Simple Joys

F-I-X-E-D!

Yes!  My 'puter is fixed!  Well, it's working, but I don't have all of my backed up files loaded yet.  I'm just glad I can receive and send emails, check out blogs and sites, post, store pics, and do some work!  Yay!  I changed the piece that Dell sent without mishap - another yay!  I also got the internet connected, but I couldn't tell you how.  I tried and tried and couldn't do it the other day.  Today, I tried again, but again it didn't seem to work.  I tried again and clicked some other buttons and - Voila!  Here I am!  Yay again!

Here' some pics of Pal (my furry guy) waiting for me to pay attention to him instead of the computer.  Awww, I love his snout!  Sorry, Pal You really had to wait a l-o-n-g time!

Here's a pic (yes, I can even upload pics because I reinstalled my adobe photoshop elements) of the redone shroomie that I promised to send to some friends . . . Barb and Totoro!  I finished it last week Friday but since the 'puter was down, I couldn't retrieve Barb's addy.  So yes, finally, the little shroomie is on it's way!  Double yay!

It's kind of hard to tell the difference, but I changed the bottom to white colored yarn.  The previous bottom was a little smaller and a light yellow which is all I had.  I tried to stay with the "use what you have" commitment, but as I'm such a newbie crocheter/knitter, I don't have much of a stash.  Here comes my confession . . . It just didn't look right so I had to break my commitment and buy some white yarn.  Okay, I couldn't stick it out.  But, I'm happy with the white bottom!

I think I need a name for my 'puter since we've grown closer with this recent technical mishap.  Any suggestions?

C-R-A-S-H

Yup.  I had a crash.  A computer crash.  Friday night my laptop was working fine.  I closed it up and went to bed.  Saturday morning I went to turn it on and all I got was a black screen after the Dell screen and the Windows screen.  I tried over and over again - pleading with it to turn on.  Nothing.  I was on the phone with Dell for over 10 hours from Saturday to Sunday.  Still not fixed.  I had to wipeout everything and reinstall.  Still having problems.  The sixth person I talked to said he knew what one of the problems was and would send me a part that was easy enough to install myself.  Okay.  I now have the part but am nervous to change it.  I wanted to get this post in (using a different computer) before I tried it.  I can't even get the internet to connect (another problem).  Hopefully I'll get something fixed tonight. 

Barb, if you're reading this.  I finally got on my email from this computer and got your address so the shroomie is going to be coming to Totoro soon!!

Shroomie

I attempted a crochet project last night because I found this project by Rebecca Velasquez that I thought was absolutely adorable!  The top has a flap that opens!  Too cute.  My Shroom did not come out as cute.  I think I'm going to change the bottom to a different color.  I was trying to stick with the 'use what you have" commitment, but I did not have anything that would go with this since I'm only a newbie knitter/crocheter.  It was a fun project though and very doable (hey, if I could follow the directions . . . ) 

This is a pic of the top of the Shroom:

Here's the finished Shroomie!

Strawberries!

Grandma and the girls made one of their favorite desserts last night.  Chocolate covered strawberries!  I ate a couple - Mmmmm!  I think I'll go have one right now!

Happy Easter!!

It's Resurrection Sunday and I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy and Blessed Easter!  We went to church this morning and had a wonderful service.  One of my daughters was in an Easter performance put on by the junior leaders and some children at the church.  It was really good.  We're at home now getting ready to go to our annual family Easter gathering.  The kids are excited about the Easter egg hunt for plastic eggs with money in them and the adults are excited for the ono food!  We are all excited to celebrate and fellowship with the large and wonderful family that we are blessed to be a part of.  Happy Easter!

                                             

                                             

                                             

God Is Able!

My dear, dear friend who had a kidney transplant last Thursday, went home yesterday!  The new kidney has started "waking up" and is filtering the toxins out of his body.  He only had to undergo one cycle of dialysis right after surgery.  I am so relieved that he is now in the comforts of his own home with family taking care of him and friends wishing him well and praying for him.  He still needs to be kept isolated from a lot of people because he is very vulnerable to catching a cold or illness which could be deathly to him at this point.  I just wanted to share the great news!

