My latest incident with my printer

I've been telling you about this new printer that I got. I still cannot make it work. I've been going to call tech support but with Mike sleeping during the day, I have to wait until he's gone so I don't wake him. Anyway...........almost a week ago I was trying to print something. First I turn on my printer and go through a menu and finally punch in my password which is a big hassle everytime I try to go on line with it. (Remember it is wireless). Then I go to my computer and we very nicely ask the printer to please print this out for us. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't. Well the other day no matter what I did or what "sugary" words I used, that printer would not print. So I canceled out all my hundreds of attempts at printing the same one page and gave up on the dang thing. I I have not even looked at the printer since then. Well yesterday I made some copies on it and left it on when I got done. A while later I was doing something on the computer and the printer decided that it wanted to print. I had no idea what secret message my printer might be giving me or how many I would receive. I was a little nervous about that, but I was going to let it print whatever it wanted to. Anyway, it ended up just printing one copy of the recipe that I had been trying to print. So now I know that I do not have to go through that whole program and put in my password everytime. I think the problem has been with my internet connection which isn't always that reliable. But it sure helps make my boring life interesting. And then I get a little help from my family on keeping my life interesting also.

I won the fight with my blog

This is the utility room. It has a sink. The washer and dryer go on the right side of this photo.
This is a shot of the master bedroom. But we will not have the top row of windows, nor the shelf above the bed.

This is the master bath.

And my tub.

This is the master closet. I think you have to walk sideways to get into it. I look forward to practicing that feat. (joke). But something that I really like is the can solar light behind the closet light.

Sorry I didn't rotate the picture for you.

This is the family bathroom

This shows the shelf above the cupboards in the kitchen. I took it so Molly and Steph can start figuring out what we will put up there.

This was another house on the lot. We liked the front deck. If I had a nice mountainous view, I may have chosen this model.

This is to show the yellow, ( mean cream exterior), but it doesn't look too yellow here. Trust me it looks more yellow than this.

More yellow.

No pictures yet

OK. I started uploading the rest of the pictures and my blog and I are now having issues. I may have to try again tomorrow.

I guess I should clarify what we are doing. We are buying a modular home and will move our old house off and put the new one where the old one is now. The new home is not built yet. I ...............oops, I mean Molly and Steph get to pick out my carpet, cabinets, flooring, countertops, external colors and a few other things. Then we will coordinate with the contractor and the builders and have our house built and delivered. It will be built near Boise, Idaho. I'm not sure of the time lines but I am expecting to be camping in my back yard in my camper for 3 months. And no I really am not looking forward to that, but we will get through it. And I will be without my landline and hence no internet either. Oh well, I've done that before.

We hope to get the contractor going the 1st of March.

Guess you get to watch for more pictures.

Here it is

This is the living room. But it will have my old furniture in it. This is looking from the front entry way towards the bedrooms.

These are the windows in the living room.

And here is the kitchen. It is just to the right of the living room when you walk in the front door. Lots and lots of cupboards.

This is the dining area. Lots of windows providing lots of bright sunlight for Molly. (This corner of the house will be in the front, left corner if you are facing the house (standing in front)

This is the island. It has the sink and dishwasher and a bar.

This is the front door. The windows on the right are the dining room windows that I showed you from the inside.

This is a closer shot of the living room windows from the outside.

We have some indecision between this tan color or cream (that really is yellow).

Stay tuned for more pictures of the rest of the house and one of the yellow (I mean cream) house that they had on the lot.

We get to choose the color of the siding, trim and shutters. And I will take nominations.

We did it!!!

Well we did it. I'm not sure what we are in for but we signed lots of papers and gave the nice lady money and this is the paper that she sent home with us.


So now we thought we should see if we qualify for a loan and we meet with a contractor Thur to see how much of our money he wants.

And then we get to live in our camper for about 3 months while all this transpires. (That's the part I'm really not looking forward to. That and packing everything up and getting it stored somewhere.)

So I guess I will keep you posted

Good for a laugh

Just a quick post and a laugh for you.

Mark has figured out how to grow teeth, but he has NOT figured out how to pace himself. He got 3 while they were here for Christmas and has 3 more working hard to pop out. So needless to say..............he has had a few not so good days and nights too. Well, a couple of nights ago was one of those bad nights. He cried throughout the whole night. (I should point out here that both boys sleep in the same bedroom now). So Molly is in there in the dark trying to calm Mark down and hoping that Isaac will stay asleep. Then she hears Isaac say................. (another interjection) so what would you say in the middle of the night and your little brother is keeping you awake? Anyway, Isaac says "Star Wars". Molly couldn't tell if he had opened his eyes and seen his star wars poster or just woke up from some wonderful dream. But that was all and he was back to sleep. Needless to say, Daddy was very proud of his son that night. And I'm afraid to think how it will be when Mark is the same way. You know it isn't so bad when a boy acts so crazy but I don't know about a sweet little girl so maybe it is just as well that they have a house full of Star Wars boys.

