My VERY Busy "Day Off" and Computer Issues

As soon as I got back from my grocery shopping yesterday, I dove into making my week's portion of "Ogre Juice" (alkagizer) and then, after the kitchen was cleaned up again, went down to the den to assess what needed to be cleaned up. A hell of a LOT! Oy! I dove right in, didn't even stop to take any photos of the mess. I started on the mess at the North wall - boxes and books that had been stacking up there for several years. I pulled out every box, went through it putting the items away or tossing them, and then continued to the next.

I have a tri-leaf folding table at the South wall that I've had up. When I use my knitting machine, make holiday cards, or do any jewelry making, this is my spot. I had one leaf up, the other folded down, but it still was quite a bit to get cleared away and put away properly.

Then I tackled what was underneath the table - mostly photographic supplies like my light rings, white chamber, spotlights, etc. I got all of that finally put away, folded the wing down so that the table is now
just an eight-inch thick piece of wood, and moved it against the South wall. I made sure I could open the closet door for Sewing Area Storage #1.

MY COMPUTER SEEMS TO BE ACTING UP TODAY, SO TODAY'S BLOG IS TEXT MOSTLY. SORRY! 

My attention turned to the boxes blocking Knitting Area Storage #1 (or Sewing Area Storage #3). I had a large box, and a bunch of Swarovski crystals labelled and bagged by type. I had been photographing them for our Etsy sales platform - thus the lighting, white box, etc. Those got gathered up and consolidated into a single box. Since it's a project that's not actually finished (although it might not be worth expanding it any farther), I consider it a WIP and that box had just enough room to snug in next to the table on the South wall.

That left a variety of boxes and bins to go through, item by item, which I did. A fair amount was tossed, quite a few items were separated out for photographs to be listed for sale online, and a couple of lidded plastic boxes were put into the lower attic space. I was proud of myself - I only had to reset one mouse trap, not the whole row of them - LOL. I can be quite a klutz in that low-ceiling crawl space.

Finally, I folded up my Fluidity Barre. I'm going to offer that for sale at the YMCA I think. It normally costs almost $600 to purchase. I had bought it during COVID because I was going crazy being unable to exercise when I broke my foot and couldn't use the treadmill. I got a good deal on it, and used it quite a bit while I was healing when all of the gyms were closed, but I really don't need it any more. So I'll offer it for sale at a good price, probably around $150. It's a great piece of equipment for anyone who loves dance or who loves good stretching and flexibility exercises, and I have all of the items it came with.

After dinner, DH wanted to put an order in to Hong Kong for some stone beads we need for the shop. He finalized the order and asked me to pay for it with my Discover card (not an unusual request). However, apparently my card has been compromised. After almost 30 minutes on the phone with Discover, they are issuing me a new card, the old card is frozen, and I have now downloaded the past five months of transactions to see if I can isolate what charge(s) are fraudulent. We put the stone onto the AMEX card instead - *sigh*.

So, what do you usually do on YOUR day off? LOLOL

Le Sigh - Computers, Food and the Weekend

Wow! Maybe I shouldn't be allowed to touch a computer today because I'm having ALL kinds of issues. *sigh* But, the most important thing is that I have the ability to write my daily blog, so if this posts, I'll be happy (until I get to the shop and fight with the laptop - LOL). 

It's as if my printer at home only loves my desktop 
computer, and my printer at the shop only loves 
my laptop. *sigh* So silly! 

Yesterday, my third day off in a row, was absolutely delightful. Because of the July 4 holiday, my third swim of the week got pushed off to Friday instead of Thursday. That turned out to be fabulous. Apparently a lot of people were either sleeping in, out of town, or exhausted from visits and traveling. There weren't very many of us in the pool, and I had a lane to myself for most of my hour. Heaven! 

The recipe I base my roasted pears on actually calls for 
roasting 1/2 pears. I cut mine up, however, mix them with 
maple syrup, nuts and pumpkin pie seasoning, add any other 
fruits I feel like having (like my dried cranberries), and then 
roast the whole thing. It allows for the eight pears to 
spread into 10-12 containers, and it tastes fabulous! 

I got my grocery shopping done, cooked my next batch of roasted pears, and filled up my refrigerator once again. I also made my "Ogre Juice" for the upcoming week. I didn't get to cooking my cauliflower soup, but maybe I can do that quickly over the weekend. Maybe. No guarantees. But all-in-all, between kitchen and computer work (and harvesting some peas and peppers from the garden), it was an excellent day. 

*sigh* The laptop hates my home printer, so I'll have to 
fill out and print this governmental tax form at the 
shop instead of at home. Oh well, I have options, at least - LOL. 

