Well, it’s been a few days since I’ve made an entry. We’ve been pretty busy lately, and the whole family has been dealing with the heartbreak associated with Mom’s recent miscarriage.
Mom seems to be doing pretty well physically, and God has given our family peace throughout this really difficult time. The pain is still there, but it’s just so comforting to know that we have an awesome God who is above this all, even in rocky times such as this. With that said, let me run through the past few days real quick.
On Friday afternoon, the new LCD screen arrived in the mail. I excitedly opened up the package, took the broken laptop out of my closet and went to work. It took a good 30 minutes or so, but I ended up getting the screen installed, plugged in, screwed in, put the front bezel back on, put the battery in. Now was the moment of truth! Time to press the power button. Would the screen flicker on? Or did I just waste 200 bucks?
James did the honor of pressing the power button, and the LCD screen promptly lit up, brightly and crisply displaying the “HP” logo, the BIOS and then the Windows 98 start-up screen. All right! That was such a satisfying feeling. After all of this, the screen repair only cost $200, when it could have easily cost $600 or $700. Thank the Lord! I’m just really happy I was able to do the repair myself. There’s such great satisfaction in saving a boat-load of dough by doing someething like that.
On Saturday, I spent several hours walking around the first floor with a can of paint and a brush. My task was to touch up various spots on the interior walls. I spent several hours moving from room to room, and I ended up finishing the entire first floor. Phew! We’ve got a large first floor; I’ll tell ya. I also plan to take care of the second floor and the attic, so I will probably conquer those in the coming days.
We’re doing various projects and improvements as we prepare for the 4th of July party that we’re hosting. So far we have: been staining the back yard fence, installing a dropped ceiling in the basement, putting ceramic tile down in the basement, touching up various areas on the first floor, and… I think that’s about it. We also plan to stain the lattice work under the front porch, so we’ll probably tackle that this week as well.
On to Sunday. This morning, our family went over to the Shrine in Belleville for a brunch. We were celebrating Grandma and Grandpa Arndt’s 50th wedding anniversary, and we met up with our aunts, uncles, cousins and friends. After we ate, Paul set up a projector and played a picture slideshow he put together, showing photos from when Grandma and Grandpa were babies, through their childhoods, through high school, into their marriage and then their kids and the kids’ families. The slideshow turned out wonderfully! He created it on the computer, added music to the pictures and burned the entire project to DVDs. It turned out very well.
Oh, yes. The food at the Shrine’s brunch buffet wasn’t half-bad, either. They had everything from breakfast foods (pancakes, French toast, bacon, sausage, eggs, Belgian waffles) to fried chicken, roast beef, mashed potatoes, to fruits, to desserts, to… well, you get the picture. There was quite a spread! It was mighty tasty. We had a fun time talking to Grandma, Grandpa, some aunts and uncles and other folks that we don’t get to see nearly as often. It was nice to get to know them a little better.
And now, here I am, typing on this laptop with its beautiful, crisp 15.4-inch screen. I’m liking it! The only downside, in my opinion, is the laptop’s size. If I were to go out and buy a laptop brand new, I might opt for a lighter/thinner one with, say, a 14-inch screen. But this guy does pretty well, and, I’ve got to admit, the 15.4-inch screen is very nice.
Well, that does it! I’m watching the ened of the Pirates/Cardinals game on TV. Cards are down 5-4 in the 10th with runners on first and second and one out. Who’s batting now? Oh, it’s John Mabry. Let’s get a hit!!
