My Saturday

First off I want to apologize for not blogging in a while. We have had some HUGE computer issues. We had let our virus program lapse a long time ago. Well, those chickens finally came home to roost!! We had a few nasty viruses and spyware, etc, on our computer. I bought the new Norton 360 virus protection and paid the extra to have them install it and do a complete tune-up on the computer. After a few days there were still problems - turns out they hadn't removed the virus before installin the Norton 360. So I placed another call and they spent about 6 hours working on my computer remotely (I LOVE THIS - I don't have to hang on the phone with them - they take over the computer and do all the work while I clean house or cook or whatever. They just call me when they need me). After 2-3 days the computer was locking up again and not working right. So I then had to go to the virus specialist and spend $99 to have them completely remove the virus. They give you a week for that $99. Well, it still wasn't working right. So yesterday I called them back and they spent a couple of hours on it and finally it is working like a champ!! I am really pleased with the turnout but just wish it hadn't taken so long to get fixed. Now on with my story:

Yesterday I decided to make a big pot of Spaghetti sauce. I then decided to invite Jahn and Deb over for dinner. They are such dear friends of mine and I love having them over...plus they always bring a fabulous bottle of red wine to share!! They have a great wine collection and love to share. Jahn is a professional artist - yes, he actually is lucky enough to get paid to do what he loves. I'm so jealous. When they were over for dinner on St. Patrick's day Jahn took his first tour of my scrapping room. He walked in, looked around and said "Why would you ever leave this room?". I just love him for that statement! He truly understands art and the love of crafting. Deb is pretty crafty herself. So last night we made another trek up to the room and ended up spending quite a bit of time up there. Deb discovered my Glimmer Mist collection and I'm going to be sending her to http://www.stampingscrapping.com/ to buy some. This is my new favorite online store. The owner, Cindy, prides herself on her superior customer service. She personally calls her customers and lets them know if there are any problems or issues. She only charges exact shipping...but has recently discovered that she spends so much money in packing supplies and tape that she has finally added $1 to every order to help make up that cost. She truly loves her customers and only wants to make them happy. We have become fast friends now! She is such a busy lady, too. She has a storefront either Wisonsin or Minnesota (I can never keep those 2 states straight in my mind) and that is called Lasting Impressions. Her husband really pitches in to help her pack and ship. She likes to ship packages out immediately upon receiving the items herself so her customers don't have to wait. Couple that with her fabulous customer service and it's no wonder why she is so beloved by her customers. She also has a Yahoo group - stampingscrappingdotcom. Check it out - join her group - you won't be sorry!!

After dinner Pat and Jahn headed to Starbucks and Deb and I headed out to the Streets of London Pub. It was for a going-away party for my dear friend, Helen. She, along with another friend, Sarah, owned my LSS (Local Scrapbook Store), Scrapbook Addict. I LOVED this store. They had moved from Elk Grove, CA, to West Sacramento 2-3years ago. Unfortunately they had to close the store at the beginning of this year and I'm SO sad about that. I loved having their store literally 1 mile from my house! I did my best to try to keep them in business, but to no avail. Anyway, Helen and her husband are moving to Utah. They had talked about moving there over the years but it was never the right time. Well Helen lost the store and her husband was laid off so it became the right time. She got hired on at OhMyCrafts in Utah so now her husband just has to find a job in Utah. OhMyCrafts is another store I shop at online and I'm just tickled that she went to work there...in fact, I think I'm the one who told her about that store as a good source for Cricut cartridges. They are having an Alaskan cruise in May and I'm really wanting to go...but my oldest son, Dustin, (who is currently in Kuwait/Iraq) is wanting to take me on vacation when he gets back from the Mideast. He is hoping to get back the middle of April. He'll have 2 weeks of non-chargeable leave but he can't leave Texas. After that he will put in for vacation and we will head to Disneyland, California Adventure, Legoland and the San Diego Wild Animal Park. I'm SO looking forward to spending this time with Dustin and my wonderful, darling, adorable grandson, James.

We also had our taxes done yesterday and I'm still doing the happy dance today. Our tax bill is about half of what we thought it would be! I just can't tell you how happy that makes me since I thought we might owe close to $30k.

Okay...now I'm off to tackle the HUGE mound of paperwork for my auction business. But it's with a much lighter heart :)

Hugs to all of you who took the time to read this!