The down side ...

Wow - where have I been, huh?

When I last left off I was on cloud nine over the bag swap, but alluded to some bad news. I've been having computer problems not of my own doing. If you know someone living in an apartment complex, please pass this on.

The memory was stolen out of my laptop. I started having computer problems immediately after maintenance had been in my apartment and couldn't figure out why. I waited until the weekend and took it to my parents house. My dad is extremely computer knowledgeable - has even built his own computers - and when he opened the memory compartment, there was nothing there. Just the memory that was sodered to the motherboard. What's more is that there are 2 little metal clips that hold the removeable memory in place. One was damaged by whoever stole my memory and now won't hold the new memory securely in place so my computer still doesn't function correctly. The only person other than me who had been in that apartment was maintenance. I spoke with the complex, they assured me that their maintenance staff wasn't smart enough to know how to turn on a computer (pretty much her exact words) and told me to file a police report. I filed the report, but they weren't going to finger print the computer or anything since this was a low price point crime. (tell that to my bank account)

So I'm trying to tell everyone I can - and hopefully other people can avoid having this happen to them. If you're in a complex, don't leave anything out even though it's technically your "home" - don't ever allow maintenance in if you or a designated person are also present. My dad came the next weekend and installed a new locking door knob for me, so I'm feeling a bit more secure, but talk about feeling violated. They are also loaning me one of their desktops so I do have a computer and internet again, but will probably need to see if my renter's insurance can do anything for me because I definitely can't afford a new laptop right now.

In other news, I fell down the stairs at my apartment complex on Friday (their stairs have raised metal edges to keep the carpet from fraying and my shoe got caught) My left shin is bruised literally along the entire length and I have a smaller bruise on my right shin. They're still surfacing ... once they get dark I'll take a picture and post ....

Let's hope this week is a better one ... though my work schedule is crappy.

Sorry I haven't been around much - now that the desktop is set up I should be able to do more.

Abby

Annie received her swap package!

Well, I can now say that my partner was Annie from Australia. She has received her box o' goodies and posted about them on her blog - go check it out and look at her beautiful cat too! She also has gorgeous pictures of her garden and projects, so take a look around her blog

http://annie-flowergarden.blogspot.com/

Linda organized a wonderful swap and it's really neat to see all the postings start going up as the bags are arriving.

Now arriving from England ...

My item from the bag swap!!! My parcel took the long trip from England to make it to my mailbox here in Michigan.

Look! A squishy package!

Zoe checks things out too ... can't be too safe!

Alright - looks like you've got everything out! All clear!

Voila!!! My gorgeous bag from Marianne - the pictures totally don't do it justice either, it's amazing!

But wait, there's more! What could it be?

SOCKS!!!! Fancy socks!

And some Jelly Bellies tucked into the zipper pocket ... yeah, I already ate those ...

And take a look at the lining - totally loving those funky cats :)

And of course, modeling the awesome socks.

Zoe was quite thrilled with the tissue paper Marianne used to wrap everything in and promptly claimed it as her own ... she's actually currently napping on it right now ... so,big thanks from Zoe too!

So, I totally got a bag that is perfect for me - thank you Marianne! And everyone should be jealous, cause the bag and socks are incredible. Stop by Marianne's blog to say hello http://picperfics.blogspot.com/

Sorry it took so long for me to get the pictures up, I had computer problems that started last week and just got remedied yesterday. I will post about that tomorrow, because what happened to me shouldn't happen to anyone and I definitely need to get the info out there ... but we're not going to ruin a happy post with something like that ...

Thanks Marianne! You're the best!

on it's way ....

I did it! I got everything completed for the swap and it went out in the mail this morning. It cost me an obnoxious amount of money to mail, which was a surprise, but I guess it does have to make it across an ocean to reach it's destination and all .... it should arrive in "6-10" days. Now the nervous hand wringing begins .... I do hope she likes it!

I'm not posting a pic here for 2 reasons: 1, I don't want her to stumble on it and see it before it arrives and 2, my computer at home completely died. So, no pictures of any kind for a while. If my dad can't fix it, it sounds like I'll be able to borrow one of their computers. If that doesn't happen, then I won't have a computer at home for a very, very long time. There just isn't that kind of extra money in the budget. I'm barely making ends meet right now as it is.

But it's done and I fulfilled my obligation BEFORE the deadline. I loved being in the swap and can't wait to see my package from Loopy :) but it'll be a while before I can participate in another one. I'm going into the busiest time of the year at work and it'll take a while before I have the funds to be able to do it right! Now I've got to go email my partner and the swap organizer that the package is off and running ....

Hopefully I'll be more cheerful and have better news after the weekend ...

seriously?

Well .... there comes a point where you have to ask "What else can go wrong?" Needless to say things are precariously hanging on by a thread around here.

On the good side, my bag swap items are complete, I just have to mail it out tomorrow. I'll take a picture of the lot to post here after it's received and then wrap it up pretty to be sent out into the great beyond. I worked really hard on everything and am so nervous that she may not like it or may not think it's fancy/good/special enough.

On the bad side, my computer at home died yesterday, so I'm only going to have access at work for the time being. I'm taking a trip to my parents this weekend to let my dad poke around at it and take it apart and see if he can save it.

On the frustrating side, I have to go home on my "lunch" today and change my clothes and such - the media department at work is doing a staff photo shoot for our department today and I ran out the door without makeup and wearing a cream sweater and they've requested that we wear dark colors. Whoever had the brilliant idea to schedule something like this on a friggin' Monday needs to be smacked.

Happy Monday everyone :(

-Abby

Making Progress

Well, I got the main part of my bag swap stuff done - yay! It turned out really cute and I'm pleased. Now I just have a couple little things to complete to round it out and I can get it on it's way. Can't say where it's headed, but it's leavin' the country!

The weekend was mostly good, but was so busy that I'm just drained. GOtta gear up for another week of work though - but thankfully it'll only be 4 days and I'll have dance on wednesday night so it should go fairly quickly.

Hope everyone had a good holiday weekend.