A random post about blogging

First off, thanks for the nice comments on my new "look". Am I the last blogger to be so completely clueless as to the wonderful free stuff out there?! I was up way too early yesterday morning and spent the pre-dawn hours surfing the net. I noticed my friend Christy has a new background (very cute!) and on a lark I clicked on the little icon in the corner. Which, of course, took me to Aqua Poppy Designs.

I LOVE Chelsea's style! And I must not be the only one because now that I know what to look for, some of my favorite bloggers also use her backgrounds. I'm in good company ☺ Chelsea offers bloggy makeover packages too, so you know what's going on my birthday/Christmas wish list.

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Good news! I launched my Spanish blog ☺ The hubby came up with a great name, Vivencias ("things experienced" or "things lived") but unfortunately that name was taken (by someone who blogged for a bit back in 2002 and then quit, but still that means the name is taken). We played with a bunch of others and finally settled on aconteció que... which means "it happened that..." I started on Sunday with a condensed version of Project 365.

And went back yesterday and added another of Chelsea's free backgrounds.

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The next goal is to put together a "memory" blog from our year in Uganda, incorporating e-mails sent and received, photos, and additional commentary. What better way to gather all that stuff together in a fun format that's accessible to friends and family and anyone else who might be interested?

After having so much trouble finding a name not already taken for the Spanish blog, I decided to go ahead and see if the name I wanted for the Uganda blog had been used yet. It wasn't and I snatched it up. So now I have the blog designed and just have to start figuring out what all I want to include.

One thing I know: it will require a HUGE amount of time to type in the information because while I have hard copies of those e-mails (thanks to a dear friend who had the foresight to print them and keep them for me) I have nothing else. Africa is death to computers; we went through three the year we were there, and the e-mail host I used at the time did not save what we sent or received.

I'm thinking I should do it backwards, putting in the last e-mail first and so on, so that when it's done the blog will read in chronological order from the point of opening it, sort of like a book. Since it will not be an open-ended blog, but have a definite beginning and end, it makes sense to do it that way.

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Is there such a thing as blogging addiction? I remember when I started and hardly ever posted because I didn't think about it very often. Plus I felt I had nothing to say. Well, we all know you can say a whole lot of nothing with an excessive amount of words ☺ I've found blogging to be a great tool for keeping in touch with friends and family, making new friends, and fulfilling this compulsion to write. To write something, anything! And now I'm seeing all these other possibilities...like the memory blog for our year in Uganda.

It causes me to ask: Why do you blog?

Wherein my head did not explode and all is well

Nothing was wrong with my computer.

Which makes me very happy, don't get me wrong. But what was up with the craziness on Monday night?!

It is my theory that God works in mysterious ways because we are so completely clueless at times.

Let me explain.

The only reason the hubby went into Cordoba was to get my computer fixed. That's where the nearest Apple store is located. But after he dropped it off for them to look at, he decided to go back to Walmart to have them look at the tires we had put on recently. Despite having them balanced locally the car still vibrates.

I do not understand, nor will I go into detail here, all the problems that ensued. BUT I will just say that the hubby discovered some things had been done (or rather not done) when he had the tires balanced that could have led to a very dangerous situation. Plus other parts are in the process of failing too. This entailed a lot of running around to different places, both in Cordoba and later in Carlos Paz. He was a bit frazzled by the time he made it home, about 11 hours after he left. But we think he has the problem figured out and the parts we need to make things right.

Meaning he has his work cut out for him today. He'll do what he can himself and take it to the mechanic for the rest. Hopefully not the mechanic who didn't screw those things back in place last time, leaving the car an accident just waiting to happen.

And we would not have found all this out if he hadn't taken my in-perfect-working-order-but-bonkers computer in to be fixed.

You may think we were a little hasty in rushing it to the computer doctor so quickly. But let me explain: my computer has ALL our contact information stored in its address book and saved documents that are part of the "office work" I have to send in to our mission each month. It also has bookmarked links to sites where I do Spanish exercises. It isn't just the computer I write my blog on; it is my right hand man, my secretary, my assistant to all things, my gal Friday.

Besides he had Tuesday somewhat free ☺ He can't say that about too many days of the week.

So let's just give a Hallelujah! to a God who protects us when we don't even know we need protecting.

Bonkers!

My computer went bonkers yesterday...I couldn't type or even surf because ALL THE KEYS were possessed and doing their own thing. Totally weird! So today the hubby took it to the nearest Apple store (Cordoba) and of course, it's not acting up for them at all. So the hubby is having them check the fan to see if overheating is the problem.

*sigh*

Meanwhile I'm using the hubby's computer and it WILL NOT let me open some blogs. Why?!! It opens some just fine but absolutely will not open others, timing out repeatedly.

