A few years ago, I had bought some promotional pens for My Very Own Mail, my personalized letters for kids business.

They were so cute! And they were one of those kinds of pens that everyone likes - you know, like you try to steal off the doctor’s counter. Aw, come on, admit it - you know you do it!! Heehee!

Well, I had thought they were long since gone, I had gotten them several years ago, and I haven’t run across one in quite a while, but, the other day - in the kitchen, I was so excited to see a My Very Own Mail pen.

I was so excited! I sequestered it to the mug on my desk where I keep pens, pencils, scissors, and such — hoping against hope the monsters sweet children don’t find it!

And it really has me thinking about buying some more - it was such a great promotional item!

And handy, too!

I am so severely bummed about not having my own computer - it is driving me crazy!

Maybe I didn’t post about it here, but, in November, my beloved hard drive crashed - kaplooey!

Just kersplat! Crash-ola, gone! It was a very sad day, indeed!

My precious husband got me back up and running, God bless him - on our sons’ computer - and I am so extremely grateful for that! As much as he complains about my constant computer time, he jumped up and helped me out - without my even asking him! That was totally awesome and really, really touched me.

There are a few complaints I have about this machine, though. It is running Windows ME - isn’t that from caveman times? I think it must be, because there are so many applications that do not support it! I can’t even get the freaking Google toolbar! Or the new MySpace IM - not that that is a necessary thing, but, that is just another example I can think of off the top of my head of software that has slammed its door in my face!

Also, the video card is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay messed up - you wouldn’t even believe what I have to look at on the screen - think 70’s television sets with the vertical lines - serious! Ugh!

And the settings on it are all funky cadywumpuss! (yes, that’s a new word, and yes, I like it - thank you very much!) The screen doesn’t really go all the way to the edges of the monitor - there is a black border all around, you know what I mean? And yet - what I’m seeing is all stretched out - so that on practically every site I’m on - there are vertical and horizontal scroll bars! It is purely maddening!!!!!!!!!! And I cannot seem to fix it for the life of me!

But the complaint that brought us here - to this giant, whiny, bitchy post - is that I can’t freaking get the printer set up correctly to print out my labels for My Very Own Mail! The labels are being printed off-center - and going off the edges of the labels - on top and bottom and on the sides! Not to mention, I lost my original copy of my logo…

Isn’t it cute??? But, I am having to swipe it from my photobucket account and from my sites, and for publishing on the web, that works fine (in most cases) but, for printing out, I am winding up with the ‘copy of a copy’ syndrome.

This is definitely not good, because I print it out on labels for the envelopes that the kids’ letters and goodies go in!

So I spent all day yesterday trying to get my letters together, and it was so maddening!

I can’t wait until I make enough money to fix my machine! And I know the kids can’t wait to get theirs back!

/end complaining - return to your normal cheery day!

Well, first off that sickness I had was a tummy bug with a fever…yuck!

So, of course, you don’t really eat for a few days and then barely for a few days after that.

Only now, I seem to have more roadblocks to proper nutrition!

I have two GIGANTALOID fever blisters (Yes! I said two - at once!) on my bottom lip, then traveling further into what could be my nutritional depository….I have a fever blister that is very sore on the front side of my tongue that keeps getting in the way, bitten, you name it!…..then, traveling even further into the system that is supposed to sustain me, I have a sore throat!

Geez! It’s like Fort Knox of the Belly! Forget about eating!

My (unhealthy) mind keeps telling me, this is a good thing - a great kick start to a diet - we haven’t been eating for a week almost, this is great!

No, dummy! With a situation like this - the body goes into starvation mode, etc, etc….you know the damn drill…I’m too malnourished to explain it all - you actually have to EAT to lose weight!

So I keep going in the kitchen looking for something that won’t hurt so much going in, and actually sounds appetizing and might be some good energy food for me and my body and my brain….with very little success.

I did manage to get a whole bagel down this morning - that was impressive - it did, however, take me two hours - LOL!

I suppose after a little while I’ll scramble a few eggs, that will be nice and soft and protein-packed.

I did find this yummy frozen fruit bar, that I am able to eat little nibble by little nibble.

Ah well.

I may be malnourished, but, I did manage to assemble twenty-four My Very Own Mail December packages. Well, almost - all I have left to do is stick the letters in and seal them. But they are practically ready to go - that is a great relief - and I will send them out tomorrow morning. I always picture the little monster’s faces as I am doing the final packaging, and every time, it NEVER fails, I get so excited - butterflies in my stomach at the thought of all these little munchkins finding this wonderful package in the mail. I guess that is what keeps me doing it.

Because Lord knows it’s not paying any bills. LOL It basically pays for itself. I don’t know - maybe I get a little gas money out of it here or there.

I only had white paper this month, though…so that was a bit of a downer - except that meant that you could see the graphics really well.

And on the younger children’s letters, for the top graphic, I put a PINK gingerbread house - it is so cute! OH! I could show you….

Isn’t that cute??? I love it! And whenever I put graphics on the colored paper - you don’t get the full effect of it, you know? So that is the one good thing.

I mean, I did have some colored paper, but, not any that were appropriate for Holidays…none that I thought would work, anyway.

Ok, I get sick, and I get malnourished, and I get boring. Sorry.

LOL

Yep! The Universe didn’t do a very good job of listening!

I spent all day Monday tending to two sick Grannies - and accompanying animals…a shrimpy little dog and two horses, who would’ve otherwise been ignored - gathering meds for the sickos, just whatever they needed.

And, if you will recall - I specifically told the Universe that I was to be granted immunity from said illness. Think super-powered nurse here….

Nope.

