Stupid Virus and Recommended Blogs

Whatever punishment there might be for those who create computer viruses, I'm not sure it's harsh enough. I've been working on removing a very annoying virus from my computer. It's driving me crazy. MajorGeeks.com is helping me, as they have in the past. I highly recommend them if you ever have computer issues (viruses or not) that you need help with.

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Charlie should hopefully be home by Wednesday or Thursday. What was expected to be just a week-long business trip to the Texas panhandle has turned into a month and has included driving to Kansas and back to TX twice. *sigh* He really wants to come home and more and more desires a job that doesn't send him out of state. Especially for so long.

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I recently "discovered" a few blogs that I'd like to share with y'all. :-)

Ragged Robin's Nature Notes. As the name implies, it is a nature blog. Beautiful photos. The author lives in England.

The Southport Times blog. A newspaper blog focused on my lovely hometown, Southport, North Carolina.

My Oak Island Adventure! Life in Oak Island, NC.

Sleep Talkin' Man. Hilarious!

In the Left Lane is not a recent discovery. I've been reading and following this blog for at least a year. The author doesn't have a lot of followers (40), but should in my opinion. Her and her husband moved back to the states (California) a few months ago from England and are expecting their first child. They traveled a lot to other countries when they lived in England, so be sure and check out past entries.

Ringtone and Blog Following

Charlie likes to text. He texts me more than he talks to me when he's away. I have a ringtone just for him so when he calls I know it's him without looking. And everytime he calls I get that song stuck in my head. Not that I mind, of course.

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I've been a member of SITS for a year or two. (There's a button for their site in the margin.) I enjoy checking out the featured blogger of the day and congratulating them on their day. Sometimes I'll become a follower of the featured blogger. But if I see that that blogger (or any blogger really) has hundreds of followers, I usually don't follow them unless I really love their blog. I'd rather follow someone who looks like they need more followers - if I love their blog even just a little. I hope it makes them smile when they see they have a new follower. I love it when I get a new follower and I admit I'm kind of sad when someone stops following me. Though I guess I can understand. I'm not funny and I'm not the most interesting blogger in the blogosphere. :-/

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I started feeling really bad a few hours ago. Headache, nausea, overall feeling of not feeling well. I took some ibuprofen for my headache and ate some crackers for my nausea, which helped some. I really hope I'm not getting sick. Not that a person would normally want to get sick. So, this night owl is signing off now and going to bed.

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"The 'Love Language' of Jesus is Obedience. You don't need a personal conviction to obey scripture, you just need a 'Personal Submission'."

“Being happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect. It means that you've decided to look beyond the imperfections.”

“To forgive is the highest, most beautiful form of love. In return, you will receive untold peace and happiness.” -- Robert Muller

Wanderlust

Things have been pretty quiet around here, other than my kids arguing a couple times a day. Highly annoying. With the weather turning colder (it's cold to us Southerners anyway) and getting rain a couple times a week, we're not getting out much. Today's temperatures are pretty decent for December (it's in the 60s), but the wind we're having is crazy. Tonight is mid-week service though and that's something to look forward to.

So what have I been doing with my time? Well, besides the usual cooking and cleaning, I've been spending a lot of time online. To the point that I'm almost sick of it. But I read two or three books so quickly that I'm not really in a reading mood and I keep forgetting to call the cable company about the sound issues. (When the cable to the TV is plugged in, you can see the channels but you can't hear them. When you unplug the cable to the TV, you can hear the channels but you can't see them. *sigh*) That leaves the internet as my time-filler.

And what have I been doing online? Facebook, watching my favorite shows and reading blogs mostly. Especially expat blogs. It's been my dream for a long time to travel. Mostly to Europe and New Zealand. Since I don't have the money or the time (yet) to make this dream come true, reading expat blogs is the closest I can come to it. I am attempting to live vicariously through these lucky people who have the opportunity to live in another country for a time. Some have been in their country of choice for many years.

I dream of what it would be like to live in New Zealand or Italy or Ireland or some other European country. I know that the reality of it probably wouldn't completely live up to my dreams of it, but since it's just a dream at the moment I will imagine it the way I'd like for it to be. Maybe living in or traveling to another country will happen and maybe it won't. I don't necessarily dream about something with the expectation that it will happen, only with the hope that it will. And sometimes that's enough. Sometimes it's just a form of escape.

2009 Wishes

I've been doing a lot of browsing of people's blogs at expat-blog.com and of some of the blogs that are linked at other blogs. I've found a few I liked enough to add to my blogroll. At one of the blogs I came across (but didn't add to my blogroll), someone had a list of 9 wishes for 2009. I don't know if I can come up with nine, but here are my wishes/hopes for the year.

For 2009, I hope:

1. ...That our house sells by the summer. We'll be re-listing in mid to late February. (We've been off the market since the end of November.) I don't look forward to the anxiety of waiting for showings, positive feedback and trying to keep the house just about perfect all the time though.

2. ...We can finally get our new (to us) house. I have several in my favorites at listingbook and I often wonder if any of them is our future home. I sometimes daydream about getting the bigger house we need with four bedrooms, a den, fireplace, 2-3 car garage, and some land (around a half an acre would do) in a quieter area with better schools. And no open floor plan!

3. ...We get the new living room furniture we need. (This is very likely to happen by the summer.) The furniture we have now was bought in the spring of 1998. It's dark, so most people probably can't tell that it's not in the best shape unless they look closely. (Two or three cushions have holes in them, though you can't see them unless you flip them over or, in the case of the couch, push down on it or recline. If the hole-less sides get holes in them, there'll be no more hiding of them. lol) Plus, the style of it just doesn't appeal to me anymore. I want something without a pattern this time.

4. ...I can lose some weight. I have PCOS, which causes weight gain that's just about impossible to lose. I did lose about 13 pounds early last year without even trying (I tried for awhile with no luck, so I quit trying), but I've gained most of it back. And, no, I haven't been pigging out. It's that darned PCOS. *shakes fist*

5. ...I can find something to satisfy my craving for something new and different in my life.

6. ...Sean passes 5th grade. He's really struggling this year.

7. ...Charlie travels less with his job than he has these past few months. I've only seen him a couple times since early November. I'm tired of missing him. Maybe he'll finally get sick of it too and find a better job.

8. ...

Well, I seem to be stuck there. I can't think of anything for 8 and 9.