Today started out a little rocky, however. I needed to fill out and print out a governmental form, and my desktop computer wasn't cooperating, and my laptop doesn't talk with my home printer. So, I'll have to do that first thing in the morning today at the shop where my laptop loves chatting with my new printer. It's as bad as children pouting in separate corners - LOL. 

Have a fabulous weekend, one and all. I'll be back to 
bug you once again on Monday - LOL. *hugs* all around! 

So, I'm going to keep this short and get moving on my day. I have a lot to do, and I'm already running late at 6:18 am! Oy!!! LOL I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend and I'll be back on Monday morning - hopefully with all of my electronics talking with each other once again *sigh*. LOL

 

My Day is NOT Starting Out Smoothly - But, I'm Heading to the Pool

Schedules - they can be good, they can be bad, and sometimes they intersect, despite the best attempts to stay apart. *sigh* That's my morning today. I finished my meditation, watered the fountain and settled down to write this, and noticed that my FING was orange instead of green. Now, what's a FING? It's one of my internet walls. It should be glowing green at all times, but it's orange. That's not a good thing, but we seem to have internet connection despite it, so I'm forging ahead. 

I use a Fingbox network security interface - bought 
it long ago when they were first introducing it to 
the market. It's generally available now, but I got 
it as a Kickstarter item. Ir should be glowing green, 
not orange. That's generally a bad thing. *sigh*

Of course, we're also intersecting in our schedules - DH is NEVER up this early, but he is today. He's been having problems sleeping, and I have a tight schedule on my swimming days, so he's in his corner at his computer and I'm in my corner on mine. I have to leave in a little more than 30 minutes, and he can sit there all day, if necessary. At least he's able to get onto the internet, so I'm grateful about that. Still, having my wired firewall orange instead of green isn't a good thing. *sigh*

The finished trivet is definitely smaller than the 
original, she was missing a lot of beads. But, it 
will be usable, and it is quite pretty. I might 
steam it one more time at the shop today. She's due 
in this afternoon. 

So, my trivet lady (who rescheduled) is due in this afternoon to pick up her trivet. I do hope she'll be happy. I didn't want to deposit the checks that friends had sent to cover costs until she had picked up her item, but I'll be depositing them today or first thing tomorrow. Thanks again to my dear friends (and one pet, who contributed from her Milk Bone fund). You are all AMAZING friends. 

According to Google, today is Nowruz, the Iranian 
or Persian New Year, so to those of my friends who 
might be looking for a celebration - grab onto this 
one. Why not? We all need to celebrate now and again. 

So, I can't seem to wrestle my mind into disciplined thoughts today. It may be a hopeless enterprise, so I may give up on clarity of thought and just focus on having a good workout. I need to lose a pound or two - having ribs two Sundays in a row is NOT good for my weight stabilization - too much fat for too many days in a row. It tastes lovely, but it's a bit of overload. Have an excellent Tuesday, I'll be back tomorrow with a more focused post. Slava Ukraini and חיים למען ישראל.

It Was a Busy Wednesday - Cooking and Computer Work

I didn't get around to doing anything except grocery shopping and working in the house yesterday, so no keyboard shopping or other errands. But I did get a lot done. In the USA, it's generally best to shop for groceries on Wednesdays. Why? Because most grocery stores have their next sales beginning on Thursday, but the computer work to put everything new on sale usually already applies on a Wednesday. So, in essence, you can take advantage of overlapping bargain days. 

BOGO, when it's on a product that I actually 
can use, is a wonderful thing. I've been able to 
take full advantage of this one with chicken 
at the start and again at the end of the sale. I 
ended up saving more than $30 on chicken 
between the two days. 

I took full advantage of that over the past two weeks. I have a particular brand of chicken pieces that I prefer to buy. I like their quality and the taste better than other brands. They were on BOGO (Buy One, Get One for free) over this past week. I jumped in early last Wednesday, buying two for one, and picked up another two yesterday on the final day of the sale. 

My homemade Bar-BQ sauce is very tomato based, 
and I like it. I find it quite taste. It uses coconut 
aminos for the sweetener, along with tomato sauce 
and tomato paste and other seasonings. 

So, I cooked a double-portion of chicken yesterday. I knew I wanted to make this second batch with Bar-B-Q sauce, but I was running low on mine (I make my own sauce that fits into my food plan). So yesterday's cook consisted of (1) make new Worcestershire sauce for myself, (2) make new Bar-B-Q sauce for myself using the new Worcestershire sauce, (3) bake one batch of chicken with the new sauce, pack separately and put into the freezer, and (4) bake the usual seasoning-coated chicken for dinner. 

