I still don’t have a long term solution to this whole computer fiasco and it’s got me on edge. I know it might sound like I’m being overly dramatic about the whole thing, but I do have a job and I can not do it without a working computer. After doing some online shopping I’ve had to face the harsh reality that it is going to cost a pretty penny for me to replace what I have now, even with the apple discount my dad gets for being a nerd, uh, I mean infrastructure engineer. My plan is to sell some things on ebay. I am sure I can get something for the hunk of junk laptops that we’ve got right now, and I do have an extra canon SLR that I’ve been meaning to get rid of. And if all that doesn’t add up I will probably have to resort to selling some organs on the black market, but we’ll see.

Feeding ducks as a family and enjoying a beautiful day is one of my finer things. That’s why I am linking up with Finer Things Friday over at Amy’s Finer Things. Check it out.

It seems like every other week I have some piece of modern technology failing me. Recently it’s been my digital camera, then my cell phone, and this week it appears to be my laptop AGAIN. I can’t complain. This laptop has been with me even longer than my children.

My little boy learned to type his name on the computer. A practice which sort of back fired on me when he started telling people his name was “Z I O N space bar L E E”.

All 8 of the members of my family (my parents, brothers, and sister in laws) own Macbooks.

Even baby SJ came to love this titanium member of our clan.

The problem began on Monday afternoon when my charger started smoking. I panicked and J tried to perform an immediate emergency operation with a solder gun (because he is an IT super hero). In the mean time the battery on my laptop was running out.

40%…35%

Come to find out, it wasn’t the charger, it was the actual computer itself and by this time I am down 15% left of my battery power.

“Do you have everything backed up” J says as he peers at the screen trying everything he can to save the poor creature.

“I think so”, but as the words come out I start doubting myself and I begin to sweat.

“Go get your external hard drive!” he shouts.

My heart is pounding as I imagine the thought of loosing everything. I try very hard to make double back ups of all my photos, but there is so much more than that. I start rattling off files to put on the hard drive.

“MY CALENDAR, DOCUMENTS, STICKIES, I DON’T KNOW! I NEED IT ALL! I CAN’T LOOSE THIS COMPUTER.” in the meantime the power is quickly fading like the last grains of sand slipping through an hour glass.

10%… 5%

My mind raced to think of every last item and I remember some recent photos of the kids feeding the ducks and I jumped in front of J to locate the folder myself and transfer it to the hard drive.

“I don’t think it’s going to make it”. J said as we watched the race between the folder that was being transferred and the tiny percent of battery power left on the machine, within seconds everything went black. My heart sank.

Reluctantly J took the charger off of his new laptop. He was hesitant because he had seen what my laptop had done to the other charger, but as he plugged it in, the life came back onto the screen. It wasn’t a permanent solution, but at least there was a glimmer of hope. It’s too soon to really tell the fate of my beloved 17 inch. I am currently using J’s old computer to type this blog, so we’ll just have to wait and see what happens with all of this.

Am I the only one who has such a tight relationship with my computer? Is there anyone else in danger of passing out if your laptop crashes?

I know when I get started on something my friends and readers never get to hear the end of it. I can’t help myself. Whether it’s the cereal party I had in high school or the “2nd wedding” I had for our 10th anniversary, I love event planning. Last year I wrote a post called the unparty where I explained that I will only throw big parties for my kids about every other year. I think the reason I set these limits for us is because I know I can’t hold myself back, I have to go all out. I love to party. Not Charlie Sheen party, but you know, sprinkles and balloons birthday kind of party.

SJ’s first birthday went above and beyond my expectations. It was incredible! I will post more details for top 10 Tuesday, but let me just say I personally was blown away. I was worried about her being overwhelmed and clingy, but she loved every minute of it and was the happiest I have ever seen her! Her brother Z did great too here he is helping blow out the candle.

She has never had cookies, chocolate, cake or anything like that so the cake eating was the highlight of the party as everyone anticipated how she would react to her first taste of sweets. She loved the chocolate. Would you expect anything else from my offspring!?

Contrary to what I expected she was very interested in her presents and was attentive the whole time.

I know a lot of people probably think it was stressful. It wasn’t at all and I know it looks like it cost a small fortune, but it didn’t. It was all done very economically and many people that love SJ very much pulled together to make it happen. I know she won’t remember this party, but I will. I will cherish it forever.

Tomorrow is my baby’s first birthday and I am the one that got the big package in the mail. It’s 180 diapers, which for a cloth diapering mom should last a REALLY LONG TIME. This was the first time I have spent any money on diapers for her. I received about 7 packages of disposables when she was born. At first I only used about one or two disposable diapers a week, now that she is a more heavy wetter and eating solids we are at about a diaper a day (some days I use a few if we are out all day, other days I don’t use any). The best part is that I got this whole box of diapers for $9.00. I heard about a really great deal on amazon from passionate penny pincher and I used a $10.00 coupon along with swag bucks to make it a steal!

“I use Luvs disposable. By the time you spend time and $ on water and soap, I think the cost comes out about the same. I’d rather be spending all my moments I can with my children – not leaning over a toilet swishing poopies…”

This post will be linked to other money saving ideas at LIFE AS MOM.

This blog has seemed to turn into a tracking sytem for my 2011 new years goals. I have been writing about all the successes I have had with cleaning the house, date nights, family time, reading, etc. The problem is, as much as I want to keep momentum going with the good stuff, I also want to keep it real with ALL the other stuff that is far too often more typical. For example,

Sunday- We went to the park for an evening of fun with friends. Z fell down the slide and bit his tongue. He was okay, but it was bloody, and our clothing had to pay the price.

The head pastor is away this week and so J is in charge at church! This means a very busy schedule for him and a week at home alone with the kids for me. I have had my fair share of play time lately so I think I can handle it.

Two weeks ago I was able to attend part of the CFNI worship conference and see some of my favorite worship artists Brian and Jenn Johnson. I’ve got the new album and I am LOVE. ING. IT.

Then last night we went out to use the groupon we got for Christmas and had one of the best dates ever. It was technically just dinner and a movie, but the dinner was at Simply Fondue in Dallas (it’s reservation only, so pretty fancy schmancy).

We started with salads, followed by some exotic Mediterranean cheese fondue, then we got to pick 6 different meats along with many other scrumptious sides for the main course. Of course by then we are totally stuffed, but somehow managed to finish it all of with an assortment of desserts to dip in a chocolate Bailey’s sauce. It was incredible!

Afterward we saw The King’s Speech.

We both gave it two thumbs up which is a marriage miracle for us. We tend to differ in movie reviews, me being the pickier of the the two of us, but I loved this film. It’s rated R for language (just a heads up), but I love the actors, the era, I love that it’s a true story. I could go on and on. Hopefully it will come out strong this weekend at the Academy Awards.

All that to say, I may have an intense week ahead of me, but I feel blessed, refreshed, and ready to take on whatever comes next.