A Nice Chatty Update

Well, finally I am caught up a wee bit and can write something! First, I had to do a lot of work in my fine new job. Oh, but that's OK. I love my fine new job, and think this week I'll finally have 5 days of work in, too. I will love that part the most. I get to work from home, in coffee shops, and sometimes in their spartan little office. Working in the office is great because everyone is so freaking NICE. And smart. And funny. What a relief to have that to say after all this time! And they are friendly--I get asked out to lunch and everything!

And look, we have a happy volunteer sunflower to symbolize how nice that is!



Second, I finally got my wonderful new computer, a Dell Studio 17 with red swirly things on it. I guess I should have put a picture of that on here instead of the nice flowers, so OK, I will go find one. Here's what it looks like:



Setting it up was a bit of a challenge. I tried this lovely Windows Vista "Easy Transfer" utility. Oh that was a good one, all right. I spent four hours trying to move files from my beautiful red Dell 15" model, only to end up that nothing transferred except all the user accounts. Great. All that was during a very stressful work emergency, too, which meant that the time I had planned to spend on Thursday of last week blogging was spent working all night. But, it's OK...

I like the computer a lot now. The high-resolution screen is awesome. I can really see all those incredibly detailed PowerPoints I have to edit, and I look forward to Articulate 09 work on them (that is fun and expensive instructional design software I get to use. woo hoo. I moved all the pictures, all the software and everything else I need. Now I just have to set up Quicken so I can be an Independent Contractor Who Files Her Taxes Right and all will be well. I also got a really nice mouse, which is a red curved USB one from Microsoft (I know, boo, hiss) that folds up into a little egg shape for easy travel. So, now I am little miss modern worker. And it is good for play, too!!




Our garden is getting just lovely. This is one of our roses from last year. All of them are blooming beautifully, including the tiny red ones. We'd thought the wildflower bed Lee planted was a bust, but to the contrary, it's gone nuts--there is even a big ole pink poppy in there now! Lots of phlox in various colors, some white things, sunflowers from last year and such. I see basil coming up from last year, and we have all kinds of onions going. And at last the tomatoes have started to grow. Our soil is so bad for them, but the more compost Lee puts on, the better!



After Thursday of last week, things got good. I had a ton of fun at work on Friday, then went to Pilar's surprise 40th birthday party. The next two photos are stolen from Cindy (hey, thanks, Cindy), but I took a whole bunch of photos of her, so I know she won't mind me borrowing a couple. To prove I really was there, this is a photo of my and Diane. We had been enjoying the beer. The food was great, too. MMMMM. The best part, though was that Pilar was actually surprised, mainly because no one told Miss T. it was going to happen. A 5-year-old can't hold info like that in!


Here you see Pilar in her sweet 16 birthday sash, still looking a bit overwhelmed, while Lee tries to tell Miss T something and I show how bad my posture really is. At right is Pat telling a joke. That happened a lot. We all had a very good time, and what was even better was that our husbands got to know each other, too. Lee and Cindy's husband (Bryan with a y I think), had a nice manly chat on the patio about power tools. We all kept saying how nice it would be to do more social things. Of course, we can't rent a beautiful club house every time. The one the party was at is just in the next neighborhood from here. Maybe we should rent our clubhouse some time!



And finally, what is the first "real" post of May without a Maypole photo? We had a really nice one at church on Sunday, and here is proof. We also did our choir concert, with was Schubert's Mass in G. We actually pulled it off, thanks to a whole bunch of additional recruits and two wonderful borrowed soloists, plus a fine accompanist. I enjoyed it a lot.

OK, that is enough blogging and photos for one post. I should save something up to write about later in the week, huh? Thanks for your patience while I was feeling upset and/or busy. Everything is good now, even if it's different.