Sunday, July 13, 2008

THE CAR, THE COMPUTER, THE LOTTO TICKET, THE TOASTER AND THE WASHING MACHINE

I just have to laugh.

That is all I have left to do.

It is all I can do.

Hope you had a great weekend. Let me tell you how mine went...
Hope you get a good laugh.


THE CAR
It was Friday and I was super excited that my new, even faster and better, laptop was scheduled to be delivered to my employers office. I am off of work on Friday's so I decided to come in to pick it up. After checking the tracking number and seeing that it hadn't arrived I thought I would get in some yard saleing. Anyone who knows me knows I love a great bargain.

I get to my final yard sale on the list and am parked on the side of the road at the end of this driveway. As I pay for my big bag of books, 50 cents each mind you a great deal, a lady comes up yelling, "who's van is that? I just backed into it." First of all I don't drive a van, it is an SUV. No offense to anyone who drives a van, but I like my SUV. And second of all I just bought it and it is NEW! At this point there is no way to reverse what happened and the woman who hit my car was visibly shaken so the best thing I could do was put a smile on and try to help her calm down.

The front driver side panel and the bumper are dented and scratched so she called the police and we waited, chit chatting. She is a real nice person, I felt bad that it happened to her. So the police officer arrives and we do the exchange of information and since this is the first accident for both of us we have no idea what to do next. I was told to call my insurance company to give them a heads up about the situation. I head to my employer's office to use a land line phone to call the insurance and of course the computer still has not arrived. The insurance company tells me that I am required to drive 45 minutes away to their collision center to get an estimate....in the end of it all I get down there and I didn't need to go that far because the other insurance would be responsible. Geez la weez.

THE COMPUTER
Later that same day I finally get the new computer. So exciting! I now have a better, faster computer to support the new business I have been getting for my design work. I have my old laptop backing up to an external hard drive to get ready to transfer and I leave the room and get preoccupied with something else. It starts to rain, thunder and lightning. HEY FOLKS, PLUG YOUR COMPUTER INTO A SURGE PROTECTOR AT ALL TIMES! I had plugged my old computer into the outlet without the protector so I could get it on the desk better during the backup. Well, lightning hits the condo! The dishwasher starts smoking and the coffee grinder turns on. It's like a scene from a scary movie. I swear that coffee grinder sounded like a chainsaw. I laugh now, not then. It hits me that my old computer was plugged into the wall. And yep folks, FRIED! The backup doesn't get barely anything. After going through all the emotions of losing everything I realize that this is God's way of telling me that it was okay for me to invest the money in a new computer and to let the old one go. I just wish I could have learned another way. My mother being the computer saint she is, came over the next day and was able to get the computer to turn on for just enough time for me to get the majority of my files off in safe mode. I am so thankful!

THE LOTTO TICKET
The next day I decide to cure my bad luck with some retail therapy...I'M GOIN SHOPPIN! Find some good things and think that my luck has turned. You know what that means right? Get a lotto ticket. I head into the gas station to purchase my ticket and the cashier refuses to sell me the ticket without my ID. I didn't bring my purse in but I sure don't look younger than 18. I am 24 for pickle's sake! And what am I going to do if I am underage and actually do win. They don't think this through. The underage can't cash the thing in. Well anyways guess she was going her job. So my mother decides to purchase the tickets I was going to get. You guessed it. SHE WON! $25 on a $2 ticket. If it was anyone, she deserved to win but it was just my luck.

THE TOASTER
I get home from shopping feeling good about my purchases. Mostly decorations for the condo. I decided I was going to clean up before hanging anything so I could start with a clean slate. I start in the kitchen and as I clean off the stove I knock an entire box of toothpicks into the toaster. Have you ever tried to get anything out of the toaster? Every time I turned it over and shook it, I only got bread crumbs. The toothpicks kept turning different directions and stayed in there. I GAVE UP. I tossed that sucker into the trash. Who needs toast anyways?

THE WASHING MACHINE
All I wanted was clean bedding. Is that to much to ask? I've washed it before. Don't know what was different this time. As I am trying to get my old laptop to work the washing machine decides to leak all over the floor and continue into the kitchen to the dining room. So on my hands and knees I sop up the water with a towel and a bucket.
TIP: DON'T PUT YOUR EXTRA PAPER TOWELS ON THE BOTTOM OF YOUR PANTRY. THEY GET WET WHEN THE WASHER LEAKS AND SEEPS INTO THE PANTRY.

ANOTHER TIP: DON'T PUT A KING SIZE DOWN COMFORTER IN FRONT OF THE WASHER WHEN IT LEAKS. IT WEIGHS A TON WHEN IT SOAKS UP WATER.

It is now a day later and I am telling myself everything will get better. Not much else weird like this can happen. If today happens to go like the previous days I will wrap myself in bubble wrap before leaving the house. Any other ideas?

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Who just visited my website?

When I find something I love I have to tell everyone I can.

What better way than on my blog?

These people have not paid me to say this nor do I think they even know who I am....

I love Statcounter.com

What is it you may say?

This site will generate a code that you copy and paste into your html of your website or blog and it will track the hits that you receive. You then log onto their site and it shows you detailed accounts of who was on your site and when. It also has a nifty map that you click on and it puts a dot for each person in the world who visited your site.


It tracks how people find you through search engines and what keywords they search by. It is so fun at the end of the day to log on and see how many people have visited me. You can also opt for the counter to be invisible so no one knows it is there. Best of all...it is FREE!

That's my two cents. Enjoy!

4th of July Craft Fair

Let me start out by saying
THANK YOU
to all of you who came out and stopped by.

This fair was a great experience and provided me with the knowledge to do the next one even better.
By the way, these displays are my $6 made at home ones that I will eventually put up step by step instructions on how to make.
That would be me and my booth.


The table layout worked perfectly and I had just enough space. My good friend Heather from Adagio Beadcrafters shared the booth space with me.


We make a pretty good team and I can't wait to do another fair with her again! Heather is pictured above.

For those of you who were unable to attend, that is alright, visit my online booth anytime.

The music was great. Funky and upbeat with enough rhythm to get your hips moving. Plenty of people showed up in their Red, White and Blues. We even had pirates at the fair! Amelia Island is known for it's pirates and they are at all of our events. It wouldn't be an Amelia Island event without at least one.

There were a few food booths, and I do have to say my favorite snack there was the mozzarella sticks. Normally I could do without these. Oh my gosh, these were fantastic! Yes, I know I am raving about mozzarella sticks with nummy marinara sauce. Wish I had some right now. Can you tell it is almost lunch time and what I have on my mind?

Check back often to see when the next fair is or sign up for the monthly e-mailing list to be notified by email of the next fair.
Neighboring booth above and tug of war below