No such luck.

I came home Monday night feeling a bit off and went to bed very early, only to awaken in the wee hours puking my little guts out!

Ugh!

Yesterday was TERRIBLE!! Truly TERRIBLE!! Even wound up with a 103degree fever!

I still feel pretty rotten today, but, nowhere near as horribly as I did yesterday!

I have, however, missed my self-imposed deadline for the December My Very Own Mail package - the Not Your Typical Santa Letter. I wanted to get them all mailed out on Monday, but, I guess Thursday will be the newly-appointed day. I just got on to check email, blog a bit, and now I’m starting to feel weak again, so I don’t think I even have it in me to assemble the packages, much less head out to the post office and wait in that godforsaken line we are blessed with, because our new postmaster will only let one employee work the desk! Grrr! I can see myself passing out waiting in that line! Yikes!

Well, anyway, I just hope to God the kids and Mark don’t get it! That was some horrible stuff - I felt like HELL!!!

I am, however, getting to catch up on my Reader’s Digests - I had gotten a few months behind. LOL

I am so thoroughly disappointed - now I can’t get the pictures on my digital camera to unload onto the computer!

Lordy me! (*hijacking my own post* Spell check doesn’t like the word Lordy - interesting!)

Anyway - I don’t even know if I can list all of the electronic difficulties I’ve been having lately - but, the main things would be that my hard drive crashed and now I am using hubby’s machine, which my complaints about that alone…his machine…would be a whole ‘nother post! And then, I couldn’t find the software for the printer to get his hard drive and my printer amicably introduced. And seeing how my main business most definitely requires use of the printer (MyVeryOwnMail.com) that was just an unacceptable situation.

Look, I save everything computer related! I, up until quite recently, still had books that went with the computer that was hand-me-downed to me by a good friend of the family whom I shall call M.L. (Get that one, Mom?) She gave me that machine ….oooh, I’d say …uh, maybe about EIGHT years ago! I finally went through my computer ’stash’ with my dad and asked him what I could get rid of, and even he had me keep stuff about which he was unsure.

Well, you know when you get a new machine, with all its accompanying gadgets - and they send you books on this and books on that, and I get so nervous and unsure what I need and don’t need. And then my dad would come over and work on my machine, often adding more hardware to it, that - of course, came with more books!

And I am just always so nervous I am going to get rid of the ONE disc, diskette, book, diagram, etc. that we will surely need!

And yet - I had not the software for this bloody printer! And the main company, ‘they who must not be named’ … for some odd reason, all day (the day I was drastically trying to get 17 letters out to sweet little children!) their site would NOT pull up! Being misinformed, as I often am, I thought - “Oh no! They’ve gone out of business! Yes! I think I remember hearing about that on the news!” Silly me - ‘they who must not be named’ are a very large company, doing quite well, thank you very much. If that’s the case, I suppose they could be named, and anyway, if that is the case - the problem of not being able to access their site was probably on my end. Oh well - no sense risking slamming a big shot for some stupidity of my own.

Anyway, that’s not, or - they’re not - the issue here….my electronic difficulties are!

It took me a while, but, I finally remembered (God bless them and their children!) DriverGuide.com — on which I found the appropriate software!

So I dealt with the ‘impending-doom’ printer issue and sent out all those letters to those precious children!

Now - it seems, the camera software wants to play silly games with me.

I had plans for three different sets of photo shoots for this blog, oh no - actually - four!

I have been meaning to post - forever - my daughter’s pierced ears, and my sons’ new shiny instruments, including a couple shots of them playing them. And then, of course, I wanted to post shots from last night’s choir concert at the town square.

And - at Punkymoms, my avatar has simply left the building….Photobucket is acting weird, I had a shot of my daughter disappear off my other blog, too. This one: The My Very Own Mail Bookworm Broadcast I was able to fix that shot, but, I decided that one of the shots of her from last night would make a perfect replacement avatar at Punkymoms.

And - at Punkymoms - we are doing a take-off of Flat Stanley, and yep, you guessed it - she’s called Flat Punky - and she’s a cutie! And she has stopped at our house to visit first and my daughter got a great shot of her last night that I wanted to add to the boards….and I’d like to take her to the City Sign which is right around the corner from my house and take a picture.

All of these plans involving my camera - and the software is playing games with me! Lordy! (Yes, spell check, we know you don’t like that word!)

I suppose I will have to uninstall and reinstall the software, but, I wonder….

And I am just now, while writing this post, having this thought….

The original owner of this house is said to still be hanging around, although crossing over six years ago.

He has, up to this point, been quite friendly. Like covering up babies who’ve kicked off their blankets in the night…

But, he wanted someone else to be living here…and I’ve often wondered if our presence here would comfort him…or distress him…

Could he be trying to tell us something?

Or could this just be an odd string of bad-electronics-luck?

I know I really need to get it on aweber or something like that, but, for right now I am going to have a Yahoo Groups list.

I have been really working hard on all my online endeavors since February, after blowing things off for a while.

I have, however, been pouring all I make back into the business, and I am, actually, kind of sick of it! LOL!

So - in this one instance, I shall go the free route. I am also afraid to make the commitment to yet another monthly bill at this point. Soon, I will get my good mailing list provider. For now, however - I will go with Yahoo groups.

I am insanely familiar with Yahoo groups, anyway, having spent the better part of six years hanging out in them! ROFLMAO!

Ok, so after all that drivel, about the ins and the outs of it, here is the link to my new group!

Click to join bookwormbulletin

Oh yeah! And I forgot to say that if you join, you will receive a FREE Christmas eBook called, Creating a Magical Family Christmas!