I bake three chicken breasts every Wednesday 
night for dinner. That makes enough for two 
meals for DH and myself. It's one of my 
favorite meals of the week, and it's so easy 
to do. 

With all of that, I also had the time to arrange a separate folder for DH marked "AFS Photos to Send" with his product photos that he's been riding me on. So that's one more thing done. But, I'm stressed, and I can tell. I had some "free time" yesterday, so had a bowl of chili for lunch, and then settled down for a bit and munched - something I know I shouldn't do. My favorite munchie is nuts - nutritious, but not in the portion size of what I eat. Nuts are NOT a good food for me, they're a "trigger" food. I'm up a pound today, and I know that's exactly why. So, I'm off to the pool to get that pound back off. Have an excellent day and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini and חיים למען ישראל.

It's Still COLD and I'm Thinking About Stew and Keyboard Shopping

Today is a much needed "day off" with bills to pay, trash to take to the curb for collection, grocery shopping to do and probably some cooking, although my food is pretty stocked right now and I may push the bulk of my cooking off until Friday. I do think I'll look up some beef stew recipes - I'm in the mood for hot and hearty right now. It's still sub-zero for temps, for the second - or third? - day in a row, and I'm cold. I do have chili in the fridge from last week's cook, and chicken ready to be cooked today, but I think some stew to make on Friday might be ideal. 

I'm in the mood for a nice beef stew. I haven't made one 
for quite a while. My usual go-to's are chili or stuffed 
peppers, and I'm not feeling up to the work that stoffed 
cabbages would take (although they taste wonderful). 
Beef stew to make on Friday might be ideal. 

Today I'll have to be outdoors - I need gasoline for the car, and of course I'm headed to the pool shortly. It's looking like I need a new keyboard for my computer - one key (the y) keeps popping off. It's quite disconcerting and rather a mess all around. Still, I really like my keyboard. I purchased it during COVID. I remember because my last keyboard died, and I had to order on-line for pickup outside the office supply company. It's a great keyboard, and it wasn't inexpensive, but I use my computer, so I don't mind the expense. I might drop by the office supply store today and check it out. 

Although I prefer a back-lit keyboard because it's in 
a keyboard pull-out drawer and tends to be dark, I could 
live with something like this flourescent-colored 
keyboard too. I just need something easy to see on 
those rare times I actually need to look down at the 
keyboard. 

This particular computer, my main computer, is out of date. It's still running Windows 7, and I get daily reminders that I'm supposed to upgrade. But there are some programs on this machine that I really need (like my full Adobe Photoshop) and  I don't want to give them up. I should text Dale and see what he thinks. I need a computer that I can work with on intuition, and that's this one. My laptop requires more thought since it's newer and runs Windows 10. 

I run an old computer for my main computer at 
home. Mainly because of my full version Adobe 
Photoshop, that I use often and know how to use 
very comfortably. I have Windows 10 and Photoshop 
Lite on my laptop, and I'm not nearly as happy with 
that Photoshop as my older version. 

In any case, it's still COLD and we still have minimal snow and I'm heading to the pool in a little bit, so all's actually pretty good with my world. Of course, the day is young. Things could still go to "hell in a handbasket". And isn't that one of the weirdest sayings ever? LOL Have an excellent Wednesday and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini and חיים למען ישראל.

It Was an Eyeglasses Kind of Day

Yesterday turned into a fairly good day, although I didn't get time to get any beading done. Still, I was able to get my Ogre Juice made, and after several hours of semi-frustration, was able to get one set of eyeglasses ordered from EyeBuyDirect. I've purchased from Zenni in the past and the glasses were OK, but I wanted to try a different supplier. I need a set of functional eyeglasses ASAP. 

I haven't used EyeBuyDirect before, although I've looked 
through their glasses. I had a VERY difficult time 
signing on to the website, finally managing a successful 
sign-in by signing in via Facebook. It was crazy how 
difficult it was to get into the functional website, although 
I was able to browse without buying with no problem 
at all. 

I also took time to go to my local Post Office who told me that LensesRX should be able to contact their local post office with the tracking number which should provide what's called a "Geo Location Code". Each package is scanned in as it is delivered. It would tell the post office where my errant package had actually been delivered. We'll see. I'm keeping hold of the barest thread that perhaps those two sets of frames will turn up in Staten Island and I can get them filled with my prescription and sent back to me. 