Angel Grandma

Yesterday I was on the webcam with Lance and family. It was starting to get dark and I had no lights on. OK my lighting isn't good even when it is on. But it was too dark to see me very good. (I think that is the best way to look at me.) Anyway, I turned on a flashlight and shined it on my face and told Isaac that I was his angel grandma. And then he called me angel a couple of times. Towards the end of the conversation Molly was having Isaac say who everybody's name is......Mommy, Daddy, Isaac, Mark and then Molly pointed to me and asked who I was. Isaac said angel. I have laughed all day about that. (It seems like we lost our connection at about that time as Lance and Molly were dying.)
I can't wait to talk with Isaac again.

Where's the freight train?

Well I did not get hit by a frieght train or Mack truck or even a skate board. I did feel fatigued Sun afternoon and Monday morning, but it passed and I am good to go again. And I don't have to do it again for another year!

And I have been fighting my new printer. I uninstalled it and then installed it complete with FAX. It seems to be working better so far. It prints photos of my little boys (but it did that before). Anyway, so everything is good here.

And the best news is that eventhough the nights are cold, the days are so sunny and clear. It makes me think that I can get through this winter. Yep. I am fighting off spring fever. And I'm very glad that I don't have to put up with the smog and gunk that some of you have.

I think I'm possessed

While Lance and Molly were visiting us, they did some de-junking for me and FORCED me to do some de-junking. it was really nice and kinda got me out of the funk I was in. But now this de-junking bug keeps sneaking up on me and biting me. I never know when it will attack or which direction it will go.

The day before Lance left, he went in the bathroom, turned on a CD and cleaned like crazy. The results was a very clean bathroom for me. When they left, I was going to take a bath and relax. I turned on the CD that Lance had been listening to and the next thing I knew, I had the drawers and shelves emptied and I had a bag full of garbage. I still don't know what hit me. (I bet you want to know what magical CD I was listening to. It was some Michael McLean CD. I don't know what powers that CD has, but I have not turned it on since that afternoon!
I have to tell you one funny prize that I found in my cleaning. I found 30 clips for my ostomy bags. Yep, you're right. I certainly don't need that many. Half of them are the wrong size so I threw them away, but I did find some more in some other stuff so I was able to build up my excess so I will be ok.

This spell has come upon me a couple of other times. Once was this afternoon. Mike is working nights so I have to be very quiet during the day so he can sleep. He leaves for work about 3:30. I had a couple of things I wanted to get done and then I had some evil medication I have to take once a year. I have not taken it for several years, but the last time I took it, it really kicked my butt. I was told that I would feel like I had been hit by a Mack truck. I called them after the fact and told them, forget the Mack truck, it was a freight train that hit me. I've had this med sitting here for a month and I decided that I had better get it over with.

There were a few things I wanted to get done in case I am sick for a couple of days. Anyway, before I knew it, I had gone through the boxes of paper I have under my computer desk and I had emptied out the big drawer in my computer desk. I threw out a bunch of stuff and organized a bunch more.
I'm sure part of it was that I knew when I got my chores done, I got to take my med. And I sure was able to find things to keep me busy for a couple of hours. Then I got tired and decided to rest and then the med attacked me and I infused it.

I will let you know if I am hit by a freight train tomorrow.

New car

Time sure does fly. It seems that I just updated this thing and it has already been a week! It has been a busy week. We went to Panaca Friday. Saturday we took Mike's mom to St. George car shopping. Don't we all love that! We were able to find what we (she) wanted at our first stop. We drove an 08 Malibu. It was pretty nice but had a rattle and some other little damages inside so decided to stay away from it. Then we drove an 05 Toyota Camry. It had just over 30,000 miles. It was love at first sight for Jessie. So do you want to guess what is sitting in her drive way?

I have to tell you about the test drive. Jessie doesn't like to drive and REALLY doesn't like to drive in the city. Mike appointed me the official test driver, he was practicing his back seat driver skills. The salesmans tells me to go where ever I want. I let him know that I don't know St Geo at all and he'd better give me some hints. We went down the freeway and found a quiet, "old people" housing area. I pulled over and made Jessie drive. (I want you to know that nobody's grandparents were hurt on our test drives). It was interesting. I don't think that we passed any other cars on the road, but we did pass several golf carts. (It was a beautiful day).
So Jessie signed all kinds of papers and said no thanks to an extended warranty offer that the girl was so sure that Jessie needed and wanted to have. By the time we got done with the gabby car salesman and the money lady blabbing, my ears were tired. I wanted to just tell them both to stop talking. They were telling me things that I didn't need to know and I just wanted to get done and leave. We all agreed with that.

The reward for the whole thing was a nice dinner at Ruby River and then I got to drive the new car to Panaca, under Jessie's ever watchful eye.

I meant to take a picture to post, but I forgot. Sorry. It is gold champagne.

Mike and I got home Monday night. And we are back to life as normal at the Simmons home.

More pictures and more printer woes

Here's a picture of cute little Mark. He has the cutest giggle.
Sorry I got the picture side ways. Trust me. Tonight it will be lots easier for you to turn your head than it would be for me to turn the picture.


This is Isaac playing outside. It may look like a sled to you but he will tell you that this is his boat.

