Sunday Gratitude – 30.VI.2024

Once again, please forgive me for the lack of posting. Last Friday or Saturday, my washing machine started malfunctioning, prompting me to have to call a repairman to come look at it. He came on Tuesday, and his diagnosis was that the computer board in the thing is malfunctioning, and the cost for a new part is $350. When adding in labor, the prognosis was that it’s probably better just to get a new machine. I *hate* doing this, because I think this washer is only five years old, but of all the appliances in the house, the washing machine and the refrigerator are probably the ones that I can get along without the least. I’m grateful, though, that I do have the means to replace it.

Also, I misplaced my laptop at some point – maybe Wednesday. The good news is that I found it quickly. The bad news is that I found it in the back of a recliner (it slid back into it between the seat and the back) and although the computer still works, the screen is completely shot. Mind you, I have two computers – the laptop and a desktop. The desktop is, um, quite old, to put it mildly, and not even connected to the internet at this point. It’s got a nice monitor and scanner, and it’s where my photo archive is and where I do photo editing, but it’s tough for me to be stuck in the corner of a room to work on the computer these days. My laptop has kind of become an extension of my brain, and the broken screen was discouraging, to say the least. I am grateful, however, that I remembered that the laptop has a HDMI port, and so at the moment, I can connect the laptop, broken screen and all, to my monitor. Unfortunately, the monitor, as nice as it is, is a model from a decade ago, before HDMI was the standard, so besides running around this weekend because of the washer, I was also digging in the basement and running around to purchase a special cable to connect the laptop to the monitor. I’m grateful that in spite of all this frustration, this solution has actually worked, giving me some access to be able to get online apart from my phone. (I’m also grateful that I backed up all my files to external storage earlier in the week!)

I had someone else come out and look at the issue with the one window. His estimate was less than 1/10th the estimate for the first place. Yes, the scope of the first place was much larger, but it didn’t necessarily have to be. If I wanted to get the whole window replaced, I’d even consider the first place still, but if there’s a place that can just fix the rotting sill, that would be even more amazing.

I am grateful for the amazing support and words of kindness I’ve received, now having started publicizing an event that I’m going to be involved with. I’m kind of terrified that I’m going to make a fool of myself with it, but I will feel better when things are more “together”. I’m grateful that I can use my laptop still because I’m more used to using the tools on it than the desktop at this point.

I’m grateful for good friends, for good conversations that have happened. I’m grateful to have been able to catch up on a little sleep this weekend. I’m grateful that even with all the frustrations and setbacks, it seems like there are ways to get through this, even if it’s not without friction.

Thank you so much for everything that you do!

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