I did phone Lenses RX after speaking to my Post 
Office. I told them what my Postal person had told 
me, and they'll try to locate my package from their 
end. I'll also try to locate it from my end. I have a 
small hope that my eyeglass frames (and other 
information) will be found. 

Although I had the laptop set up because I was ordering eyeglasses, I didn't have any time to work on DH's website. Even though that was on my agenda. Time simply got away from me because I need vision more than he needs the website. So, I didn't get anything done on that. I'll try to work on it today, if I can, although he might be working on it and I doubt the software will allow both of us to work on it at the same time from different locations. 

I have a feeling I'll be tied to my computer desk for the 
majority of the day today, just entering price tags 
for the shipment we got in earlier this week. That's OK, 
at least I'm necessary - LOL. 

But, I also know that I have TONS of price tag entering waiting for me at the shop, so I suspect I'll be busy doing that for most, if not all, of the day. Next week I start cleaning for a nice, clean house before Sharon arrives. The main crises have been put behind me, and I can focus on what needs to be accomplished within the next three-and-a-half weeks. It's not horrid, but I need to get the guest bedroom back into reasonable condition to house a guest - LOL. Ir's do-able. I'll get a better idea of how do-able on Wednesday. Meanwhile, it's the weekend. I work today, I "relax" tomorrow, and I hope all of my readers have a wonderful weekend. I'll be back on Monday. Slava Ukraini. 

Out of the Pan and Into the Fire - *Sigh*

As you may know, DH has been working hard at photographing inventory that he thinks one particular supplier might be interested in. He finally got to the point of offering it to them yesterday, but found that they didn't allow him to upload photos directly. Instead, they required him to supply them with the URL to take a look at the photos on HIS website. Well, he doesn't have a website. Yet. I told him he should set one up but, as usual, he didn't listen to me. 

Now he has to deal with setting up a website. It doesn't need 
a lot of bells and whistles, it needs the basics - domain name, 
intro page and whatever he's offering. 

At 8:00 pm last night, he finally realized he has to set up a website for this stuff. I suspect he'll be grabbing my laptop and working on it at the shop, and that's got me rather pissed. I use that laptop, it's totally MY laptop. I purchased it with my own money when my previous laptop was dying. I have it with me every single day. He had made sounds about buying a laptop, but that's all they were - sounds. I know he won't part with the money to get one, even though it's a logical next step. 

I've been very happy with my Lenovo laptop and if I need 
to get one for DH, that's the one I'll also get for him. I won't 
allow him to use mine every day. Guaranteed! 

So I'm not going to be happy. There will need to be some compromise somewhere, and having him take my laptop for his work when I have my own to do on it is not one of the areas of compromise in my arena. I'll probably let him have it for today, I don't really think I'll have much of a choice. But I'm also going to look carefully at laptops for him, and I might even end up buying one for him just to get him out of mine and out of my hair. 

He really hasn't put any thought into web design because 
he was adamant that he wouldn't need one. But, the vendors 
he's approaching about purchasing some of his supplies are 
requesting that they view the information on his website, 
not have the picture file sent directly to them. So ... he has 
to make a quick and dirty website. It would be easier if 
Chickie was here. She could help him and I could take 
care of customers. 

His website isn't a website for sales. It's almost a place holder - something saying "We're here, we're legitimate, and we have the parts that you want." He doesn't want to do e-commerce on it - his customers are select and few and very specific. He does need to have his photos uploaded into it, however, and how he's going to keep one vendor from seeing the photos of another's is a mystery to me. I set up my own company's website more than 20 years ago and it was a long, involved process. But my website was a commercial website where we sold product online. That's not his vision. 

This just about says it all. 

Still, it's an ARGH situation and I'll have to figure something out because him using my laptop in the long term simply isn't going to be feasible. I have my own projects on it that are taking my time, and I work on it every single day at the shop. Giving it up will be like cutting off my arm. No. Simply No. *sigh* So, I'm out of here. I'm going to try and hit the pool up between thunderstorms. I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

Computers and Scheduling - We'll Get it Done Somehow

Today will be a tough day for DH. He's got a large file of photos and a file of documentation that he's sending off to a single vendor. We worked at getting his PDFs set up last night. Things were a bit annoying for a time there - we'd know there were PDF files in his listings, but they weren't showing up. Then, as I took a closer look, I realized he had checked the box for documents only. Once he unchecked that box, voila! The PDF files reappeared. He's not too great with computer stuff, but I think he'll manage - he just won't be super happy about having to do it. 