This is Isaac bundled up for the Arctic Cold of Elko. Grandma had to buy him snow pants, boots, gloves, and hat. Doesn't he look so cozy warm? If he were to fall down, he would never be able get up. But I was surprised at how well he was able to walk around. And yes, he was so toasty warm when he came in. Molly has taught him that when you come in you get hot chocolate. He loved being outside and the hot cocoa made it a little easier to get him to come in.

I showed you a picture of Isaac helping grandma sew. He learned quick because he is now sewing on his own. (But don't worry, no one is pushing the peddle.)

Are you ready for the next installment of my technology woes?

Today's project was installing the printer onto my laptop. I'm sure it would have worked w/o any glitches had it not been for a few minor details. Like, my wireless connection is tempermental and was having issues today. And then in the middle of all that I called tech support again for my laptop. It keeps shutting down on me. I talked with someone a few days ago and they said that I had to straighten some things out with warranty people before he could do anything. But he did assure me that the laptop is not supposed to do that and that they would send me a box so I could return it. So I called back today and was told. Oh, this is a fairly common problem with that laptop. We have a patch that you can download to fix it. Where was he days ago? Oh well. I downloaded it and hopefully my laptop will now be happy. But when I had to reboot the laptop, that messed up my printer download. But I prevailed! I haven't tried it ALL out yet but I did find a picture on my laptop as I was sitting in the front room. And I told the printer in the kitchen that I would like it to print my picture. And it listened and even obeyed.

We go to Panaca tomorrow for a few days, but when I get back I get to try the scanner and copier. Stay tuned. I'm so excited (or not). Anyway I am making progress.

I do know that I will never be an IT person. I'd rather sit somewhere in a straight jacket banging my head against the wall. And I really don't care if the walls are padded or not.

Woo Hoo!!!

OK. So I ordered a fancy, new printer that does more than I will ever be able to figure out. But that is not the point right now.

I tracked the package last night and it was to arrive FedEx this morning. But I had to go to the church this morning. When I came home there was no package and no notice that they tried to deliver it. I checked the trusty internet and was told that the package was left at my front door at 8:30 this morning. Hmmm. I was home at 8:30 this morning. In fact there was nothing at my door at 9:00 when I left. So I called FedEx. They told me that the package was left at my front door. I told them that it was not at my front door. So they called the driver. She said that she left it at my front door. Now I'm getting worried if I will ever see my printer. FedEx said that they would send the driver over to my house. Soon someone pulled up to my house and brought me a package. It just happened to be FedEx with my printer. It had been delivered to 562 instead of 582. The label had been damaged right over the 8 and it was hard to read if it was a 6 or 8. But now here is the real corker. I have received 2 medical bills addressed for the people at 562 and they get my printer. How fair is that! And yes, I did return the bills to my neighbors.

So I start setting up my printer. Everything was going great until I got to the wireless part. I called my internet support to get some info that I needed but still had problems. So I talked with HP tech support. They were no help. So another call to my internet tech support. Very helpful. Another try with the printer. It tried, but could not make the connection. I tried numerous times and then decided to shut everything down and wait a while before trying to connect wired up.
So I just tried again and I got a wireless connection. I was so excited. So I am old and gray and senile and all that other stuff but I am also lucky right now.

Speaking of lucky I have to tell you what else happened this afternoon. I went out to get my mail in my slippery, absolutely no traction slippers. (They don't call them slippers for nothing). My walk-way has a bit of ice on it and I knew to be very careful. Well I was careful but still started to slide. I knew I was in trouble and that I was going down. But no! My agility and athleticism and Jedi reflexes kicked in. Or I just got lucky. But I stayed on my feet and just slid down the walk. That was a lot nicer than a hard landing on my behind.

Tomorrow's project is seeing if my printer can print or scan or copy. Stay tuned.

Grandma's helper

I'm too lazy to do pictures tonight but I have a funny story to share. I'm glad none of my medical people will be reading this, I don't think they would be very happy.

Isaac loves to help Grandma unhook from her TPN. His most favorite job is usually taking the garbage to the garbage can. Anyone who has watched me hook up or unhook knows the huge amount of garbage that I have. So that can usually keep him busy while I get my lines flushed. But he has started having more interest in flushing my lines. I screw the syringe in and he pushes it. Then he takes the syringes to play with. (They don't have needles on them so they are harmless.) He takes the syringes in to his mom and dad and lifts up their shirt so they can flush. They don't have a central line to connect to but that's no problem for him. He puts it in their belly button. (I always wondered what the purpose of belly buttons was.)

Yep. We are having lots of fun with Lance and his family. Poor little Mark got his 2nd tooth while he was here. It came in 2 or 3 days ago. His poor little gum was bleeding and he was so cranky. (I don't blame him one bit). He was pretty happy today. He has the funnest little giggle.
He has just been on solid food for a few weeks and dinner time is one of his favorites. But you should hear him scream when mom decides that he has had enough to eat, and he still wants more.

Steph and Dan were able to come spend a day with us. We had a fun New Years Eve party playing Apples to Apples. Steph and Dan left just after 9 this morning. There were lots of droopy-eyed zombies walking around until we got our naps.

I hope everyone has a very Happy New Year.