Well, y’all, my week has started out lousy.
My nightmare started Friday. I’ve been working on making Christmas stockings for the three new family members. I get the machine out once a year, so it takes a while to get back into the groove. I have managed to complete one. It took me three tries to get the name of the youngest boy embroidered on the cuff where it didn’t look hideous but I was finally and sewed the whole thing together. I think I set a new personal record of only having to take out stitches once. Okay, twice but still a record.
I hung the completed sticking on my china cabinet knob to take a photo to send to his mom, got my big feet tangled in the cords strung around the wall to the outlet and BAM! My baby laptop I use only for my embroidery machine went flying off the table.
I could have cried. I didn’t but I felt like I’d lost an old buddy. I bought that laptop strictly for using with my machine. It was like they were siblings and now it’s gone. I guess the two older boys, who do not know this is even a ‘thing’ and that I planned on making them stockings will get them sans their names until I can figure out an inexpensive solution.
I finally got my nerves settled down when, much to my dismay, my personal laptop, the one I use for everything, my lifelinebetrayed me.
I was having a little trouble sleeping last night, maybe from mourning my deceased baby laptop, so I got up and thought to myself, “I’ll write my column while everyone’s asleep!” I picked up my laptop, signed in and before I could say “What the heck!” it went blank.
Panic! Fear! Panic again!
I had turned it off that night which is something I don’t normally do. I usually leave it plugged in and humming but I decided I didn’t want the ‘too smart for their own good’ grandkids sitting up all night on electronics after papa and I retired for the night.
We go to bed around 9 p.m. and watch old television shows and news for an hour or two.
I took all the electronics into our room except my laptop which I merely shut down. Since it was ‘sleeping’ I didn’t think it needed its electrical umbilical cord and left it for the night.
In the morning I picked up my baby, gently awakened it by opening the lid and…Nothing!
Did I forget to plug the charging cord in? Was it not making a good connection? Did the power strip quit? The answers were no, no, and no.
What do I do now? I can’t live without it! I can’t lose two a day apart. It’s just too much for me to take.
The older grandson spending the night helped me troubleshoot with helpful suggestions like “Is it plugged into the right place?”
I’ve had this laptop a long time. The least it could have done was give me a clue. It could have blinked. Refused a command. Anything. After all these years it gives me nothing? Not even a goodbye?
Now I’m being forced to do something I’ve never attempted before; I’m trying to write my column on my phone. I already have hand issues, and this is not helping.
What to do? I can’t afford a new one. A double whammy I cannot take right now.
How in the heck can I send this in? I have no idea what the address is. Dang auto fill. Before auto fill was an option I’d have to consult my valuable password book. Unfortunately, because of my dependence on auto fill I absolutely don’t know it from memory. Also, I neglected to write it down in the book. I input once and I’m done.
My computer guru is out of state right now so I guess I’m on my own with a little help from my one teenage grandson who lives for electronics.
If you don’t hear from me next week, you’ll know my hands and I did not survive the “Great Electronic Betrayal” of 2023.