I really want to drop some pounds for health reasons. I can’t work any weight loss pills into the budget, so I really need to set up a diet and exercise routine. It’s just really hard when I have no energy whatsoever to work with. But I still need to try.

I’m going in for that sleep study in a couple of weeks. Hopefully that will put us closer to finding the root of the problem. I hope it’s not apnea because I really don’t want to wear one of those cumbersome masks, but I’ll do whatever it takes. I’m tired of being tired all the time, and I’m ready to get on the right track for better health.

You see, my computer didn’t come with Microsoft Word. It wasn’t really a big deal to me when I got it, because WordPerfect suited my light word processing needs just fine then. But when I started writing, I had to turn assignments in in Word format. WordPerfect can save in .doc format, but sometimes it screws up the formatting. So after a while I decided it was time to get MS Word.

Back then I had a little money to spare, but I was trying to get by as cheaply as possible. So I searched online for the best deal I could find on MS Word. Everything was in the hundreds of dollars, and I thought that surely I could get by cheaper than that. I finally found an OEM copy of Word 2000 for around $30, so I jumped on it.

The CD-ROM came in the mail a few days later, and I set about installing it. Or I tried to. I kept getting errors, and after several hours of frustration for me and strange noises from my CD-ROM drive, I gave up. I called customer service, and they said they would ship me another one out right away. They did, and it arrived a few days afterward.

I popped that one in the drive, only to hear similar sounds. Not good. But I wrestled with it, hoping I could just get it on my computer and get on with my life. I finally managed to install the most basic requirements of the program and get it to work. That was a task in itself, but it made me happy.

My MS Word has always been a little buggy, but I managed to get my work done without incident for the most part. But then last week, it just ceased to work like it should. I could no longer open a file from the menu, and composing and editing began using way too much memory and processing power. When it became virtually impossible to do anything with it, I began looking for alternatives.

I tried WordPerfect again, and it keeps screwing up my formatting even if I start over from scratch. I’ve also tried Zoho (an online word processing program that saves in .doc format), but it’s driving me nuts too. I’m considering trying Google Docs, and seeing how much I despise the big G lately, that should tell you just how desperate I am.

I would love to buy Word 2007 and be done with it, but that’s simply not possible right now. If I had known what a pain this was going to be, I would have invested in a newer version in the first place. I guess I’ll know next time, huh?

What I’d like to do is put the TV where the air hockey table is now, put the couch on the wall opposite from that one, and put the chairs along the other two walls. But I’m afraid that if I do that, we will have to keep the front door shut when we’re watching TV. The floor has been patched next to the front door and it would be hard to open it all the way (if it’s even possible), and even if that doesn’t prove to be an issue I’m not sure if the entertainment center we have now would block it from opening far enough.

I’d like to have one of those cool pieces of tv furniture that looks like a chest. It would probably be more compact than the unit we have now, and it would still provide plenty of storage for our movies. But for now we will have to work with what we’ve got, so I guess I should be doing some measuring before we go to all that trouble.

Russian Tea Cakes

• 1 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 tsp. almond extract
• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 3/4 cup finely chopped pecans
• more powdered sugar (to roll the cookies in)

Heat oven to 400 degrees. In large mixing bowl, combine butter, 1/2 cup sugar, and vanilla and almond extracts. Beat at medium speed of electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add flour and salt. Beat at low speed until soft dough forms. Stir in pecans.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place balls 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until set. Immediately roll cookies in powdered sugar. Cool completely. Reroll cookies in powdered sugar before storing.

Enjoy!

I did manage to get a report done this morning, and that was good. But my computer started acting up and it took me about thirty minutes just to get it into a zipped folder and send it to the client. Nervewracking stuff.

As if that weren’t enough, Pumpkin has had a pretty bad cough, especially in the mornings. I called the doctor’s office and they said to bring her in right after school. I called to tell the teacher I would be picking her up, but didn’t get her and my call wasn’t returned. So I decided just to make it a point to be there by the time school let out and go in after her.

Turns out it was a good thing I didn’t get ahold of the teacher. I got in my truck to leave to pick her up, and I noticed that it wasn’t driving quite right. At first I thought it was the shocks (which sorely need replacement), but I decided to check it out after driving a couple of miles. Good thing I did - one of my tires was nearly flat! It barely had enough air to keep the rim off the ground. So I just turned around and came back home, and rescheduled her appointment.

Considering all that, you might think I had a bad day. But for some reason, it didn’t faze me. Shortly after Hubby got home, he commented on me being in a good mood. I was rather taken aback at first, but then I realized that I was. Imagine that!

I still feel cruddy, and I haven’t gotten any work done today besides finishing that report. Yet somehow I’ve managed to not let it get me down. I wish I knew how, so I could do it every day.

If there’s anyone more technically inclined than me reading this (I’m sure there is), maybe you can help me out with something. I have my writing files in a folder on my desktop with subfolders for each of my clients. I create a subfolder in the client’s folder for each assignment, which consists of anywhere from one to 30 articles (usually 10 or 15). When I’m done with the assignment, I right click on its folder, go to “send to”, and click “zipped folder” to create a compressed folder to send to the client.

