to your car”). They wouldn’t even lend me a rolling cart to bring it in! So I had to force them to hold on to my recently purchased computer so I wasn’t dragging that back and forth for no good reason, go out to my car to get my computer, walk it about 3/10ths of a mile through Dillard’s into the mall and to the Apple store all while trying not to drop it. AND I had to recheck in for my Genus bar appointment! Where the hell is the customer service Apple?

Thank the goddess that my Genus support person was exceedingly capable, very patient and incredibly kind (even if he thought I was cuckoo about how electronics can act around me 😆). I might have lost my s🤬🤬t if he had had an attitude. And even though he was great, I had one more obstacle to overcome. You see when I asked him to migrate my data from one computer to the next, he initially said that I would have to leave both computers with them for 24 to 48 hours (a piece of information left out when I scheduled to appointment with tech support) because of where I would be in the queue. Did I mention that I live an hour and a half from Charlotte? AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!! 

Lo and behold, because sometimes I get my act together, I had also brought my back-up drive and he said that if I had two hours I could stay and begin the back-up from the drive with his assistance. So that’s what we did. Now he did have to step away to assist others, but he checked back frequently and found me another person to assist when he left for his lunch break 😊. That is how customer service should work. 

It took an hour, but the data install went smoothly, with a few assists from the second Genus bar guy (questions/prompts that you’re not sure what to do with and the like). And as a bonus, the management must have changed out, because they lent me a cart and an employee to take both computers back to my car. 

So finally, at four pm, I got into my car for the long drive home, exhausted from the entire experience – 7 ½ hours in total. But I have my new computer and that was worth the price of admission.

And yesterday, I spent a majority of it adjusting to a screen half the size of my iMac and relearning the subtle differences of between a laptop and a desk top. Mainly because I’m challenged 😆😆😆.

So it’s been a minute 😊.

Some days I’m able to say what I need in just a few short paragraphs….

As you all know I am an avid reader. I love books and the worlds they take me to. But I most especially love when a writer crafts a line that stops me in my tracks at how profound (to me at least) that line is. So much so that I will write it down to ponder over and over again.Today I found another quote to add to my ever-expanding list. Recently I picked up the book Mister Tender’s Girl by Carter Wilson and started reading it. To set the scene, the protagonist was in the midst of a full-on panic attack – the kind that makes you think you’re dying (thankfully I’ve never had an anxiety attack turn into a panic attack 😮‍💨). She eyes a clock in the room praying that it won’t be a prolonged attack. And then the line that made me stop – 

“There’s nothing in this world more trapping than one’s mind.”

Alice Grey, Mister Tender’s Girl

The truth in that line really struck me. It put into words the challenge I face regularly within my own brain. And although my brain maybe broken – it will still hold me hostage when the dark thoughts are louder than the sunny one’s.  It was a validation that I’m not the only one who’s mind can trap me in my thoughts and anxieties.

I share this quote My Lovelies so you know that you are most definitely not alone in your own struggles 💜.

Side note: 70 pages in and I am enjoying the book if you are looking for something to read 😊.

Somebody had a birthday this past weekend (well two somebodies really 😁). My beautiful big girl Sabre turned 18. I can’t believe she has been in my life for 15 years at this point! 

So, to celebrate, I always bring her more treats than usual to honor her special day – a carrot and apple salad so to speak. Which she enjoyed once I dragged her away from the rest of the mares (they too like their treats 😜) Of course once she finished it off and sniffed/nibbled me all over to make sure there was nothing else – she just walked off and left me standing there all alone 😆. Well not completely alone. Once the other horses got wind that something might be going on with her, they came right on over, looking for their share. Fortunately, I had feed most of it to her, so no sharing that day 🤷🏼‍♀️.  But they decided to hang around me anyway and Sabre took advantage of that by heading straight for the new bale of hay. Since she is lower in the herd pecking order, she has to move in when the others are distracted 🤫.

Somebody else in the household also celebrated her 53 birthday by loving on her horse and buying sushi for dinner 🤤. And finally finishing season two of The Witcher! As much as I enjoy the series, I feel like I need a map of all the different storylines just to keep up with the story 🤦‍♀️. 

Since Robb and I started The Witcher journey together, he came over for the season two finale. He was also thoughtful and brought cupcakes to celebrate someone’s birthday 😁. 

Sometimes a quiet birthday is the best thing.

Let me start by saying that I went to a reputable jeweler in my town – family run business for years. And I learned that my wedding set (retail replacement value appraised at around $3500) was worth squat to them about .04 percent to be exact 🙄. The owner was very upfront and kind about it, just honest.

Apparently, a pear-shaped diamond isn’t in demand these days and she would have to re-market it, which I think means resell to others, reconfigure it so that it would be work for someone else or remove the diamonds and melt the gold. Whatever the case – it doesn’t help me in anyway.

Also, I didn’t realize that retail replacement is different from a resale appraisal 🤷🏼‍♀️. I would probably get more by removing the diamond and selling the gold – but not much.

While I had hoped to get maybe a third of its value, I shouldn’t be surprised at this turn of events. It seems par for the course of my life, if the last four years are any indication 😆.

