Computer Problems

Hi there everyone. Hope you are all having a wonderful September. Summer went by way too fast. Well, this post will be VERY short. It seems I am having a problem with my computer. I wanted to give you a few pictures and a short paragraph or two. BUT, for some reason Blogger keeps on telling me "Blogger is not responding" and won't bring up my file of pictures. So, no card pictures this time around. So boring.

Facebook is doing the same thing to me..."Facebook is not responding" and it takes a couple of minutes for Facebook to start working before I get all my newsfeeds. 

Just not sure what is wrong....wonder if somehow I got a virus, but then I thought Norton was taking care of things for me. I may have to take this computer back to the store and get it cleaned. ONLY, if I can get it done for free. Maybe there are a few programs that are bogging down this old computer. Tomorrow I will pull the plug and see if the computer resets it's self. Getting very frustrating how this computer is working soooooo slooooooow and not responding properly!!!

So if you do not see me for awhile....let it be known, I am having problems with this computer. I will try to comment on your blogs if Blogger allows me to. You all have a good Fall and keep looking up ~ hopefully better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

Finally......Feeling Better

Hi there everyone. Yes.....finally feeling better. This has been quite a bout with the flu or whatever this was. Now JP has it. Lots of coughing and hacking and blowing the nose. Tiredness and no ambition to do anything but sleep. Didn't even feel like blogging....nope, had nothing to say and no pictures to add to this blog.

To top that off, my computer decided to act up....for some reason it was not letting me in. I am wondering if I got hacked???? I finally had to let the computer reset itself back to when I first got it. Which meant I lost some programs, like Microsoft Word, a few games and Norton to name just a few, oh and my screen saver pictures.

Norton was telling me I needed to buy a new subscription.....that was upsetting me, because I still had 2 months left before I had to renew, which will be $100. Then losing my Microsoft Word, was another bummer. I ended up having to buy a subscription yesterday, for a year at $69 and will have to renew next January. Not exactly sure how I got the previous program. I finally did find the games that I lost, I like scrabble and Yahtzee, found them, which were free. Now I guess I can get on with life for awhile. Till something else happens to my computer. Computers are kinda expensive to have I think.

The picture above is another idea for the new peony stamp I bought from Altenew. Looking forward to making a few cards with this stamp in the next few weeks.

My card making "mojo" has been very low. On a scale of 1 to 10, I'm probably a 2 or 3, no creative juices flowing!!!! I did manage to get some cards put together for the Hospice meeting on the 26th. What I did was pull a bunch of cards together that were in my inventory. Made a few Valentine's Day cards and placed the inserts for Heartland Hospice in all the cards. My next batch of cards, I will make labels and place them at the bottom of the card instead of ripping the inserts out with the sayings on them and replacing with the Heartland Hospice insert. So much extra work eliminated. I noticed that the other ladies were just using labels.....I thought, why can't I???? So now that I have my Word program, why not make labels???? The message is still the same.

Finally....took my Christmas Village down today.....I guess that is a sign that I am feeling better. I left my table top Christmas tree up....it is decorated in red for Valentine's Day. I'll take it down before St. Patricks.....not unless I change my mind....who knows.

Well time to close here. You all have a great day and keep yourself healthy, get plenty of rest and stay away from the coughers and sneezers!!! Keep looking up ~ better days are coming. 

Cheers ~ Louise

Friday Ramblings........

Hi there, how you all doing?? I am fine and surviving the Christmas and New Year's activities. Plus doing some resting too. Caught some kind of cold, the residue is a bunch of flemmy junk and cough in the morning, but once that is out of the way, everything is fine. Sleeping in has done wonders, guess that is why we are told to drink lots of water and get plenty of rest. You might get rid of the cold quicker, instead of it lingering for weeks on end.

Well, I found the above picture someplace on the internet and thought it was worthy of being placed on this blog, so here it tis. ENJOY and I hope it brings a smile on you face!!!

 Listening to the radio while typing. My favorite talk shows are Rush, Sean and Mark........they talk so much of this "fiscal cliff" I wonder what it really means. Is there really a fiscal cliff or is it all just a scare tactic, getting people all worked up for nothing. I don't know, these politicians sure can make up stories to cover up other stories. They should be ashamed of themselves. What is so hard about speaking the truth??? Guess truth does not make money.....hummmm?!?!