My daughter's friend who was in the car accident that killed his stepmom is still in critical but stable condition.  He is being kept in a chemically induced coma right now but has moved his arms and limbs which probably means there is no paralysis.  We will all continue to pray for him and his family.

My other daughter's teacher whose brother died in a motorcycle accident this past Sunday was back at school on Wednesday and seemed to be holding up well.  He said he was glad to be back at school and that "school is good."  We gave him a hug and actually shared some laughter and smiles together about a joke with another teacher. 

Having Withdrawals? Or . . . .

I have been feeling pretty "blah-h-h-h-h" lately.  I'm not sure if it's all that's happened in the past month or not being able to buy anything because I'm sticking to my commitment to "use what I have!"  Toni from Simple Sparrow put out this challenge for the month of April.  I took a couple days to think about it but knew that I should take the challenge.  I have such a stash of stuff!  My friends say they just go shopping at my house for what they need.  Yikes!  I've been tempted a couple of times to makepurchase, but am still hanging tough.  The problem is, I'm not making anything!  I think the whole purpose of this challenge was to USE up what you have.  Not to stop making stuff until you can go out and buy more stuff in May!  It is turning out to be a real challenge for me.  I didn't think it would be hard because I have so much stuff!  It's pretty interesting actually.  Maybe my friend Linda is right when she says I have a sickness (she's says "byooki" which means "sick" or "ill" in Japanese.)  I think there is something to that, but I don't have the energy to ponder too deeply on it right now.  On the other hand, like I mentioned above, it could just be that so much has happened to dampen my creative spirit.  As I posted before, I got injured while skiing a few weeks ago and it had me laid up for a couple of weeks.  I tried to keep positive and cheerful, but then it just got pretty irritating.  The leg is getting better, but I still can't run.  I tried a few days ago to jog a little and pulled it after only a couple of steps.  Yuck!  Also, my dear, dear friend went in for a kidney transplant last Thursday (which was a good thing!) except that the kidney is still not waking up and now they say he has a leak? in his bladder.  Hmmm . . . how did that happen?  The good news in that situation is that the blood is flowing through the kidney so there is perfusion - yay!  I was at the hospital Thusday and Friday from morning to morning (8am-1:30am) so it could be some sleep deprivation too.  Saturday and Sunday we were out of the house by 6:30am and didn't get home until 8:30pm both days.  Friday I found out that my favorite security guard and friend at my daughter's school was not back from Spring break yet because his father had passed away.  Today I found out that my daughter's P.E. teacher's brother died in a motorcycle accident on Sunday and my other daughter's good friend is in the hospital.  He and his stepmom were in an accident this morning on the way to school.  He was in a coma in critical condition and has been upgraded to stable.  His stepmom died in the car crash.  Yikes!  So much tragedy.  The rain has pretty much subsided except for a few sprinkles here and there.  I love that the trade winds are back and it's nice and cool.  I do have some ideas floating around my head, but everytime I think, "Okay, I should make something" I end up on the couch watching T.V. or on my computer.  Oh well, maybe I'll make something tomorrow!

Thought Keepers and Pincushions

I just put these in the shop.  These fabric pages are so cool!  Val made them!  I love them.  I wanted them, but she said, "No."  Can you believe it? 

Here's the Thought Keeper called "Wish Upon a Star."  Each one is fully decorated on the front and back.

   

This one is called "Hopes."

Here's one called "Dreams."

And last but definitely not least, here's "Sweet."

I also put a couple of my flower pincushions in too!

See the warm sun's rays on my pincushions?  Yup!  The sun's out!  Yay!  The sun is back in Hawaii and it feels great!  We still got a little drizzle here and there but it was a gorgeous day in Hawaii nei!