I came home from my extended weekend on Tuesday afternoon. Yes, I know this is FRIDAY!
Wednesday morning I woke up in my own wonderful bed with sunshine streaming into the room and the smell of coffee wafting from the kitchen. Carl and Cutter greeted me like a long lost litter mate. I fixed myself a latte in the new cup that my sweet sister gave to me for Mother's Day, filled with Ghirardelli dark chocolate and caramel squares.
I thought about all the wonderful things I did all weekend and reveled in the happiness of having two sons and a family who loves me and still wants to celebrate my motherliness. We had a combined Mother's Day/Son's birthdays dinner at a very beautiful restaurant in Walnut Creek Friday night and on Saturday afternoon I took care of my Bambinos so my son and DIL could go to a movie and dinner. Sunday Sis and I went to lunch and got spa pedicures. YEA! It was decadent. It was a very spectacular weekend.
I stayed at my Sister's house and enjoyed her hospitality and her dogs ( makes me miss mine a little less.) and ate oranges from their Orange tree until I thought I saw a tinge of orange in my hair one morning and decided to slow up a bit.
Wednesday morning I made some picture collages to use in a new post and before I started the post I decided to clear some emails and catch up on some favorite blogs. Then it happen...
I got a case of SLUGS:(Slow Link to Unadulterated Genuine Stupidity.)
Not only did I get SLUGS..., but it ended with a VIRUS that disconnected me from the Internet and my sanity for two days.
I believe that I got this VIRUS from blindly going to a craft site that was on a list of sites recommended by someone listed in a Google search. That's the "stupidity" part. The bottom line is that I lost my connection to the Internet for TWO WHOLE DAYS, and learned some things about myself.
1. I'm addicted to my Computer.
2. I'm not a very nice person when I can't use the computer.
3. I love blogging and writing and sharing my world with my blogging community.
4. I can't figure out how to troubleshoot a computer problem, but...
5. I get amazing amounts of work done, around the house, when I don't have a connected computer.
6. In two days I have cleaned this house like it hasn't been cleaned in two years.
7. The garden is complete with bedding flowers, herbs and NO WEEDS.
8. In the last two days The Prospector and I are carrying on conversations..., with complete sentences.
9. I have lost my perspective with this blogging obsession.
10. I spend way too much time on this endeavor but...
11. I love blogging! So...
12. I have a dilemma.
A very knowledgeable, young man finally came out to the house this afternoon and ,for not too much money, reconnected us to the Internet. We had an Anti-virus program installed and he gave me some helpful advice on surfing the Internet and how to avoid sites that lay in wait for unsuspecting dolts like me who believe that everyone out there has a good heart and kind intentions.
I'm back on line and have learned a valuable lesson. Now, I need to re-assess my computer obsession. Let me know if this has been a problem for any of you. I really think that there needs to be a balance in life, but I also believe that you need to have a "passion" too. Is the computer and all that it encompasses interfering with the rest of your life? If not..., when was the last time you cleaned out the refrigerator?.., the closet?..., the chicken coop? Are "projects" hitting you in the back of your head to get your attention? Is an obsession OK if it's productive or makes money? Is it OK if you derive great satisfaction from it? I really want some feedback. I've had an epiphany. I need help.
By the way, there's a story behind that last photo of my grandson holding the cap filled with slugs. A post will follow, although I might put a day in between this one and the next. I have to attend a goat cheese workshop tomorrow. The slug story may have to wait until Sunday or Monday. I have a lot of other things to do.
See... I'm learning.
Glad you're back Connie! Great story. Hugs, Riki
ReplyDeletejust a smile
ReplyDeleteyes, no, no, yes, no...I need help!
ReplyDeleteI always google the site first, then it will tell you if the site is compatible with your virus protector to the side of the site, if I notice spyware or adware pop ups try to come on, like that pesky 'netflix' movie add I get out of there ASAP!
ReplyDeleteI know how you feel, I went out yesterday, all day errands and work, was pooped after making dinner, loading the dishwasher, no computer all day, and I was asleep by 10 PM! I liked getting so much done, but I still like my relaxing and catching up with good friends like you. Oh I have friends here in my 'real' world, lol, but still, this allows me to be a part of my goat and farm life that I miss...
Happy Belated Mothers Day! Like the chocolate choice Ummm caramel and chocolate! I made myself a brownie pound cake on Sunday. We have slowly eaten small pieces together, and last night I made whip cream! :)
I only get on every other day...it works for me!
ReplyDeleteBoy oh Boy! Ditto on all of the above! I have found that blogging and reading others blogs has lead me to look at life very differently. It makes me appreciate the simple side of life as well as the big stuff. I enjoy sharing my little bit of this side of the coin. I also have learned to limit my time. Too many times I am running about almost late for one thing or another because I just had to finish that post or read the end of a blog post. As far as virus' go...boo hoo...it is my worst nightmare, that along with a crash on my hard drive and I am not a geek and don't know the answers to that kind of stuff. I guess its like anything that we learn as we go right? Cheers and good to have you back.
