Oh Woe Is Me!!!

I'm in the last few hours of my Spring Break and back-to-school depression is settling in.  It has been a doozy of a week and as it draws to a close I see before me one sick kid-Haven, one getting sick kid-Grace, one getting sick parent-Me, and one very tired husband!  And I am typing this blog entry on computer #5 of the week.  That's right, computer #5!!!  So let me tell you my tale of woe.

About 2 weeks ago my computer crashed. It happened on the same day that my washing machine broke down.  The washing machine was a relatively quick fix (for Brian, I just held the flashlight).  Turned out to be a baby sock clogging the drain pipe.  Right after fixing the washer, Brian sat down to check the news on the computer.  But the computer wouldn't open up.  The monitor wasn't getting any connection.  The next day we took it to the Geek Squad and they sent us to a computer repair company who declared our computer dead.  However, they were able to save our hard drive and put it into a portable hard drive (sort of like a giant flash drive) for us to take home.  So back to the store to buy a new computer. Computer #1

The next day while I was at work Brian set it up and immediately we had two problems.  One, we couldn't open our portable hard drive and two, we couldn't reach the Our Family Adoptions Website which we are supposed to maintain.  So we called our internet service provider, who we still suspect is part of the problem with the OFA connection.  After several phone calls they sent a repair guy out who declared "I don't know what's wrong, but I think its the computer".

We had no reason to doubt him since Brian and I are not exactly tech proficient.  So back to the computer store we went.  Brian exchanged the computer for another of the same make and model.  Computer #2.  Brought it home, set it up.  In the meantime we discovered the the problem with the OFA site was not us it was a larger problem the we are tackling right now.  So next we plugged in our portable hard drive and.... it still didn't work.  Holy Jamoly.  How could this be happening?!?

So back to the store, but this time we bring the hard drive to the store with us so we can test it on the computer before we bring it home.  We discover that for some reason the hard drive will not work on any of the HP computers.  Weird, huh!  We switch to another brand, check out and head to the car.  Computer #3.  As we are loading the computer we discover a big whole in the box that we didn't see before.  So we take the computer back inside and trade for another box. Computer #4.  We take #4 home, open up the box, take out the CPU and it is making a really loud rattling noise.  A noise I have never heard a computer make.  Before we even unwrap the plastic wrap cover we put it back in the box and take it back to the store.  At the store they open it up and discover that the cooling fan is just swinging loose in the CPU.  Go figure. 

So Brian brings home Computer #5.  And so far, so good.  Portable hard drive works.  OFA site is being moved to a new server and should be good to go this evening.  All is well in my computer world.  But beware, the computer leprachaun could be lurking in your home, too!

As a consequence of being computer impaired for the last 2 weeks, I have a ton of adorable pictures, and lots of post ideas that I want to write up.  But be patient with me.  This week is my busiest week at school of the whole school year.  I have 3 days in a row of working late, plus I have to work all day Saturday.  EEK!  When will the chaos end?!  When will summer vacation arrive?!  Calgon take me away..........

Thank goodness I got to spend my crazy week with these cutie patooties!!!