Weather is snowy today. I was going to go to the store today, but JP said the streets are slippery. We can go store hopping tomorrow and pick up his meds and some food.

I think I finally got my computer fixed, it was running soooooo slow. I knew there was something plugging it up, but just did not know how to get around it. Finally clicked on Norton again and there is a program Norton has that finds virus's that are deeply hidden and fixes the problem. Plus let's you know if there are other things not working right. So I jumped through those hoops and now things are running better. For now. Have to check out a few other programs I was having problems with before the "big fix".

So what are you doing for New Year's......I think we are going to a friends house, they live on the Fox River. From their home can be see the fireworks and the ball dropping....that should be fun watch, can't remember ever seeing fireworks on New Year's Eve.

Well, time to close this blog for today, probably will say hi again on the 31st and say "Good-bye" to 2012 via my blog.

You all have a great couple of days and keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh. Cheers ~ Louise

Cards, Life and Computers

These are some Christmas cards in my Etsy Shop. I deleted them from my store as they were selling separately. I then put them back into my store as a set of 11 cards for $23 + postage and shipping. That's about $2.10 a card. A nice deal for an array of pretty cards. If they do not sell after this season they will not go back into my store and I probably will use them next year to send out to friends and family. You can only try to sell for so long and then comes a point that you just have to give them away to whom ever. Oh well, that is life, I was never a good seller of my crafts.

When I was still young and looking for direction in my life and what I wanted to do when I grew up. My dream was to become a graphic artist. I loved drawing and painting and majored in art all four years in High School. BUT my stepfather said, "you will starve before you make it as a graphic artist" So, I went into Hair Design.........he didn't like that either. I never could please the man and still can't. I am not sure what he wanted me to do. I know my mother wanted me to go into the Airlines, or work for the telephone company. But these things were not what I wanted to do. It wasn't till after the fact, that my mother said if I had kept up with my art work.....Pops would have sent me to the Art Institute in Chicago.
"Why, did they not tell me that earlier??" Things might have been different for me.
Oh well, such is life in the big city and the little hamlet.

So, I put myself through beauty school and went on to become a hairdresser that lasted for 18 years. I loved doing haircuts and sets, designing hair, coloring and perming. Worked in some really good shops working with some fun people. The ladies that followed me from shop to shop were really nice and tipped very well. Those were some good years from 1966-1984, working in 9 different shops for 9 different bosses. I learned a lot of different techniques and styles. Some shops were fun and laid back and some were tuff and strict, but learn I did and enjoyed what I did.

Hairdressing is a form of Art and that is probably why I enjoyed it.....but then I left that profession becoming a Secretary and jack of all trades, wearing many hats to satisfy those around me. JP and I got involved with the Salvation Army, I for 14 years and JP for 12 years. Those were some fun and chaotic years, again I learned a lot.

So here I am today, retired and still looking for my nitch in life and back to graphic arts and making cards. ART has always been a part of my life and maybe it has been my life-saver, keeping me sane all these years. My goodness how in the world did I get off on all the above info????

Computer: FINALLY got my computer fixed. the cost??? $63.12 for more memory and $41.99 for instilation. $105.11 to get it running properly with less stress. Guess that is okay as I will get another couple of years out of this machine. It is working really well right now. Joe said for the age of my machine is was pretty clean but ran slow because it needed more memory. I did alot of preventative maintenance, cleaning cookies, defragging, PC registry cleaning and Mr. Norton doing his thing every day.

My next step towards a new lap-top will be to 1) get a wireless router.....2) a new printer for the lap-top....3) the lap-top. These 3 steps will not drain me financially. Joe said to buy everything right away will cost close to $1000, this way doing it step by step will alleviate financial stress. While still doing all this I still have a computer THAT WORKS!!! Windows XP will be obsolete by the end of this year and I will not be able to get it fixed at Office Depot. So I guess I got in at the wire. Joe also said that my computer is 10 years old and is going on 5th generation now. XP, Vista, Windows 7 and now Windows 8 - did I miss a generation????? (will have to google this and find out for sure).

Well, I guess it is time to close this blog, sort of rambled on a bit today, maybe because this computer is working and I am not having to wait for it to do it's thingie, it has been a pleasure to do this blog today. So you all have a great day and keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh.
Cheers ~ Louise