The Demise of a Laptop and Other Holiday Stories

Monday night my beloved laptop met with a glass of wine. I don't want to place blame but lets just say the husband had something to do with it. Immediately half the keyboard stopped working. I am hoping, praying, that nothing else is wrong.

Tuesday morning I was the crazy woman at the computer store, tapping on the glass, waiting for them to open. Open, open, open. The manager finally unlocked the door and I raced to the repair station. My eyes welled up. Breathe, breathe. The poor store clerk must've thought I was a crazy old coot. I managed to check the computer in without actually crying and am now waiting to hear from them; to find out if only the keyboard was affected or the whole shebang is kaput. In the comforting words of the repair guy ..."liquids and computers are not a good combination."

It's embarrassing to admit how crippled I am without my computer. It's where I write, process photos, make holiday dvds. It has my blog reader, my knitting patterns, my recipe files. Essentially that computer is an accessory brain; a brain now lobotomized. As such I'm wandering around in a daze not knowing what to do. Most of my photo files and writing files are backed up. There is hope but I'm still not pleased with the universe.

This incident is just another in a series of unexpected expenses for the Peculiar household. Traffic tickets, orthodontia and now computer repair. And the thing is -- we are not made of money. (Yes I know you are shocked by that revelation as most people are made of money. I too hear them jingle and jangle as they walk down the street). In truth as our expenses have been increasing our income has decreased. Things are very tight. We get paid on Friday and I sincerely hope I have enough for the mortgage and student loans. We will be fine. I'm pretty sure. But for now I'm a bit worried. We are balanced on a tight rope and expenses keep getting added to our balance pole. One more unexpected expense and we'll topple to the cold hard concrete below.

But enough about that. What you're really wondering is how is she blogging without a computer? Well we are not totally without. I am upstairs on the kid's computer. This ancient beast used to be our computer, as in belonging to the grown ups. Before that it was my parent's computer. In other words we practically need another room to house the vacuum tubes (okay so I stretch the truth a bit but you get the idea).

So I've been trying to figure out what I can do to make myself feel better in light of recent events. The first thing I did was clean my girls' room. I typically clean when upset. That felt good. But I wanted more. Then I realized the thing that would make me feel best is to share. Because, you see, things are tight. But really we have all we need. We will manage in one way or another. And no matter how dire any situation we all have something to give. So here is my humble offering ...

A couple of weeks ago a friend gave us an Amish Friendship Bread starter. Monday night, before said computer incident, we baked the bread. It was delicious. The kids love it as did the labradork who partook when we weren't looking.

We baked the bread and packaged three starters for neighbors. Now I can't send a fermented yeast mixture over the internet. But I can direct you to a starter recipe so you can make your own. And here is a little bonus: click here to download the starter care instructions in PDF format. My bread came with boring photocopied instructions and I wanted to spruce them up a bit. Somehow I had the foresight to upload this file before the crash.

I printed four copies for each neighbor (one copy for them and three to share when their bread is done). Then the starter dough and instructions went into basic gift bags. Gussied up with a little ribbon and voila -- inexpensive fun gifts to share.

+++++++

But that's not all I want to share with you. I was also fortunate enough to finish my holiday cards before I was lobotomized.

Here's this year's card:


And here is last year's card:


Both these photos are on Flickr under a Creative Commons License. You are welcome to download and use either photo for your own holiday cards. Click here for this year's card and here for last year's card.

Well that felt good. After a healthy session of David Sedaris and Holidays on Ice I'll feel even better. Have a wonderful Wednesday all!