I'm quite sure DH will feel like this several 
times today as he tries to get his files sent 
out to the vendor. He might even be in tears. 
But he's got to figure this stuff out. The 
document files are ready to go in PDF format, 
and his photos are also ready - although they 
might be a bit large. I was going to suggest that 
we put the photos into another PDF file, but he 
was too tense as it was. I'll have to see if he's 
been successful when I get home tonight. 

I have my own computer issues at the same time. I'm trying to get a mailing list together for product, and I was slowly getting addresses into my file using a split screen on my laptop. But the laptop's screen isn't all that large to begin with, and working split screen wasn't working very well. DH has a tablet computer that I bought for him (cheap) a couple of years ago. It's very slow, but it might be just what I need - a second screen where I can enter or read data. It may not be what I need, I may use my phone instead, but I'm hoping for a larger screen to get the data from. 

I know I can split the screen on my laptop - I've done it 
for this file before. But the actual size of each of the 
half-screens is just too small to be of use to me. I need a 
much larger monitor to work that out successfully on this 
file. For this, I think it would be a lot easier to just have one 
screen on a totally separate device - thus, the tablet came 
to mind. It's DH's tablet, however. He doesn't like it, says 
it's really slow, but if I can either get or enter my information 
on it, that might be just what I need. 

I'm 90% set on my what I'm making for my project for this year's holiday cards. Of course, 90% is still not quite there. I'm quite close, though, and think I can figure out the rest with colored pencils and graph paper. I also have a large mail order to pull today. I know I won't have everything she's looking for, but hopefully I'll have at least 80% so that she won't have to hunt for too many items. She wants me to fill the requirements for three large projects, so it's going to be a lot of beads. They're fun projects, though. Beading is her way to decompress after a hard day at work. I totally understand - I've had my times of doing exactly the same thing. 

Just like these samples of wood types/stains, I've been making 
small samples of what I want to include in my holiday cards 
this year. I'm just about on time. In those years when I've made 
intensive "gifts" to accompany my cards, I've usually started 
working on them by the time of Le Tour de France. Well, that 
starts in July, and we're in the last few days of June. I'm just 
about on time with this project. 

We're winding up June - it's rather frightening how quickly it came and went. Of course it's far from done yet, but what a month it's been so far. We're all working exceptionally hard to get the store closed down, but DH admitted last night that although he's trying for the end of the year, that it might be a firm date of April 1st before we can close the doors. Actually, I'm fine with that. I've moved in the winter more often than not and I HATE it. There's nothing much worse than moving in the dead of winter. Since this year's schedule has been toast for a while, I'm fine with April 1st. 

 

So I'm off to the pool. Then I'll think about how I want this beading project to come together in the final run-through, and get it down on paper. Then I can start the production work - and that's exactly what it will be - a way to make multitudes of the same design. I have most of the rest of this year to get them made and ready to mail, and the clock is ticking. But, as usual, I'll be working on my holiday cards while watching Le Tour de France. There's something comforting about being on schedule for a change, unlike the past two years. 

Have a wonderful Tuesday and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

Upgrading Concerns and Looming Deadlines Are My Life Right Now

My main computer at home is getting more and more quirky and stubborn. It's still running Windows 7, an operating program that has been completely discontinued and isn't supported any more. When I last spoke to my computer Guru, he said I should just upgrade the operating system to a higher version. That there wouldn't be any problem with my hardware. But, like many of us, I'm reluctant to change something that works - something that I know I don't have to think about. 

My main concern with upgrading from Win 7 to 
Win 10 is that I'll lose my Adobe Photoshop 
program. I know this program in my bones, and I use 
it every day. I have the newer version on my laptop, 
and I'm not very fond of it. I'd probably prefer to buy 
the full version, not use the "lite" version like I have 
on my laptop, but ... Adobe Photoshop has changed 
a lot since the version I'm running on my main 
computer. 

However ... I might have to think seriously about doing that. I might message my Guru today. I know he said there wouldn't be any problem with the hardware aspect, but I want to double-check. I rely on my main computer at home for everything! If it goes "kaput" my life suddenly screeches to a halt. I can't just jump over the cliff blindly, I have to know I'll survive the plunge. 

There's no safety net for us. To close the shop, we 
need to jump off the cliff blindly. I'm never very 
happy when I have to do that, and DH is even more 
reluctant. But we're determined to close this year. 
So, we're working really hard to get there. 

I spent yesterday working on the computer trying to get the 4mm Swarovski bicone file together, while DH worked downstairs in the warehouse cleaning, cleaning and cleaning. He must have taken at least 20 trips out to the garbage bin and the recycling bin. He was ripping up cardboard boxes and he actually even swept the floor. The main section of the basement is looking really good now, but there's still work to be done. He wants to get it to the point where he can have a potential buyer of his old aircraft supplies come down, look, bid and (hopefully) take away that part of the old inventory. 

