Hot diggity dawg, my software arrived!!!  Thank Goodness for Mastercard, friendly vendors and the USPS!  After getting a $50 discount from our "local" sewing machine vendor back in NC, we purchased my new, Vista compatible embroidery software via phone and it was shipped about a week later.  We had it in our mailbox within just a few days, and not a moment too soon!  Our good friend Diana has been actively marketing my products and has placed her order for FOUR totes!!  Never mind that I only have two made, she needs FOUR!  Yippee!!  And now I have to learn how to use all the new features so that I can de-construct a pattern I have and use only the sunflowers from it.  Dick loaded it all up and I started using it.  A few days went by and I had used my computer for geocaching (Tim & Staples, we are now up to 190; you can top that with a medal from your Olympics!!), house-hunting, yard-sale-ing and some other local navigations.  So, I wanted to send Diana a picture of the fabrics I had purchased for the new totes, and whattdoyaknow!?  Blue screen at boot.  Twice in a row.  OK, well, I remember *some* things from my previous life, and boot into Safe Mode.  OK, now, y'all know how much I hate fooling with NEW stuff....but, I tried.  I remembered that I had just updated (at Dick's suggestion, no less) to Vista Service Pack 2.  While I was out there, looking at the download, I noticed there was a check-box for Internet 8 for Vista x64 systems.  OK, that sounds good, and we know (much to my chagrin) that I have Vista x64, so what do I do?  SUUUURE, check that bad boy.  WHO KNEW!!!  Why would they even OFFER something so lethal!!??  During Safe Mode, I had launched IE, and what do ya suppose??  Sucker gives an error explaining how IE8 is not compatible with HP something or other.  Yeah, our new wireless printer is HP.  ARRGH!!  So, was it the Vista Service Pack 2 or the IE download that prevents my computer from booting up?  Who knows, who cares, just get it GONE!  I found a restore point that was prior to that stupid download and tried to go back to it.  Tried, you say?  Yup, tried.  Unsuccessfully, as it turns out, but I had to try.  After messing with the thing for about 2 hours, and still not being able to boot it up (not a chance to send any pictures until it boots, that's fer sure), poor Dick puts away HIS computer & the GPS (he was trying to learn how to create a route for us, to make MY job easier), and says, "let me see what I can do." 

HOURS later (actually, around 1 am), he finally checks the defrag one more time & calls it a night.  He got the crappy stuff removed, the boot process repaired and the computer actually BOOTS.  And I can use the internet AND process email.  WHOOHOO!!  Is Service Pack 2 installed?  HECK NO!  And am I gonna?  HECK NO!!  Do I care?? HA!  NO!!

So, thank you for sharing my latest round of technology challenges and allowing me to vent!  Now that I've got the computer back up and working, it's time to put that new software to work and see what it can do!  I've been working on a Christmas tree skirt, with 9 reindeer (the usual 8 plus Rudolph), and it's taking much longer than I'd expected.  As usual.  The fact that I'm getting ready to run out of body-color thread isn't helping, either.  Looks like a trip to the dreaded Corpus Christi is in order for us shortly. 

Well, if I want to ride bikes in the morning, I'd better sign off so that I can get up before noon!  It's been really hot here, and DRY, so we've been trying to ride between 9 & 11 am, when it's hotter'n Hades.  We've been doing well, last ride we went down a lonely street & got to see a hummer (unlike any we'd ever seen before), a hawk, a deer, 3 ponies in a field (they were friendly and HUNGRY) and a pony on a rope.  And we got chased by a stupid little yappy dog and a pit bull ran with us for a minute or two.  Can't wait to see what we'll see next!  We have visited a few yard sales while we're out, and lemme tell ya....there's a lot of JUNK out here.  I don't even mean JUNQUE, either, it's pure JUNK.  Oh, except for one - I have repurposed the drip pan for an outdoor pot & turned it into a birdbath.  Granted, all I did was wash it up good & put some water & a shell in it and sit it on the picnic table next door, but the birdies seem to enjoy it.  And, apparently, we have a regular visitor at our hummingbird feeder, because the juice goes down quickly.  We have not yet identified the actual bird tho.  I don't think our hummers here are the typical Ruby-throated ones of the East Coast, so it'll be exciting to see one up close enough to ID. 

Debbra, we wish you the best & speediest recovery; Theresa, we hope you, too, are recovering well & quickly.  Diana - THANK YOU for selling my products!!  Tim, SWIM as fast as you can and take the gold!!  Much love to you all!!