Problem is, every time I do this, my computer slows down to a crawl. When I open the client’s folder, it’s like it already knows what I’m going to do. All the icons disappear from my desktop, sometimes the folder window goes blank, and it takes forever for it to straighten back up. I’m talking sometimes 10 to 15 minutes. It’s not exactly frozen because I can move my mouse, and can sometimes get as far as right-clicking the assignment folder and having the menu pop up. But when I point to “send to”, it just sits there, icons popping back up and reappearing, and that’s it. When it gets done with its little dance, I finally get the “send to” sub-menu, and I can click on “zipped folder” and it’s done within a few seconds.

I thought maybe the folders were too full, so I went through and removed all of the old unzipped subfolders that I didn’t need any more. That didn’t help a bit. I’ve also tried defragmenting, to no avail. Anybody have a clue what could be going on and how to fix it? I would be extremely grateful for any help on this, because it’s affecting my productivity.

Some of my efforts have worked out pretty well, such as driving as little as possible. I have been making it a point to get as much done each time I go to town as possible, and I’ve managed to go out no more than once a week most of the time. I’ve also done a fairly good job of stretching the grocery dollars, but I suppose I could do better.

But some things haven’t worked out as well as I had hoped. For instance, I ran really low on foundation. I despise going out without makeup on, but without foundation, I’d rather not use anything else, either. If I can’t cover up my pimples and blackheads, what’s the point? It wasn’t too big of a deal, though, because as I said I don’t get out much lately. So I only put on makeup when I’m definitely going out.

That worked out fine until this past week. There was so little foundation in the bottle that the small amount that was there just clung to the sides. So I got the bright idea to add a couple drops of water. Hey, it works for shampoo and conditioner, so why not makeup? Heh.

I did manage to get some more out of the bottle, but it didn’t provide any coverage whatsoever. Oh well, I guess it was worth a try. I ended up going to the store anyway, and darn if I didn’t forget to buy any foundation. So I guess I’ll be going to the store without makeup again.

I ate and got a little work done before my eyelids began to close. It wasn’t a big surprise, since I stayed up until 1:00 this morning. As usual, I couldn’t fight it and had to lay down. I was conked out in no time flat.

I slept until around 11:00. That sucked, but I figured at least I would be able to hang in there the rest of the day. Yeah, right. I alternated between writing and washing and hanging out clothes until about 1:30, and then I became completely unable to concentrate. I had to lay down again. I managed to recoup without going to sleep, and got back up a half hour or so later.

Then after Pumpkin got home I started getting dozy again. Had to take another nap. This is just ridiculous, no?

I keep thinking that maybe I need to start drinking caffeine again, but that didn’t seem to help when I did. Maybe some weight loss pills would give me some extra pep and help me lose some poundage. I’m willing to try just about anything.

I need to call and schedule that sleep study, but I haven’t been able to pin Hubby down on a day he would be willing to take off work. I guess I should just go ahead and schedule it and hope for the best. I can’t make a living like this.

I believe he said he was around 70 years old, and from the way he talked, he seems rather contrary. But we were amicable, because we had no reason not to be. He hasn’t stopped to talk since then, and only waved while walking by every now and then.

Well, we didn’t see him walking for a while, which wasn’t all that surprising considering that he doesn’t get out at the same time every morning. Then we saw a “For Sale” sign at the end of his driveway last week. We haven’t seen any vehicles there since, so we’re wondering just what the deal is.

I thought maybe he had already moved out, but I haven’t seen any moving trucks coming or going. Then I thought maybe he had passed on, but I haven’t seen any funeral signs, either. I suppose he could have ended up in a nursing home, but he seemed to have his wits about him and had no trouble whatsoever getting around. Hmm.

I’m not really all that concerned about it, just curious is all. After all, by his own account, he hadn’t lived there much longer than we have lived in our new place. And this isn’t a very good time to be selling a house. Oh well. It’s his business, and none of ours.

But a few days ago, we got a new furry friend. Her name is Precious, and she’s a one-year-old Pomeranian. And she is a very sweet, very beautiful girl. We have all fallen in love with her, including Hubby, who usually doesn’t like housedogs.

Precious was Pumpkin’s early birthday present, and she was tickled pink with her. But you know what they say about Poms- they get attached to one person in particular. And that person has already been established as me. She follows me everywhere I go, lays beside my chair while I work, and jumps in my lap every chance she gets. If I’m up stirring around, she’ll curl up with someone else who’s available, but other than that she is my shadow.

Precious is a very picky dog. She won’t touch the food we feed the others, so we’re going to have to find something else for her. There’s a new pet shop in town that I hear sells everything from hamsters to horse supplies, so maybe they’ll have a good selection of food to choose from. Maybe they can even suggest something for her.

We still talk about Tater Tots a lot. He was certainly a unique little creature, and no dog could ever take his place. But we’re very happy to have Precious as part of our family.