One birthday party, Two Thanksgivings, Two trips to the doctor, seven loads of laundry, and one fixed computer..

How's that title for ya?
Here's your official warning, there are a few posts to follow, not that you are interested in ALL of them, but I just wanted you to have a heads up.
If you can't sleep, are genuinely bored, or are really curious as to where I have been, you can read it all here.
The hiatus isn't solely due to my mystery illness, it was courtesy of Windows Vista.
How I hate Vista...
But it is gone now.
Thank heavens...
Really, if I could have been blogging, whining and commiserating with you all over how sick and awful I felt, I would have been here, but Vista kept me from such fun.
I look forward to catching up on everything, re-loading fonts, re-loading all of my digital stuff, and catching up on "The Office".
Honestly, what would we do without the internet?
The little break was nice though..  with the exception of missing "The Office"...  those were some of the worst withdrawals ever!

Meet Lucinda and other fun things..

Meet Lucinda.. or "Lucy".. as I call her :)She is our new, awesome computer.. she is fast, has a whole lotta memory, and best of all, functions at full capacity.
She will also find herself with a new child in a couple of days (hopefully sooner rather than later..) and that would be my PhotoShop program... (cheers!!!)
Right now, the only other broken/non-functioning item in my home is my dishwasher..Note: NEVER take your dishwasher for granted!! This malfunction has blessed me with some nice quiet time though... :)
So...
Lately..We have had Ashley needing to use a "cane" because she has "old lady smell".. (?) Is that why canes are utilized?
She also channels "Word Girl".She continues to note the items of her costume that are missing, but necessary. She has found other items that will serve as "temporary substitutes"..
- Purple Dora gardening glove (notice the absence of the plural "s"?..) in place of the standard red..
- Hot pink shoes in lieu of the red boots..
She also noted that a red belt is necessary, as well as the red helmet..
I guess I have some shopping to do..
Lynnie-Lou, on the other hand...
Had a heart breaking experience the other night..
We were at Pack Meeting (it was "Dino-riffic!!!..) and she missed-out on the opportunity to play a game in which she could win some most coveted and valuable prizes.. her younger sister, did not miss this chance, and thus, Lynnie-Lou was heartbroken.
She left me a note, to convey her grief...I do believe that a translation of sorts is necessary..
"I am extremely sad cause I didn't get a slinky and I didn't get a glow stick. That's why. Love Lynn (heart). If there's any problems fix them all by yourself."
(Did you get that from reading the original note? It took me a while.. so cute though!!)
I am enjoying the phonetically spelled notes I get all day long..
Look at what a cutie she is!Lastly...
Peyton's tag..
Kimmy, our cute little friend, tagged us..
So here are 5 of Peyton's essential items:

1- Her Horse.. it goes just about everywhere inside our house and outside..2- Books.. she loves them!! Mostly looking at them at her own pace right now.. she's yet to sit still through a whole story.. well, besides her Barney and Elmo board books...
3- Cars and trucks... she makes the sounds of the engines too :)
4- Balls. She especially loves her big, bouncy, blue ball. I am also happy to note that she is over her fear of the exercise ball!! :D
5- It's a tie for this one.. me and her fingers...

And we pick up from where we left off..

So.. it didn't really crash, per say..
This (the video card) was part of the problem. After Merrill had some time away from our dinosaur (separation does make the heart grow fonder..) he sat down, and once again, tried to help out our ailing electronic. Some of the symptoms led him to believe that it was the video card that left our computer useless.. so with some help, he replaced it.
Yes, we still don't have enough memory, our computer is very old, and we are getting a new one.. that means I get PhotoShop.. YEA!!!!!!
I was going to get for Mother's day (that's what he was planning), when I found an e-mail from a friend to get it from Adobe at a discount. When I called Mr. Pitcher to tell him of this deal, he asked a few questions, told me of his plan, and said to get it, it was a better deal than he had been able to find. SO I am VERY EXCITED!!! Look out for a couple of blog makeovers!!
So, what does one do without a computer for a week+?
MANY THINGS...
For one, I am rockin' and AWESOME farmer tan...
Yeah, I know you can't tell very well.. I have been trying to even it out.. with my four days spent mostly out of doors...
I got my flower beds ready, front lawn thatched and mowed, even patch master put down on Saturday..
Flowers in on Monday..

