Soooo LATE!!!

....but better than never? My apologies, I've been having some technical difficulties and the lovely people at the electronics store I bought my laptop from suggested that I wait for Windows 10 and see if that solved any of them...geek speak: "You didn't renew your warranty, so now I don't have to help you." I did download it, I'm still getting used to it, it's not bad, it's not great, I don't love it, but I don't hate it...and still having issues. Microsoft said try our handy FAQ...yeaaah. However, when my internet was spotty and would connect but wouldn't load pages properly, and most of the time not at all (and I'm on a metered internet, it's the first thing I checked) I went back to the store. Of course I got the "I see you didn't renew your warranty" speech again...um, no, I've never broken a computer, I don't need an extended warranty...I don't want to leave it with you, so you can break it and tell me that the only thing you can offer me is a like brand new, wiped clean, start from scratch, refurbished piece of crap that someone else broke. They suggested that I call my ISP. Yeah, I didn't think of that, thanks.

Soooo anyhoo, my mother needed a babysitter for my niece last night, so I took it to her house where she has a proper wi-fi connection...mine is a mobile hot spot and apparently strong enough to download Win 10, but not enough for the updates that came out almost immediately after the initial download. That half hour just about killed my 10 year old niece while I made her wait to play a game online...ok kid, try three months.

And now, after weeks and weeks of telling myself to be calm and patient, I'll figure this one out...it's running just as fast as it did when I first bought it; thanks anyway Microsoft/Best Buy/Sprint, I got this. 

That's certainly not the worst thing that's happened in the last several months. As I was finishing my projects and getting ready to share the photos with Hope, we got a call that my mother's youngest brother wasn't doing well, and if we wanted to see him before he passed away from a year long battle with lung cancer, we needed to make the trip soon. We were in Arkansas for a long weekend and came back in good spirits, he'd been up walking around, talking, and joking and we thought maybe family was the boost he needed to fight a little harder, the dr's weren't giving up, so we didn't. My mother got a call the day after we got home to let us know that he'd had a stroke, he wouldn't be going through with the new chemo treatment, and he probably wouldn't be able to walk or talk again. He passed away on June 27th in his sleep. He was laid to rest July 1st, next to my grandmother, who also passed away from cancer five years ago...and now that damned cup song is playing and I'm remembering my brother and a bawling heap was not how I wanted this post to go. I miss them, but that's not how any of them lived and not how they'd want for anyone else...so something terrible but funny.

Work...lady, you and your bf might share things as a couple, but single stall public toilets (that really aren't public, we're just nice like that) shouldn't be one of them, and bf, I don't know who you're fooling, but that door wasn't broken when you went in there, thanks for ruining my day, but you're not using me as an excuse to get out of work. Yeah, hun, I'm a little frustrated, I didn't really have time to take the hinges off the door and wait for a repair man today, but I'm sorry it shows, thanks for noticing, now go on back to your work-site...yeah, I heard why you wanted to use my cell phone, but I've got tall co-workers with hammers...we got this. Oh, and thanks, we got about a weeks worth of jokes out of the whole thing too, almost makes up for the lost half  a day.

Nor the most painful...did you know eczema could wrap all the way around your hand, I do now. But that wasn't the part that really hurt, I haven't been able to make much of anything for nearly four weeks because instead of an intense itch, it burns like a sunburn. all. the. time. and hurts like a fresh callus when I try to grip anything, and has made my joints swell and my fingers go completely numb. Just on one hand, my right hand, my dominate hand...grrrr.

Everything on the mend now though, finger's crossed.

Man, I had no idea how much I depended on my computer. I love you Asus.

And now I can finally check out the Summer Creative Spark...not available on mobile :( , and share with those of you who are still here even though I haven't posted in eons. And then I will post my projects in more detail in a separate post, hopefully tomorrow night. The above link is directly to the e-mag, but you can also check out Znetshows.blogspot.com for all the latest involving the Znetshows news and design team projects, including past and present editions of Creative Spark, an e-mag sponsored by Znetshows.com that primarily features their exclusive and lovely Cultured Sea Glass Beads and put together by the multi talented Hope Smitherman of Craftyhope.blogspot.com. If you haven't checked them out yet, you have to. Like, right after you check out the e-magazine.

So glad I'm back online properly, I missed you.

Damn it, now they're playing See You Again, I'm turning the radio off.

New Creative Spark

Here's a link to the new edition of Creative Spark from Znetshows.com and the design team. I'll have a more in depth post about my beads and what I worked on soon. I've lost a friend and coworker this weekend and honestly, I just don't have the energy to go in depth.