I love Swarovski crystals, but I don't love 
more than $100,000 worth of them. I really 
need to get these sold, and selling them little 
bit by little bit will take me several 
lifetimes. 

As I said, I worked on the 4mm bicone section of our Swarovski inventory, trying to get files in order to put that old stock out for sale. I worked on that all day, and I'm still not quite done with that size, but I'm close. After I get that size done and ready for print-out, I'll start on the 5mm bicones. The 4mm is the largest section and the most popular size, everything else will be far less time intensive. 

As in yesterday's photo, there are a lot of specialty 
shapes too, and we have many of them. I need 
to get those sold also, but they'll be among 
the final lists I'll be putting together. 

I also need to make sure that I don't just don the standard shapes (bicones, cubes and rounds) but that I also include the specialty shapes we carry - teardrop pendants, faceted ovals, top-drilled bicones, etc. I actually really want an up-to-date listing of what I have in stock, so this won't be a problem to do, but it does take some time. But we're progressing ... not necessarily fast enough for an October close, but we're still shooting for that. 

On that note, I hear the swimming pool calling my name. Have an excellent Tuesday and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

I'm Going To Pack a Lot Into My "Day Off" & Printer Woes Again

I spent yesterday at the shop dealing with printer issues - at least, that's how I started my day. DH had run the end-of-day report on Wednesday night, and come home extremely frustrated with the new printer. I totally understood ... I had issues with it myself on Tuesday night, but thought I had resolved them. Apparently I had not. 

The new printer I got is having problems 
feeding paper properly. I'll probably tear 
it apart and give it a good cleaning later 
on, but right now I've returned to my older 
printer instead. At least that one works 
(with some quirks, of course). 

However, I don't know what DH did at all, but communication between the printer and the computer was spotty (they're direct wired, there shouldn't be spotty communications at all), and the printer was only feeding in half a sheet of paper before giving up. I finally pulled the old printer out of its' box and set that one back up again. An old enemy is a known enemy ... and we know how to approach the old printer very well. 

Of course, I had to convince my computer that it recognized and acknowledged the old printer once again, and that took some time. All in all, I spent more than an hour of my early morning getting printers shifted and recognized by my proprietary program. However, that at least was successful. I'm back to running price tags onto plain paper and copying them onto the actual price tag sheets at home, then returning them to the shop in the morning. But at least that's an inconvenience that I'm familiar with. 

We use a sheet of sticky price tags similar 
(but not identical) to this format. We've been 
doing this for a long time, and it works for 
our system and our products pretty well. I used 
to be able to print directly from the computer to 
the printer at work, but not lately. Now I have 
to take home the paper copies and copy them 
onto the label stock with my home printer. 

The rest of the day was spent entering price tags. Lots and lots of them. DH has decided to put the final category of seed beads, our 8o size, onto clearance. It joins a host of other sizes and shapes we already have offered for clearance prices. He had three large boxes of beads for me to enter tags for, and I actually got through 2-1/4 of them before the end of the day. I copied the sheets of tags onto my labels at home last night, and I'm dropping them off at the shop on my way to the grocery store today. One more thing accomplished. 

I adore my Soozy's Grain Free breads for my breakfast. I get 
their bread and their bagels, and love them. They're gluten 
free, grain free, dairy free and sugar free. Their sweeteners 
of choice are maple syrup and sometimes a dash of 
coconut sugar. The only place I can find them locally is 
at Whole Foods, so I'll start my day off at that grocery 
store when they open at 8:00 am. 

So today is my "day off" and it's packed with errands and cooking and stuff. I've got to get going on all of that, so I'm going to wrap this up now. Have an excellent Friday, enjoy your day, and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

Google is Once Again My Friend and Adventures in Cooking

I'm back up and running after a very busy, but very productive day. Circumstances forced me to act and grit my teeth, hoping that all would be well. I uninstalled Google and then re-installed it, and it works great. My splash page bookmarks have switched, but all of my normal bookmarks are in my pull-down menu, so I can rearrange over the next week or so. 

I use Google Chrome a lot. It's really a total 
go-to program for me and there's not a day 
when I'm not accessing it. It's a total relief 
to have it back up and running on my main 
computer. Such a time-saver over the laptop! 

It was a matter of necessity, and the old saying "Needs must", came totally into play. I had listened to the last of my current audio book while finishing up yesterday's swim, and I needed to load the next in the series onto my underwater player before getting to the YMCA today. So ... I jumped off the cliff and found safe waters. I'm now quite happy. 

