A January Thursdsy

[Colliemom]

Good Morning on this 2nd Thursday Of January. This month like all others is moving right along. The clock and the seasons wait for no man. And this day will move right along for me too as I have a drive full of about 6 inches of nice fluffy snow and my basement project ongoing. Got a lot done yesterday, bit of painting and shelving disassembled, cut down and reassembled, will finish that up today. Could have used another pair of hands yesterday, but got er done.

Yes Anne, my basement is heated. The all’s are insulated and dry walled. The main part is finished with a mix of paneling and wallpaper and has a drop ceiling. The mechanicals room, two storage rooms and the workshop I am redoing have just the drywall, the workshop now being painted. There is another room which can be used as a bedroom. This was done by original owners of this house.

Shirl, nice to hear you are moving along on the packing and purging and have some help too. Even if the help thinks “senior speed” isn’t moving fast enough Give em a few years sounds like you are going to have a nice view from your apt.

Guess I’ll go play some Free Cell and get the brain exercised and get busy here in a bit. Still dark thirty out there, so no hurry. Have a nice day everyone.

[asirimarco]

Good Morning to all. I feel so lucky that I am posting this a. m. Yesterday morning we were out and about for a while - when we came home I turned my laptop back on AND NOTHING Black screen with a little trying to load circle. Off and on again. Same thing. Pushed F buttons. Trying to repair came up. then nothing. I was running around the park trying to find someone who knew some one here in Mazatlan who knew a computer repair person. Was told the RV mechanic, who is Canadian, knew someone - so try calling him. If nothing I am determined. Finally after more offs and ons and pushing F buttons I came to an advanced options screen. One option was Refresh. All programs would be removed but data would not. Had nothing to lose so did that. About an hour later the screen came to life. I have Windows 8.1 and what came up was completely different from when I bought it. Not to worry - anything was better than nothing. Luckily I always bring the disks for all the programs I use all the time. So I started first downloading my browsers I use all the time. Good, but did loose all my bookmarks. I'll eventually remember them all and put them back up. Only Google Chrome kept them. I even managed to reload Microsoft Office which I don't have a disk for - now have to pay for it yearly but I have a travel expenses database and home spread sheet that I put a lot of work into so it is worth it for me. And finally found where all my data was - fooled around enough the folder with all my documents came up - Wow! Relief! Worked on it till way past midnight and am up now at 6:00 to fine tune it. Was almost afraid to push the button to turn it on this a.m. But so far so good. I did also loose my video editing program that came with the computer and it is no longer supported by Microsoft - the same with Streets and Trips - I have the disk but says there is a licensing problem with it - will call them today and see if anything can be done. I know they no longer support it either. Forgot to mention all the browsers wanted to download in Spanish - so had to fool with all of that too.
Other than that it was a great day.

[Cudedog]

Sue:

Wow, your basement sounds really sweet. I especially like the fact that it is sheetrocked. I like sheetrock. My garage here is sheetrocked, really makes a difference.

Let's see - snow. Check. Basement. Check. Basement with potential bedroom. Check. Semi-rural area. Check.

I'm packing up right now.

When can I move in?

Carol:

Sorry to hear about your computer problems.

You didn't mention whether or not you have a good virus protection program on your system - although I assume that you do.

Personally, I use Norton (Symantic) and have used it for many years. A bit pricy - around $50 or so - but definitely worth it. It works really well. I just purchase my yearly update from Amazon, and then download it.

Also, although this probably would not have worked in your instance, but if you could have gotten your home screen back up, "System Restore" (a built-in Windows utility) might have helped as well.

Good luck. Computer crashes are never fun.

Anne

[Acadianmom]

Carol, glad you got your computer back up and running. I hate when I have a problem. I have managed to google a couple of problems and find out what to do. My sister's granddaughter was using my computer when they were here and it took me 2 days to get it back to where I like it.

I don't have a basement but have a 3 bedroom storage building. I think about 90% of the things that are in there could go to the side of the road. I need to go back to filling the trash can every week.

I have an appointment to bring my RV in on Monday so called them to see if I could drop it off tomorrow. I can get a ride home later in the day better than I can at 8:00 in the morning. Need to unload the Christmas decorations that went on the last trip. More to go in the storage building.

I seldom ever take anything for pain but this morning I have taken aspirin and Aleve because the right side of my jaw was hurting so much. I thought about calling my dentist but I can't tell that it's a tooth since it was hurting on the top and bottom. Maybe I am grinding my teeth at night. It's a little cool today and that seems to make it worse. Sure hope it's not a tooth because my dentist is closed on Fridays.

Martha

[JudyJB]

Reminder: TIME FOR SYSTEM BACKUP!!

I keep an external hard drive that I use to back everything up and did it about a week ago. But I had not done it in several months, which is bad.

Anne, you would love my Ohio son's basement. He has a big house, 4,000 square feet on the first and second floors, but that means he also has a 2,000 sq ft basement. It was unfinished when he bought the place, but he built-out the walls himself and then hired out the electrical and drywall, although he did paint it all himself. He had a very expensive wood-looking vinyl flooring put down. The result is that he now has a very nice extra bedroom down there with a legal escape window, and a full bathroom with a shower and tiled floor. It also has two big family rooms, one of which is plumbed for a full kitchen, and a separate exercise room, storage room, and workshop. So, I have a place to stay when I visit. (He did the same thing with his previous house, but it had a walkout doorwall in the basement because it was on a hill.) And when I got rid of my furniture from the storage facility a couple of years ago, guess where a lot it went?? So his basement also has my old kitchen table, sofa, bedroom furniture and stuff on the walls. They have a used refrigerator in the basement that they use for extra milk and juice and stuff they go through fast.

