I'm baaaack?

Okay, so I realize that I have been a worthless blogger of late. Let me tell you a tale about our computer and internet frustrations...

I like the internet. As a stay at home mom, it is sometimes the only "interaction" I have with the outside world until Will comes home from work. Don't pity me. Some days it is for the best. Sometimes all I need is to check my Facebook page or read some blogs to get my real people fix. I don't feel like it is asking much. When we moved into our current location, my sister-in-law, Caitlyn, decided that her year old laptop needed replacing. She was going to be a sophomore in college, and her Dell just wasn't all she could have dreamed it would be. For example, it didn't have Microsoft Word (here is where I normally roll my eyes). Caitlyn bought a new computer, and the Owens family got a year old hand-me-down. Not a bad deal, eh?

Our annoyance with this computer began right from the start. Everything about it worked fine until you decided you needed to use the bathroom, check on a neglected child, or attend to a child-centered catastrophe. If any of the above distractions took long enough for the screen to hibernate, all was lost. You would be forced to shut the entire operation down and try again. Not a big deal, right? It was a free computer...no complaints.

Months and months later, we had grown accustomed to our one great computer affliction. Then we noticed that the cord to recharge the battery began to fray. For three or four months, we could move the computer and just jiggle the cord if the correct wires within the cord were no longer touching. We even got some electrical tape to try to get those wires to become permanent friends. After a while, it became apparent that the computer could no longer be moved freely. We stationed the laptop on our kitchen counter. We even sat on dining room chairs if we wanted to watch something on Hulu. We were committed to this computer.

The cord finally gave up it's last breath. We mourned the allotted amount of time and soon became an internet-free household. Suck. I was able to remain connected to the cooler half of the world by weekly visits to Ames library. Have you ever seen the people who sit at the library computers all day? I am nearly positive that half of them are homeless and the rest are at the library completing community service. I'm not sure how I am to be classified in this group...I would like to think I had my own unaffiliated classification. Yes...that is what I choose to believe.

After researching the price of computer cords and realizing that we would need to budget it into our sad excuse for "miscellaneous items" savings, my mother-in-law graciously offered to take our computer to some techy acquaintances to see if they had a cheap cord laying around. Mama O came through, and for the past week we have been enjoying the luxuries of the internet from our home. It has been a good run...or at least it was for the first day.

The computer mysteriously came home with all sorts of new troubles. As she powers on, four different things pop up to tell me that programs are either not running anymore or cannot be found. After I finally close out of all of the crap that can no longer run (or be un-installed successfully), I finally get to a place where I can click on the internet. It runs one out of four times. Most of the time, I have to restart the computer to get the internet to work for me. If it does work, it kicks me offline at periodic moments of its choosing. I am thoroughly astounded that I have been able to list my woes to you with no computer interruptions. I think it is teasing me.

So there you have it: The tale of why I suck at blogging and have left all of you hanging around waiting for my next intoxicating installment. I will try with all of my might to fight through the evil tricks of this technological monster. I am not this easily beaten.