Posted in Every Day Blessings

FINALLY!  I’m back!  69 days of self-inflicted, self-taught computer class and I think I am officially back online.  After much consulting and lots of online help I have cleaned out a nasty Trojan (pats self on back LOL).  My new monitor gave out but thankfully it was still under warranty.  Then my actually internet service went out and they had to replace my modem, my lines and the box outside my house.  So now my computer is clean as a whistle plus I know more about TCP/IP’s and winsocks than you EVER wanted to know in your lifetime, so it is all a good thing because I learned so much. 

The funny thing was that the whole time that I was working on my computer, I just kept praying that G-d would restore my life to the way it was -- restore my computer to the way it was.  I begged Him.  Everything seemed a wreck and we were lost.  I was lost.  I can’t believe how much we use the internet on a day to day basis.  It is my lifeline, my inspiration, my calendar, my answer to curiosity, a good portion of our school all online, yet it was also my crutch.  It is where I ran away from the world.  Where I escaped and where I shunned my responsibilities and I am guessing, this was an ever more increasing event so that is why G-d just shut it down. 

Yet, being without the computer we discovered that doing school at the library, while not ideal, was a new and novel idea that actually worked better for our home school (we pack up our books and supplies and off we go).  I discovered that my kiddos really needed to understand that these machines do more than play their favorite software but also how the internet works, how to fix the computer when it breaks and how to not break it in the first place, so guess who has added basic computer classes to her curriculum?  I learned how to read a book for pleasure (what a concept!) instead of for the next school planning lesson.  I also discovered how much time I actually spent on this machine because without it I was able to sort through all our pictures from 2004 to present (they were a tossed jumbled mess that I thought I would NEVER be able to get organized, at least not before my first sons wedding).  I’ve since started organizing the ones that I have saved on my computer as well.  I re-learned how to knit and I was able to scrap a bunch.  I even tried my hand at once-a-month cooking session that worked marvelous for my family. 

So as much as I just wanted my life with the internet back, I realized now how much of my life I was missing so I am really going to watch now how much time I spend mindlessly surfing and I plan to tone down and not make this machine so much apart of my life. 

I'm still getting the computers up to speed as far as updating and making sure I have everything I need so that I don't ever have another virus/bug/trojan to clean EVER AGAIN LOL!  I still have a long way to go before I can say I am done working on the computer but it still feels super terrific to be back online.