ReplyDeleteYes it is definitely a problem for me. First off, my computer is not at the right height for my chair. I've tried all different chairs and can't seem to get the right one. Anyway, sore neck all the time. So bad I've been to the chiropractor twice recently. And yesterday I cleaned out my closet...good for me...but it took all day! That's because I kept going to my computer and looking at blogs! And oh boy do I know what you mean about not talking to the husband in complete sentences. He does have his nose buried in a book most of the time though. We do take nightly breaks in the hot tub to talk about our days. But, I love blogging. It is my social time. And you have all become my friends. I also need to pull back a little and find a happy medium. Let's work on that, shall we?
ReplyDeleteIf you received my emails after your computer was back on line then you know how concerned I was. I'm happy to hear that all is well. However, I am so envious that you have your house and garden in order, but I am not going to sabotage my computer just to accomplish that goal!
ReplyDeleteRe "...gave me some helpful advice on surfing the Internet and how to avoid sites that lay in wait for unsuspecting dolts like me" PLEASE SHARE -- you are not the only dolt out there.
Even though I don't have a blog I am (at least) semi-obsessed with the computer----there is so much stuff out there.
I know you told us about the Ghirardelli's DARK chocolate and caramel just to make us jealous. Well, you succeeded with me. Mmmmmm! By the way, have you always preferred dark over milk chocolate or has that come about in recent years? I ask because I NEVER cared for dark chocolate until 2 years ago when (by mistake) I ate a dark chocolate bite-size Milky Way. Now I prefer dark chocolate by far over milk chocolate. I look forward to the story of the slugs. ~ Dawn
Once upon a time I fretted about computer addiction, so I went away to play. I discovered I wasn't addicted and came back to play on the computer. The end. ; D
ReplyDeleteDon't stress. Enjoy your computer!
Happy spring -- it's the most gorgeous display I've seen in my 10 years here in Grass Valley. Loooong winters produce amazing spingtime blossoms. I'm off to play in the garden. 'bye!
I was just about to put out an SOS today due to lack of posts. For most of the week, I just thought you were still with the family - enjoying a long week of sons, sisterhood and bambinos. Still, it was getting rather extended and I started wondering...now I know what was up!
ReplyDeleteGlad you got some stronger anti-virus protection on your CPU and had a knowledgeable person scrub your system. It's true there are a lot of "bad guys" out there sending malware, often just for the fun of it. But don't jump to the conclusion that the site where you think you might have gotten it was knowingly sending out viruses. Most of the time the unsuspecting site owner has the nasty stuff embedded by someone else remotely and never has a clue what is going on...even innocent looking pop-up ads from seemingly respectable businesses can have malware embedded.
So keep your anti-virus protection current - the nasty stuff is changing all the time and new anti-virus updates try and keep up with it all. At work, our computers, part of a huge network system, get anti-virus modifications/updates installed nearly every day! It's really unbelievable how persistent the bad guys are in trying to outfox the system and acquire or damage tons of our data.
So glad you are back, slugs and all. Ick.
smoochas
C
I'm happy you're back, too.
ReplyDeleteAnd I most definitely have a problem.
Blogging (and the internet in general) is a MAJOR addiction for me.
Not quite sure what to do about it.....
....so here I am at the computer again.
I would be lost without my computer also. two days isn't too long though. think I could handle that....... well maybe....
ReplyDeleteAlmost two years ago my computer got a virus from a official business website that I had been on many times before (even though I had virus protection software!) Once their site "got the bug", anyone who clicked on it was out of luck. I found a talented young man who cleaned it out and installed a newer version of the anti-bugware.
ReplyDeleteNow that the weather is nice here, it's easier to unplug and enjoy life. My time online is more focused, since there's not as much of it.
So enjoy your time online, as well as family time and nature time! (AND chocolate!!!)
Best wishes!
Like you, I spend way too much time online but I enjoy it and there's never anything interesting on television. I think I am a great procrastinator and I use blogging as a tool to waste time instead of getting all that work done.
ReplyDeleteI don't mean to sound like a commercial, but did you know that Macs don't get most of those nasty viruses? The bad guys seem to concentrate on bringing down Microsoft programs. Glad you got the problem solved and you're back in business!
Ditto. Yep we get hooked. Lately i have been writing less and living more but then I get to missing the blog world and have to back off on the real life thing. My garden is definitely not weedless. Wowzers.
ReplyDeleteI am afraid I am in your addicted club to the computer. I never thought I would enjoy and use it as much. The blog world has really got me going. Sorry about your problem, but a lot of that is going on. I am getting way too many things through email and spam, but not sure how to correct it.
ReplyDelete