*grrrrrr*

Hopefully hubby will return with a functioning computer so my head doesn't explode and make a mess right here in the living room. Because I am in no mood to clean house.

I have made four loaves of bread in the past four days. They are small round loaves, about 5"-6" across. I will be a small round person much bigger than 5"-6" across if I keep eating this bread!

But it goes so well with the soup I've been throwing together: potato soup, homemade chicken soup, cheeseburger soup... Didn't somebody have a soup carnival last year? I'd really like to go look at all the soup recipes because I love the soup when it's cold outside.

I also made an apple crisp with the apples that needed to be used pronto. Apple crisp is much easier than apple pie for a crust-challenged person like me. I have never made a decent pie crust in my life, although it isn't for lack of trying. I've tried using ice cold water, hot water, tepid water; I've used butter, lard, Crisco; I've used a light hand... But every crust I've made from scratch was virtually inedible. Thank goodness for Pillsbury! But here I haven't been able to find that kind of pie dough (they sell a pre-made dough for savory pies which I've tried but it doesn't work so well for sweet pies). Hence the apple crisp.

Until I get my computer back, I'll be scarce in Bloggyville. Have a great week!

Week 22, Project 365

Technically it's Sunday, but barely (it's 1:30 a.m.). Since I'm having a hard time sleeping I thought I'd get a jump start on this week's Project 365 post. You'll notice I switched out my banner photo. It's fall here and it just seemed a good idea to use one of my colorful nature shots; this was taken by the river about a block from the house in Sta. Rosa.

Which is where we were last weekend and after the evening service at church we went to nearby Belgrano for dinner. As we walked back to our car at 11 p.m. the kiddie park was still lit up with wide awake munchkins running all over. This isn't the best photo (haven't quite figured out how to use the night time options), but this is one of those cultural differences I thought you'd be interested in...kids up and about at this time of night is very common here. In the summer when there's no school they typically stay up until 1 or 2 a.m. They also sleep in until noon the next day ☺ The hubby ran into an old friend who was having a get-together with other old friends and he invited us to stop by. This bunch of guys were from different places in Argentina, but would see each other every summer at youth camp. Can I just say crazy bunch?! It was fun meeting them and seeing them raz my hubby. Late at night the youth would gather around a big outcropping of rocks, drink máte and someone would play a guitar and they'd all sing. Very innocent and good clean fun, but the hubby wasn't allowed to be out that late. He was supposed to be in bed by a certain time. Once his mom caught him trying to sneak out and said, "Ivan, dónde crees que vas?"(which translates, "Ivan, where do you think you're going?!" She said it loudly enough that the others, waiting outside for him, heard and 35 years later every time we see someone from those long ago youth camp days we hear: "Ivan, dónde crees que vas?" followed by hysterical laughter ☺ This sign caught our attention, especially mine once the hubby explained that it's what they call a garage sale here. Garage sales are gaining in popularity but are still pretty rare. Someone was selling tools and furniture that had belonged to their abuelo. We did pick up a few things, most notably some antique woodworking tools that the hubby is carefully cleaning and polishing up, and a nice mirror with an oak frame that we put in the bedroom. Kicking ourselves for not getting a wooden storage trunk, brought to Argentina by this guy's great grandfather when he immigrated from Spain. The trunk held all their clothes. It was a beautiful piece but we didn't jump right on it and somebody beat us to the punch. Oh well. I know I posted this on Tuesday which was our 30th anniversary, but here it is again ☺ I'm just getting a kick out of seeing how young we were. LOL When I saw this incredible spiral of chocolate I immediately whipped out the camera. Now THIS is a photo op! But if you're worried about my diet, just take a gander at this little beauty. The peas are already 4" high! It just amazes me that we planted seeds two weeks ago and already everything is growing. Hopefully we'll harvest lots of peas (and other vegetables) in a couple months.
I mentioned receiving the bread book last weekend and today we finally got around to making our first batch. The process was SO EASY that I kept thinking there had to be a catch somewhere along the line. But you know what? It really is as simple and straight forward as the book says! Here's the dough when it's first mixed up. Takes like 5 minutes, hence the name of the book. What it looked like after rising for just over 2 hours on the counter. After this we put it in the fridge for 3 hours before taking it out and pulling off a hunk to make our first loaf. And finally here's the finished loaf which we've obviously already cut into. How could we resist?! I'm just beyond excited...I MADE GREAT BREAD TODAY! This is an historic moment, people. Let us pause in contemplation of the enormity of this miracle. Okay, now you may proceed. And shout a little gleeful whopdodewoop! with me. We had homemade potato soup with the bread for supper. Muy delicioso!

Now I suggest you follow me and let's go check out the others who are doing Project 365. Sara will be all ready for us with the nice Mr. Linky in place.