For now, I will put the wedding set and some of the other nicer pieces of jewelry I no longer wear aside until I can decide what else to do with all of it. I am open to alternative options, so comment away 😊.

As for my new computer, I was hoping the sale of my jewelry would offset my costs. As that is not the case, thank the goddesses for savings. Apple here I come 😁.

With that I end my tale of woe for the week 🤪. I hope those who are also contemplating selling your old wedding ring set fare better than I 😊.

Hello My Lovelies! If you are reading this it means you survived your weekend so YAY you 🍾🥂! It also means that I survived the weekend, so double YAY for me.

My mental equilibrium is almost back in balance for the moment, but this weekend was trying my resolve. Friday started off well enough – dinner and a little shopping with a friend. Then came Friday night 😬.

You see when I have bouts of bad sleep, I hate going to sleep, because I know it’s going to be awful so I stay up way too late in hopes that it will improve my sleep (It’s flawed logic, but it’s my logic 😆). Around one a.m., I finally turn my fan on (white noise), my lights off and begin my usual sleeping tricks to keep my mind from wandering too far in the dark. And I drift off only to awaken at 1:45 am because of a power outage (fan stops making noise – I wake up 😁). At first, I think it’s only my house because I was foggy from 40 minutes of sleep, then I think “Great, I’ve got to find my way over to the electrical box in the cold dark garage, with limited lighting to work with 😡” and finally I realize that maybe it isn’t just my house (this whole train of thought probably took 3 minutes to cycle through 😆). So, I look out the windows on all sides to see what’s up and sure enough, the whole neighborhood (and farther) is out. And I’m cursing myself for not putting in a generator because it’s cold outside and I don’t have heat 🥶 and I don’t like being cold (although to be fair the powerlines in our area are buried so a power outage should be unlikely).

Now I’m wide awake, checking Facebook to see if there are any post about the cause, how long it’s projected to take to fix, wondering if I should call and report the outage or have enough people already called, planning an exit strategy if it isn’t fixed by the morning and finally deciding that there isn’t much I can do at 2:30 in the morning and I should try to go back to sleep (after grabbing a sweatshirt and extra blanket 😁). Then I spend another half hour trying to fall back asleep. Of course about an hour after I finally drift off again, the power comes back on (WooHoo) and now I’m awake again, thanks to the all of the electrical start-up noises (including the fan)  🙄. I thought Fate was cutting me a break, but she was definitely toying with my sleep Friday night and as a result, I was useless most of Saturday. It became a Netflix and chill day – when I wasn’t drifting off 🥱.

Thankfully by Sunday, I was a little more coherent 😊. And I remembered to wish my parents a happy anniversary (55 years and counting 😮) and my BIL happy birthday (also 55 years – the old man 😁) both belatedly. I’m blame the delay on the power outage and my broken brain 😜.

But that is the past and it is a brand spanking new week that I plan to make the most of it. How about you?

Note: If you’re looking for something to binge – check out Stay Close on Netflix. Limited series based off a Harlan Coben novel.

Hello My Lovelies! I’m sorry I dipped out on you last week, but I was (and still am) struggling with some life issues that were affecting my mental health, so I took the week to work on getting my head right. It happens sometimes and I will say more tomorrow because who wants to start the week off on that kind of note? Not me that’s for sure 😁!

So instead, I will regale you with a humorous little tale from my home in South Carolina. How many of you are familiar with a little Christmas tale known as The Year Without A Santa Claus? It has my favorite Christmas character of all time – Heat Miser (those who know him are singing his song in their head right now 😆). He’s my favorite because, I like my weather hot (although preferably less humid than SC). 80 degrees makes me happy. Well, this last weekend, I thought that I had fallen into that show because it SNOWED IN DIXIE (ok, SC – close enough 😜). And what was worse were all the winter warnings of snowmaggedon. Grocery stores out of milk and bread because the one day we would have snow apparently meant you must overstock on these two staples 🙄 (I made the mistake of doing my regular shopping during the pre-storm prep, so I know this to be true). But the most hilarious part was the warnings to hunker down once the snow started because of hazardous driving conditions. The hazard? People who don’t know how to drive in snow 😆😆😆. That’s the main reason I didn’t venture out 😳. 

During all the snowmageddon talk, all I could think is that as a child, I stood at the bus stop in way worse weather than we were going to get. I also spent many winters walking across the Buffalo State college campus during snowstorms and SC’s weather event didn’t even come close to any of those storms. Hell, all my friends that live in the northeast (and CO for that matter) deal with winter woes on the daily that ours couldn’t even touch. 

So here’s how the storm played out – it started snowing around 8 or 9 pm on Friday, finished sometime in the overnight hours and was melting by about 1 pm on Saturday. Maybe a ½ and inch of snow. Patches of snow can still be found in areas that don’t get sun, but the 50-degree temps are helping with that. Quite frankly, I was more concerned with the number of earthquakes we had over the past two or three weeks than I was about the snow 😬.

I guess what I’m trying to say, is that having grown up in the suburbs of Denver CO, gone to high school in Erie, PA and college in Buffalo, NY – this was a nothing event that played out as if the world were ending. And I just laughed my butt off at all the alarm surrounding it 🙄.

Someone tell MS Word that snowmaggedon is a real word 😜!