I've Been In Blogger Rehab And Thoughts Of Moving.....

Yes, Dear Readers, there is help for the obsessed blog writer. My rehab came in the form of a Trojan Horse Virus. The problems with my effing computer began a couple of weeks ago, starting out very slowly. Little things kept happening like the date & time were wrong when I turned it on every morning. I thought the computer was just having as hard a time adjusting to the time change as I. Then, I started getting pages shut down with a note from Microsoft saying I should report it so they could fix it. Yeah. Right. I reported it. They didn't couldn't fix it.

Next, my computer was flat out freezing up, often refusing to shut down entirely. There were several instances I had to shut it down manually, which is irritating enough. I finally called my computer guru who suggested that I use yet another program to search for viruses. Mind you, I have two full-time anti-virus programs already on a daily basis, but dutifully followed his suggestions. Bingo. Bango. Bongo. Trojan Horse Virus. I quarantined the virus, and deleted it, thinking my problems were over. Ha!

Two days later, the problems started again, in pretty much the same succession. By this point, I was ready to pull every last little hair from someone's head. I wanted to find the little devil hackers and torture them slowly. Oh, if only I could. I ran the Malware again and guess what? Yup. Another Trojan virus. So, I once again called my computer guru who told me it would be several days before he could make it over here to see what's going on. Argh!

Oddly enough, I didn't go insane. I used this painful time without a computer to do some much-needed spring-cleaning. You know. So that when the winds start blowing again, as they always do, they will have a fresh start spreading dirt everywhere. Yes, I'm tidy like that. Yes, I clean before the maid comes too, as insane as that sounds. I really got into the cleaning thing, for the first time since… well, ummmm… since I started blogging. In the midst of all this, I decided it's time to get this place in shape so that we can put it on the market and move to a more manageable sized home for life without children. The following photos are of the townhouse, NOT our home.

One thing that prompted me to start getting the house ready to sell is that one of my favorite houses ever has just hit the market. Actually, it's a townhouse with no yard, a few flowerbeds, swimming pool, 2 car attached garage, 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, formal living & dining, den with wet bar, and a fabulous kitchen with a casual dining area. I've been waiting for this place to come on the market for years, but should have been ready for it. Now, it will probably sell before we ever finish getting this house presentable. I could just cry. Wah! Homes on this particular street almost never become available unless someone dies. Or gets transferred or loses their job. Apparently, hard times have hit our city hard. This street stretches out over 3 city blocks and was designed to look just like a street in The Quarter, in New Orleans, cobblestone streets and all. It is so charming, as are all of the townhouses.

Imagine, if you will, how much clutter and crap we have after living in this house for 23 years. When we moved in our daughter had just turned one and our son was three. It took 23 years to accumulate this much *stuff*, so I'm pretty darn sure this isn't going to be easy.

Our home has 4 bedrooms, each with it's own private bath, two living areas, two dining areas, an enormous kitchen, and sits on what is referred to as a double lot. In back, we have a guesthouse that used to be my art studio (now just stores more *stuff*), a large tool shed (yup, more *stuff*), the vegetable garden area, with an old playhouse at the other end (which also now stores more *stuff*). The front and back yards are enormous and there are two large side yards as well. The front has half a yard size with grass & trees, flowerbeds, a circle drive with another yard size flower/tree bed in front of that. While it was the perfect home to raise our two children, it has become too much for the just the two of us to take care of. Frankly, we passed that point when we packed our daughter off to college. It's been out of control since that time and we've allowed many things to fall into disrepair, but mainly outside things. The inside is merely cluttered with too much *stuff*.

So, what I'm trying to relay is that I've been a cleaning-out-throwing-away maniac. Instead of going to a support group to maintain this detox effect, I am going to have to limit myself to four days a week on this blog and on my cooking blog, which I've decided I wasn't quite ready to give up on. I'm going to limit internet time and spend at least 3 days per week doing no more than check & answer emails. Period. The remainder of those three days will be spent cleaning out, throwing out, and giving things away. I'm a woman on a menopausal crusade to change my life and this is where it starts.


In closing, we are headed up to the Texas Panhandle for a funeral, which is the second one in two days. Our Galveston friends' (the wife's) father died and we're driving up there for the funeral. Today we attended a celebration of life for Mr. Snoots' step-Aunt who passed away last weekend. I guess I'd have to say this has been a fairly depressing week, all in all. Next week has to be better....