Sometimes (actually often, when it comes to computer 
work), I just have to grit my teeth and dive in. That's 
what I did yesterday, and fortunately, it worked. Google 
is back and functioning well once again. 

It was a very productive day yesterday. I made three large containers worth of stuffed cabbage for my meals. This will last me a week or more, and I'm delighted. So good! They take about an hour of prep work (the recipe says 30 minutes of prep work - obviously they're underestimating it - LOL). Then, after they're ready for the oven, it takes 3-1/2 to 4 hours of baking before they're finished. I pulled them out of the oven with half an hour to spare before I needed to start the chicken for our dinner. I also managed to do my grocery shopping and three loads of laundry, plus had a lovely chat with Aearwen. Score one for me! LOL

Most of the photos for stuffed cabbage rolls are 
a bit neater than my own pots of cabbage. This 
photo is a bit closer. Each of my two containers 
had two layers of cabbage rolls in them, and 
they were they covered with tomato juice and 
baked for four hours. I can hardly wait to eat them. 

Today is cold and getting colder. I hope I picked good clothes for the day, but I have my heater at the shop and I'll be using it. I have the smaller heater on in the computer room, so at least I comfy while writing my blog to all of you. I'll try to catch up with some computer stuff at the shop today before I have to dive into whatever tasks DH left for me to do. Hope you have a wonderful Thursday and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

Today Is a Snow Shoveling Day - I'll Be Moving Snow Off Concrete All Day

Winter has finally hit and we'll get snow for most of the day today, with the heaviest being in the early morning - just in time to impact my drive to and from the gym. I had some yesterday, shoveled the driveway when I was leaving to see Dale with my computer. Today will be worse. It's supposed to be wet, heavy snow, and I want to at least get my side of the driveway cleared before leaving for the swimming pool. I set my alarm for 3:00 am and actually awakened before then. I'll do my morning meditation either while shoveling at the shop, or afterward. It's going to be a high exercise day, and I'll have nothing to do with it at all - not a purposeful day, in other words. 

According to Google, you're not supposed to be 
shoveling snow after age 45. Obviously in this 
instance, Google is absolutely clueless. I'm in my 
late 60's, and I'm still shoveling. I might not be as 
fast as I was as a youngling, but I get the job 
done. What I really hate are the big snow jobs in 
the deep freezes. But today we're at freezing 
right now, so it's actually pretty warm - leading to 
wet, heavy snow. 

The computer is fixed. It turned out to be the power supply, which was Dale's original thought. He's a genius, of course, so I'm glad he was correct and that he had something on hand that would be available for the repair. I was back out in mid-afternoon picking up the computer and handing him money. He only charged me for the part, he threw in the labor, and we had a small window of time to talk about his autistic dog and his two horses. He also gave me a printout of a book he recommended for me, so I'll try to find it today (on something other than Amazon). One of the great joys in our lives is theology. He keeps trying to convert me, I keep firm in my own beliefs, but love to challenge him every now and again. The book sounded interesting. I have the note buried in my jacket pocket right now, but if I find it and order it, I'll let you know what it is. 

I'm hoping I can get this as a Nook book. I know 
Amazon has a Kindle version, but even though I 
have the Kindle app on my phone, I really prefer 
to read my books in Nook format. I have no 
intention of ordering a physical copy. Nope, absolutely 
not. 

Between all of the trips here and there, meals were interrupted, laundry was hit and miss, and I didn't end up finishing my Wednesday chores until almost 8:00 pm. I did scrabble together a quick pea and chicken soup yesterday, which I hope I'll enjoy. I'll certainly eat it for the four days or so I made, but I may never make it again if I decide it wasn't for me. I had two bags of frozen peas in my freezer that I had to get rid of, so when I was at the store, I made sure to pick up some more chicken stock. It's VERY green - LOL, and turned into another blender soup which is excellent. I have hopes that I won't mind eating it, and I now have a freezer without frozen peas, a win in my book. 

I ended up using this recipe - Pea Soup from Eating 
Well. I added a little bit here and there, but it was 
a blender soup - after a quick simmer, it was tossed 
into the blender and pureed. It turned into a quick 
soup to make and I now have two very green 
containers of soup in my refrigerator, and no peas 
in my freezer. 

So, I'm out of here. The driveway is calling to me to get shoveling and it's going to take me a while to get it done (and of course will need to be re-done several more times). DH is dreading pulling the snow from the roof, which had been beautifully clear before now, but I think it's going to be snowing for most, if not all day. So he may not have the opportunity to do much about the snow until tomorrow. I'm out of here, and grateful to have a functional computer once again. Be kind, stay well, and Slava Ukraini. 

