Thank You for Being a Friend

Yet again my technical woes regarding Blogger have been solved by none other than Heather over at Adventures with Baby J and Bean.  Yesterday I took suggestion number one and resorted to stealing borrowing Tom's computer (identical to mine, bought on the same day) to see if I could comment on other blogs.  Why yes I could!  (And yes, I did consider swapping out laptops, but he still has all the product stickers on his, plus he has stuck right arrow key.  I am a keyboardist, not a mouser.  Stuck keys annoy the heck outta me.)

Half an hour ago I took suggestion number two.  Now that I've joined the modern era and started using Google Chrome, my computer really is as fast as Toshiba and FiOS say it's supposed to be.

There are a few adjustments I'll have to make (e.g., Ctrl + Down Arrow no longer takes me to the end of the paragraph, but in fact scrolls the entire page down, hmm), but even technology is a give and take.

Who Put Me In Time Out? And When Is It Over?

I am still in Blogger hell.  Random ability to comment.  Sometimes it looks like I'm going to get my comment posted, even if it is as "Anonymous," but at the last second I am sent to sign in again.  But I cannot sign back in and my comment gets eaten.

The other night I wrote a lengthy post about my date with a woman and how awesome it was.*  Blogger wasn't auto-saving for some reason, and I didn't think to copy and paste until after my entire post was lost.

This lame-ass post is saving, and may post just fine.  Great.

So... I am way behind on reading, getting farther behind on writing and feeling quite frustrated by the whole thing.

I perused Blogger's user forum and followed each bit of advice I gleaned there (different browsers and clearing caches, cookies and browser histories).

What else can I do?

*Yes, if I can get this problem sorted out, I will rewrite the story.

What the Hey?!

For the past day and a half I have not been able to stay signed in long enough to comment on anyone's blogs.  And let me say that I have typed out some brilliant and witty comments.

So if you have posted something but haven't heard from me, it's not for not trying.

Anyone else having the same problem? 

I guess I'll know if you don't answer.

My Word

Ever suddenly face a new difficulty while doing something you've done hundreds of times in the past with no problems?  If you're like me (the me of these days when sleep is a rare treat and caffeine even rarer), you have a couple of standard responses.

First, you continue attempting to do things the old way.  Why will it only upload one photo at a time?  It's probably just a glitch.  If I keep trying this, maybe the glitch will go away.

Second, walk away and figure you'll come back to it later.  Ugh!

Third, come back and try the old way again.  Five more times.  Begin thinking in symbols.  Maybe I'll just take this piece of %#$&@ and throw it out the %^&##% window!

Fourth, find a new way of doing the old job.  Only this way is incredibly time consuming and, therefore, extra frustrating.  %^#^#%^%*  $%*$&%*$&*  @$@#$^!!!

Fifth and finally, you might try posting a question about how to resolve the problem.  Anyone know of an easier way to post photos on my blog?  The old way isn't working.  #@$$$%!  If anyone knows the answer, you can be my new BFF.

Someone wonderful and full of the knowledge of Blogger and Picasa might. come along and give a simple suggestion.  Have you tried uploading directly to Picasa?

Well I'm here to say, Step aside Nance!  There's a new BFF in town and her name is Heather (no, not Luke Skywalker's mama Heather).  This Heather is mama to Baby J and Bean.  Baby J is older than Bean, which is just confusing enough to make me like her even more.

When one acquires a new BFF, it's a good idea to learn a little about them.  I mean, I'm used to awkward silences and uncomfortable glances, but keeping those to a minimum whenever possible doesn't hurt either.  So I dashed over to Heather's blog, conveniently named Mama to Baby J and Bean.

I already was aware that Bean is cute as a button and has Williams Syndrome and that Baby J is adorable, even without any "and has"'es.  And I remember watching a news program (20 or so years ago) on the happy, smiling, musical, elfin people with Williams Syndrome.  So I felt like I already had a handle on all of that.

Yeah, no.  Yet again I discover that there's a whole other dimension to life than what I'd heard.  You can check out some of that by reading this post.

Above all else, Heather is a mama and as many mamas do, has a couple of birth stories to share.  She's not as wordy as some of *ahem* and managed to get both stories in one post about her relationship with pain management.

If you're over there, feel free to drop her a comment, letting her know how happy you are to see pictures on my blog again.  And to help you feel happier about photos on my blog, here are a few from Madelyn's first Easter, which also happened to be her first birthday.  I'll post photos from yesterday and today another time.

Feeding herself.

First time directly in the bath.  She loved it!

Daddy will do anything to make it better.

Dear Abby I'm Not

Notice some subtle changes to my blog?  Yeah, well I was going to explain to someone else just how easy it would be to change hers.  Only I needed to go through the steps so I'd know what the heck I was saying.  For some reasons, changes took place without my meaning to.  Once those occurred, additional changes did not take place no matter how hard I tried.


Hmmph.


Yes, I was supposed to be working on something else anyway.  What?