Got three loads of laundry to do and two packages to pick up from the office, so I had better get moving. It is actually sunny today, or at least will be for the next couple of hours, then more rain tomorrow.

[Cudedog]

Anne, you would love my Ohio son's basement. He has a big house, 4,000 square feet on the first and second floors, but that means he also has a 2,000 sq ft basement.

What's his address?

Anne

[MandysMom]

I do continuous backup to my laptop to an external drive anytime it's turned on, that way I don't have to sit and wait for long backups. Been doing that for years. So if I have an issue I don't lose days, weeks, or months of data, I lose only maybe a minute or two. External drives are pretty cheap these days.
Sun is shining here for now, more rain on the way. We are heading out to fuel car and pick up a few items. All is well in my household.
Good to see Ava pop in on the Q post! You are missed.
Hope those going to Q have a wonderful time! Perhaps next year for me.
Paperwork is done, for most part, though a few nagging details pop up needing attention, I'm mostly in steady state now of money being deposited automatically, day by day decluttering, getting to where getting rid of Mel stuff no longer hurts or makes me feel guilty. I'm starting to bring my LTV class B to top of my list. First is new house batteries as the 9 year old pair finally said they are done. Met a gal on a FB women RV forum who is now helping me do and figure out the stuff my van needs. She has been a great support since last year. and she and her partner are long time RVers.
Wish I could visit Sue for a carpentry etc class! as there are things I will pay to have done that with more experience I could probably do myself. Hey Sue, how about a CA vacation?
I'm rethinking end of summer as son now tells me he learned there is no formal police academy graduation in August as we thought so he and I will be figuring out a better time for my visit. I did have a good chuckle when he acted startled that I was planning to "drive all that way in my RV by myself"!
Upward and onward. Have a great rest of your day.
Velda

[Colliemom]

Any time Anne, anytime. There’s potential for an apartment down there, which of course I won’t do but someday somebody might. Put in an egress window, convert one storage room to kitchen and the workshop room to a bathroom. Th big area a living room etc.

Velda, nice to see your post. Was wondering how you were coming along. Looks like you are making progress. One day that RV will be on the road

Speaking of computer security, I use Trend Mi fo. It was recommended to me by my computer guru who used to do computer repair. He said is is the strongest and best security software on the market. It is rated as the top or closest to the top of all of them on the market. I’ve had it now for at least 5 years and nothing has gotten past it. It’s tech team ikeeps up to date on all the latest malware, viruses etc., out there and sends updates when needed, plus the software is scanning my computer all the time. It pricey, latest version I have cost $104. Can be downloaded to 5 devices. So my computer, IPad and IPhone are all covered. www.trendmicro.com. Another thing to consider, your cell phone should also have some type of security on it as well as they are wide open to being ha kid especially if you use tvfor everyday business, emails, texts.

[JudyJB]

A lot of people hate basements because they can become musty and full of junk, but if they are nicely finished and don't flood, they are great additions of extra space. We had a big mostly-finished basement when I was growing up, and it was where we used to have big parties. (Painted cement walls and tile on the floor, with a few old rugs thrown down and an extra couch or two.) Had an extra bathroom down there also, which was really nice in our small, one-bath on the first floor house.

Other than parties and a place to send the kids when they are driving you crazy, basements were the places we went in the summer in the days before air conditioning. It was always at least 10-20 degrees cooler in the basement, so I remember playing in my friend's basements, finished or not, and having them come to mine to play cards and whatever else. They also made great storerooms. We had a second refrigerator in our basement as my son does, but I remember my next-door aunt having a full kitchen in her basement so she could do canning down there.

Don't know how people manage without basements!

[snowball]

did some indexing today had my tanks pumped out and a group lesson on using a app on the phone/IPAD still don't know what I am doing but am better at it..
Lyn arrived today. Kerry Alice and I went out to supper... Lyn was tired and had a late lunch so didn't go.. as we were walking into the restaurant some friends of Kerry's were coming in as well so we all ate together...the waitress asked how many tickets....started to tell her and the one couple said oh what the heck one ticket wow two people they had never meet and he pays for supper... was really nice...
so the day was used up and the bare tree is still there perhaps Saturday it will go away.
Got a call from my friend( where we play games at) last night telling me her step son died early that day..what a shock... his poor dad he is confined to bed as he can't put any weight on his foot so he won't be able to travel up to Utah for the funeral... even if he could fly and be in a wheelchair there is so much that he would need help with that guess it's best not to go just so sad... his son was going to come down this weekend got changed to next weekend to build a ramp for the house so hopefully that will help with mobility you all have a great day
sheila

[BarbaraRose]

The house I grew up in had a walkout basement. My dad finished the basement when I was very young. It had a small kitchen, large living room with a huge picture window looking out on the lake, a bathroom that used to have a sauna (turned into a large shower), and two bedrooms.Also the laundry room was there. Each of us kids lived down there are various times and my dad rented it out when we weren't living there. It also made for a safe place during tornado warnings. It was pretty nice!