Garden dug up (it's our first year although I have had the desire for 8..) and planted Tuesday..
We look forward to eating our homegrown fare..
Instead of the dirt it is nurtured in...
Look for an onslaught of posts.. there has been more going on than this!

REALLY sucks...

I have been telling Merrill, that instead of fixing (or the pursuit of trying to fix) our five year old computer, we should just splurge with a small amount of our tax return, and buy a new one.
Novel idea, I know...
He was hesitant as the newly acquired technology would soon be outdated (but our existing computer would be even more outdated!!) so...
We had Austin, Merrill's brother who is computer (and other electronic toy) savvy come and assist us in expanding the size of our hard drive.. it's been a process as our computer is much like a dinosaur, with plates on it's back.. very annoying plates.. and this technology is dated to pre-Autin's awesome knowledgeness... in other words, slow in going.
Yesterday morning, the plated dinosauric computer did not wake from it's previous night's slumber.
I, however, woke to yelling (some potty words were shouted I am sure, most of the words a little indiscernible..), the sound of objects being thrown, and what sounded like a yelp or two (at least I didn't exaggerate it into emotional sobbing Mer :)...).. it was an interesting wake-up call.
So, should I say I won?
We are getting anew computer, after all :D
I have MANY things to post.. but those might just have to wait until either A- Austin can resurrect the beast, or B- our newly built Dell gets here sooner than expected.. or I guess there's a third option, I live at the hotel when I need to post?
That's where I am right now, while the kiddos make a mess of the Lofthouse cookies sitting here on the desk...

How do I live without you?...

My finger is a little numb... think: "Rustoleum"... ;)
Still don't get it? Maybe this will explain...31 cookie sheets of various sizes, spread out all over my garage floor, ready for crafternoon... hence the numb finger...
So my post title... some might think that I am missing Merrill, which I am, but that was not what the title was aimed at.. or "who" I should say.
My computer was having issues earlier today, scary. I remedied it all by myself but didn't know until my hero, Austin came over and it started right up. Needless to say, I am pretty sure I wrecked Merrill's day off calling him with the news. Seriously, is there a computer troubles virus going around? Not like I spend all day every day on my bloggin' best bud, but how would I live without it?
We're Jake now.
And it's a good thing cause that would have made 5 things going awry around this joint...
1- Door to the garage won't open. Got new doorknobs to replace the bum one.
2- That one chip in the windshield... unrepairable. Need a new windshield..
3- Printer acting up, again.
4- We got so much rain today, we have a hole in our rain gutter, right over the spankin' new deck, and the extra room (storage/exercise/good place to lock stuff away that I don't want the kids playing with) has water leaking through or under the foundation, the carpet is wet. Does that when it gets too wet for the ground to absorb it quickly. Good thing it's the only unfinished room!
I think that's all that's messed-up...
Had an early birthday celebration/women's night out at Sandy's (yum!) tonight... Ashley was our star...
But Cade was pretty cute too...
Peyton enjoyed her first M&M of many to come...
And Ashley adored all of her gifts!!! Thanks all!She and Lynn came home and played Polly Pocket/Little People/Hannah Montana the rest of the night until they reluctantly went to bed... the dialogue they use when they play makes me giggle...
Lynn, playing Hannah Montana, crying... "Sniff, sniff... those people don't like my music..."
Ashley, playing the role of a very, hmmm, honest Polly Pocket, "Sometimes they do like your music and sometimes they don't. But sweetheart, sometimes people just don't like YOU..."
Grandma got Ashley this darling pillowcase dress... I will be making some of these... cute!
Add it to the pile of fabric for my other sewing projects!