Just a note to let you know that if you sent me an email in the past year or so to which I did not reply and then you thought I was incredibly rude BECAUSE I did not reply … it’s not my fault. Some random portion of my mail has been routing to an unmonitored mailbox and I only just discovered it today. Aargh!

You know your hubby loves you when he takes a large chunk of his only true day off and devotes it to a major overhaul on your computer.  (He may have munched on chips n salsa and watched Talladega Nights while waiting for various installations and such but those are not details I want to go into right now. … Though I would appreciate it if you’d offer up a prayer to the Lord Baby Jesus for his soul … and his sense of humor.)

For some time now my computer has been grinding and halting and throwing up random error messages in protest of its use.  Prompted by Heather’s Ubuntu adventures, I seriously considered switching to a new OS altogether but because I love my Money (That’s Microsoft Money as in financial tracking software not as in “the love of … is the root of all evil” money.) there was nothing for it but to restore the factory settings and then spend the next 3 hours uninstalling all of the unwanted junk.  Finally, things are back to normal… technologically speaking, of course.  I make no such claims about the rest of life.  I may at some point try the Linux path but for now I’m going to give Windows a few days and let the dust settle.

Some parting thoughts:  If you don’t like your current blogging editor I found a couple for you to try.  ScribeFire (which will be my choice if I every do make the Linux leap) integrates with Firefox seamlessly.  The set up was incredibly easy (It’s just a Firefox extension.) and the features while not as rich as my next suggestion are far less cumbersome than Wordpress (which powers this blog) or Blogger (which I have used in the past.)

My next suggestion and my personal choice (for now) is Windows Live Writer.  I wrote about it before while it was still in beta.  Actually I expected it to stay in beta forever.  After all it was Microsoft and it was free and never shall those twain meet except in beta.  Even so, I’ve been using it successfully for quite a while and after the big cleanse needed to reload it to, if nothing else, retrieve my out of control draft folder.  You know, all those thoughts I quickly jot down in reflective moments but never find the time to expound upon.  Don’t laugh - I know you do that too.  So, I re-installed the program and what to my wondering eyes did appear? … no, not Rudolph … but something almost as mythical.  A free, non-beta, Microsoft product.  I will warn you that the install included several “extras” that I had little interest in but you can opt out of them if you stay alert.

Okay, enough tech talk.  Let me know if you try one of these or if not, what do YOU prefer?

A while back my internet connection kept dropping at random…very frustrating.  Even though we have two connections on the property (DSL in the house and cable in Will’s office) my little wireless connector could only see the unreliable one.  (That would be the DSL in case you didn’t know.) My night in shining armor purchased a super-de-duper mega antennae to solve the problem but left the installation up to the little people … literally.

I don’t have a pic of the finished product but I think the fact that you are reading this post should be proof enough that they did a good job.

In case you’re wondering - thissimplelife has been caught in an inescapable void these past few days.  I was out here, wishing I could give you something new to read but alas, we were under attack and I could not get the message through.  According to my hosting service a “DDOS” attack.  Sounds ominous doesn’t it?  On the upside, if Will had not introduced me to Live Writer when he did, I would not have had an easy way to save my posts until the attack was over.  Okay, enough tech talk already… back to our story.

In case you’re wondering - thissimplelife has been caught in an inescapable void these past few days.  I was out here, wishing I could give you something new to read but alas, we were under attack and I could not get the message through.  According to my hosting service a “DDOS” attack.  Sounds ominous doesn’t it?  On the upside, if Will had not introduced me to Live Writer when he did, I would not have had an easy way to save my posts until the attack was over.  Okay, enough tech talk already… back to our story.

Ok, so I’m trying out this new blogging software recommended by the hubby.  So far so good….at least that’s what I thought the first time around :)  Having tried to post this once already, I can tell you this post is not very interesting so you can stop reading now if you want to…. no, really you don’t have to stick with me for this…. I’m serious.  Ok, fine but when you get a bruise from your head smacking your keyboard as you fall asleep don’t come around here leaving nasty comments.

First thing I like - easy download, easy setup… I supplied my url and login info and suddenly I have a true WYSIWYG interface.  (That’s ‘What You See Is What You Get’ for you non-techies out there… Will had to explain it to me the first time too.)  So, I’m typing along and let’s say I want to do something bold or in italics or I want to underline or maybe I want to get really wild and do all three…in color.  Nice.  Let’s see what else we can do.

Pictures  (great layout options, easy to resize, keeps perspective and look at all these cool effects.)

Oops, sorry about the long pause…. I was poking around some of the menus.  It would take to long to explain but sufficed to say… they’re cool.  Easy to manage the post properties and trackbacks

To quote (this is another button on my menu) Thomas Edison:

If there is a better way, find it.

I can even get you directions to my house… Just kidding. … I really am just kidding - after about 40 minutes of trying to figure out why this post appeared in the sidebar but did not show its actual content I am blaming it on the map.  So there is one thing that doesn’t work but since I am not currently in the habit of posting maps, overall I’m extremely pleased.

I know you’re on pins and needles wondering where you can get your own copy of this handy dandy blogger notebook.  Here it is and if you like it send my honey a little thank you.

Alright the techno babble is over… you can wake up now.

I am not a paranoid person by nature so while blogging on yahoo (where privacy settings were easy to control) I did not hesitate to use real names. Now, however; our family stories are public. So before this site picks up too much traffic I’m opting for some name changes. Those of you who know us should be able to follow pretty easily and those of you who don’t shouldn’t care. I’m also restricting access to the Phanfare website which means some of my links won’t work without a password. Send me a message and I will set you up.

As I said, I’m not paranoid but better safe than sorry. Here’s the article that got me thinking.

I like yahoo.360 well enough but we eventually want to share so much more about our pursuit of simple life that it seemed a good idea to find a more permanent web home. Right now, This Simple Life is simply my blog in a new place. (I will move the archives as I have time.) but over the next few months (years?) hopefully it will expand to include articles, links, and pictures of simple living in action.

So, one thing I don’t like about blogging (on Yahoo) as opposed to just keeping a regular journal is that if you miss recording an entry on the correct day you can never go back and fix it. Which is why today’s entry was actually last night but couldn’t be uploaded because my computer was being so funky and frustrating that I am about ready to throw it out the Windows. (ha, ha - get it? “Out the Windows”… it’s a computer running … Microsoft….Windows……sorry, I digress.) Anyway, here’s a little geek tip for you - gaming machines are for games. They are not designed for real work. It confuses them. They overheat and die. And while people may not be able to “take it with them” when they die, computers can. They take it all. All the data, all the special settings… All. I’m not bitter or anything.
****** So anyway, about last night *******
Did you know that a child can drown in an inch of water? I share this fact as I listen to my children bathe together in the other room… without adult supervision. I am so not the protective mother type. Has anyone else heard about the so called “helicopter” parents or as college admission personnel call them, “black hawks.” They are so obsessed with keeping their children “safe” (and isn’t that a relative term?) that they never allow them to make their own mistakes or learn about true independence. Consequently, these children are growing up and going to college without a clue. I’m so glad my children won’t have that problem… assuming of course they survive bathtime.