Good Times

I added the link within gadget to my blog.  I have enjoyed using it on some other blogs to read or re-experience stories.  Turns out I like it just as much on my own blog.  I initially started this blog (a bazillion years ago practically) as a journal.  This was back in the days when "comments" were titled, "poseurs" and there was nothing I could do to change it (oh, except learn coding).  The stuff from way back in the day is pretty badly written.  As one of my friends said, "Um, I'm not sure where you were going with that.  I read it and I was like, WTF?"  (Hello!  I was going for mysterious and subtle.  So I'll take your WTF as a sign of my success, whoop whoop!)


It's one o'clock right now, and not really unusual for me to be online.  Mostly I can't type because it's one-handed, in the dark fumbling while hunching over my daughter that makes my back hurt.  Tonight I've been following links from one part of my past to another.  I'm mostly pleased.  Yes, I'm willing to accept sleep deprivation and elevated hormones as reasons I find it fun to go through.


But as much as I've enjoyed reliving some of my own memories (which sounds strange even to me, but hey... most of my stories involve my kids), the comments have been equally great to re-read.  For those of you commenters who are still around, thanks again!  Much love and happiness to you.


And now, the fact that I've had both hands free for 20 minutes or so means I really need to get myself to bed while the getting's good.  Sleep sweet all!

Argh! and Yea!

I have been attempting to add photos to a pending post since Sunday night.  Still only extremely limited success (and none of the cute ones).  I'm hoping my cries for help are the reason "image uploads" is going to be serviced tomorrow.  In the meantime, here is a random sampling of my life:


I set up my phone so I can send posts to Blogger, but there must be a step I'm missing.


This has been stuck in my head for a week (I kind of like it):

Potty training is going very well.  I gave up the ridiculous idea that changing Mad's diaper while she's laying down will confuse her or I'm failing to reinforce that she's not a baby anymore. So, no more poopy hands for Mama.  Whoever thought of using a timer to make kids go to the potty is a fricken genius.  I'd kiss him or her on the mouth!  And realizing that I can use my cell phone alarm instead of the oven timer (thereby not having to rest Fynn's perpetually nursing body on the stove so I can make the ringing stop) makes me a freaking genius, too!  (At least to me.)  Mad's been telling me when she needs to go during nap time and overnight.  I mostly make it to her in time, but she's diapered then, so it's not as urgent.  She's getting good at telling me when she needs to go the rest of the day, too.  As I'm getting a sense of her timing, we are not living our entire mornings in 10 minute increments.  This is great!  However, when I offered to let her wear panties while we took Brother to school, she declined.


My friend with the lung situation has been tested four different ways.  One shows a borderline cancer score (6-10 typically means cancer; she got a 6).  However, a biopsy shows that there are no lesions.  It's not exactly a clean bill of health.  The doctor wanted to do another procedure, but the test results weren't close enough to 100% reliable for L, so she declined.  She'll go through another PET scan in two months to see if it's grown.  There are so many things to say or think about a friend in this situation.  I think I know how I'd handle much of it.  For one thing, I'd want to know as much as possible.  The opposite is true for her.  No googling, no super-involved conversations with the doctor.  Her philosophy is that everything she ever felt like she wouldn't be able to survive has happened, with this being the big one (if it is, indeed, the big one), but she's survived everything else.  Why not this, too, right?


In odd news that I probably shouldn't be mentioning, tomorrow would be my 20th anniversary if I'd stayed married the first time.  I cannot imagine still being married to him.  I have felt exactly that way since we agreed to divorce.  Yet every year at this time I feel a mental countdown.  I have no idea where he's at, if he's still married to wife number three (or was it four?  I couldn't keep track), or even if he's still alive.  I am glad we're not in contact, but I would tolerate him and be decent if he were part of Corey's life.  Fricken jackass.


Over the past 24 hours or so we've had some spectacular thunder and lightning.  Tom, Fynn and I sat upstairs in our bedroom watching (well, Fynnie nursed... is it possible that she's starting her next growth spurt so early?!?).  The strangest thing to me was the lack of heavy winds during most of it.  The gentle breeze made it possible to sit here with the window open.... until all of a sudden the storm got serious.  Wind, rain, hail.  Little chilly until Tom could close the window.  I'm so glad we have wireless Internet or I'd be stuck playing solitaire on my phone tonight while Tom and Fynn sleep.


I don't remember mentioning, but I have scheduled my tubal.  Two weeks from this Friday.  I'm good with the decision again.  Really, I always have been; I realized it while talking to my doctor.  I'll be 40 in the spring.  As I said to the doc, "There's room in the house.  There isn't room in the budget or the calendar."  Or the car.  Corey barely fits back there with the girls.  It's good we've gone so many places as a family, but if this continues, we'll have to get a bigger car.


There is still a slim chance we can make it to Chicago for Christmas, because the state still owes me money.  If nothing else unexpected happens, the money I'll get through PFL may be enough to do a slightly shorter trip.


Let's end with some good news.  I got my statement today showing that my check will be this month will only be a few hundred dollars short.  Compared to last month, I feel rich!