Today (and the Next Few Days) I'm On The Laptop - Apologies For Equipment Failure

On Saturday night, after I returned home from the store, I reached to my mainframe computer and turned it on, only to be meet by a loud BEEP from my APC. I immediately shut the computer down again and reached behind my screen to see that the APC was pulsing with a red light. Time for a new battery - *sigh*. Checking my phone, I saw that Batteries Plus was open until 8:00 pm so I determined I would head over there as soon as I was finished with dinner.

The APC I have for my computer is quite similar 
to this one. DH has a larger one for his computer 
just a few feet away to the East. They have saved 
our computer systems through lightning storms 
and power outages. I wouldn't be without them. 

This isn't something I hadn't done before. I have two APC units in our computer room - one for DH's computer setup, and one for mine. I have two others at the shop (and a third currently not in use for a backup computer that I rarely turn on). I've changed a lot of these heavy brick batteries. It's pretty simple - pry the old one out, disconnect the leads, put the new one in, connect the leads, turn the APC unit back on and voila - ready to go.

The battery that I purchased is quite similar to this 
one and not too expensive for what it does. It's 
a brick, though. Heavy and clunky. 

EXCEPT ... it didn't go. The APC was fine - all green lights. The computer monitor and printer were fine - the other two things that are plugged into my APC. But my computer wouldn't turn on. I wasn't getting any response when I pushed the "Power" button. I should have felt a little resistence from the switch, I should have heard a small "click" when I pushed it, but it was like pushing dead air. The computer switch had broken.

 

All I need is my computer power button to be 
functional once again. I know my system is old, 
but I don't have the money right now to deal with 
Dale building a new one. He's been working on a 
new computer for DH for more than a year (the chip 
shortage has been a serious issue). 

Now, as a fix goes, this is pretty minor, and I didn't want to bother my Computer Guru with such a minor thing over the weekend, so I'll phone him today and try to drop the computer to him on Wednesday. The weather is supposed to be lousy on Tuesday and Wednesday, and he's not close by, but no matter. I'll drive out there twice on Wednesday - once to drop it off, and once to pick it back up. Whatever's necessary. I'm pretty sure it just needs a new ON/OFF switch to be fully functional once again, and it could use a good cleaning because I can't get to it at home to vaccuum it out periodically (which I should be doing, I know). I'll phone Dale when the sun is up and he's done taking care of the horses. Hopefully he can envelope me in. Meanwhile, I'm on the laptop for a few days, so my daily posts may be a bit different - not bad at all, but a bit different - LOL.

I love "Voodoo", my Lenovo laptop that I purchased more 
than a year ago. I use it constantly, and it's working out 
great for me. It's not what I usually use for my blog posts, 
however, so I beg your understanding if things are a bit 
more stumbly for a few days. 

 
Today I start work on my e-mail for our 4-Day End of the Year Sale. I need to make sure everything is accurate, that the dates are correct, and that I have all of the people added to my mailing list that I need to get added. Unlike most stores, we rarely run sales. We have clearance items at deep discounts all of the time - overstock from beads that just have too much quantity on our shelves. But a true sale - where almost everything in the store is reduced? Those things are extremely rare for us.

It's a huge sale, our 4-Day End of the Year Sale, 
and I'm starting work on that e-flyer today 
when I get to the shop, But I have a lot to 
do before then, so I have to get this posted and 
get out of here. 

 

We have our Black Friday and Small Business Saturday sales where beads of various types are on deep discount, but those sales don't apply to much outside of our beads. Our four-day sale, on the other hand, applies to almost everything in the store including the artwork, Navajo weavings, Hopi and Zuni Katchinas, Pueblo pottery, sterling silver and turquoise jewelry, and various artifacts such as scatter fans and peyote rattles. This sale is a BIG sale, and every once in a while, we'll move some serious product. We all work all four days, and then we collapse for three well-earned days off. (Of course, DH and I have to come in to do the year-end printouts and reports and reset the computers for the new year, but that's relatively minor and doesn't take more than two hours).

 

So, I guess the rest of my month is pretty much scheduled for me. My crazy life. I had been looking forward to one more "normal" week before diving into our holiday schedules, but apparently my main computer decided against normalcy in my life. I hope it's the switch, that would, at least be an easy and relatively inexpensive fix. Have an excellent Monday and I'll be back tomorrow - again on the laptop. Slava Ukraini.