Not so much a nutshell

OH MY WORD!

So. Last Friday, I’m typing away at my computer when I’m assailed by the blue screen of death–suddenly and without warning.  The without warning part was new … the blue screen, was not.  Also new?  When I turned my computer back on there was a message that read something along the lines of “You, my friend, are screwed.” My hard disk, you see, was not to be found … no sir, it was not. It was gone… done … fried … deader than the proverbial newt.  Sigh.

On my father’s suggestion, I drove its corpse to a little shop in Nampa.  They know you’re coming, my dad says.  I walk in, inform the kind lady at the front desk  who I am and whom I’m to see.  She goes to get him and, being a small office, I could hear every intriguing word:

Her:  Amy is here to see you.

Him:  Who?

Her:  Amy?  She said she was suppose to bring in her computer.

Him:  I don’t think so.

The owner:  Oh right, I forgot to tell you, Dave called … his daughter broke her computer.

Yeah, whatever…

In the meantime, Manders offered to lend me her old laptop–no need!  I’ll have it back by Tuesday … Wednesday … Thursday … 30 days.  THIRTY DAYS!  Why would it take thirty days for software licenses?  Yeah, I don’t know either.

And I will tell you now, a writer without her laptop is a pitiful sight to behold.  I sulked.  I pined.  I may have shed a tear or two.

Luckily, there were other things to occupy my time.  My birthday, for one, which started bright and early Monday.  You see, I’ve been letting my friend’s dogs out in the mornings.  Two labs–one black, one yellow.  When I arrived they had a lovely present awaiting me on the kitchen floor.   So thoughtful.  I like to think this means I’m getting the crap out of the way for the year.

Other than that my week was filled with eggnog lattes, CAKE, festive meals {sensing a theme?}, family, friends, messages, presents, raking-of-the-leaves, cleaning-of-the-house … a marketing conference … oh and I pulled out my notebooks. I may have yet to finish a story, but I have a ton of starts.  I jot them down willy-nilly, on whatever happens to be close at hand, and then stuff them in dark crevices.  Monday, they saw the light of day … and I must say, for as brief as most notes are, they did make me smile.  I also realized I lean toward fantasy.  Who knew?

While I was at it, I figured I would take the time to write–old fashioned like, with pen and paper.  But, alas, I was trying to get the core out of an apple slicer when I poked my finger through.  When all was said and done, what I thought to be  piece of apple was actually a chunk of finger {I hope you were not eating just then}.   Good times, good times …

Naturally, it was my pointer finger on my right hand which makes it REALLY hard to write.

All the same, things are slowly working themselves back to normalcy.  My computer’s back–I’m currently unable to load my software, but I can write and wish you a happy weekend!   My cats can finally get some rest knowing I’m sitting here, sipping coffee, typing away–and not, you know, dancing about the house, sing with ABBA Gold.   For all intents and purposes, life’s as it should be.

Now, before I get back to getting my act together, I want to thank you for your notes while I was away.  I must say, it’s truly hard to be blue, when I know “somewhere in the crowd there’s you …”  You’re the best ever. With that, I’ll leave you with a little ABBA {I’m totally going to copy some moves for the next time I’m caught on television} … here’s to you … and a happy weekend.  May you find the time to dance and sing at the top of your lungs … even if others are watching!