A Speck of Dust!

Again, my apologies for not posting lately. April and May were super busy months for the Mock family; things have definitely calmed down now.

I wish I could say that I have lots of pictures of Julia to post, especially the ones of her on her new swing set as mentioned in the previous post. Like any mom, I took a bunch of pictures...lots of pictures. But, something recently happened with this:

Our desktop computer recently went 'black'. What I mean by that is that when I was on the computer working on a few things, the computer slowed and then went completely black. Not a good sign. Mike, the technology savvy guy he is, tried everything he could to fix it himself. No luck. We took it to the Greek Squad and they said a speck of dust probably landed on the hard drive chip just as it was loading something and burned the chip (or something like that). A speck of dust! He said that the process to retrieve the information on the hard drive includes shipping the hard drive to another place where guys in hazmat suits (I kid you not) meticulously clean the hard drive in a sterile environment and try to retrieve the data! This process can cost somewhere around $2000! Ouch! It is a painful amount, but even more painful is that the hard drive contained ALL of our precious pictures and memories. All the pictures of Julia from birth to present as well as other photos and our wedding photos. Little did I know, Mike had backed all of Julia's photos and videos on an external hard drive. Our wedding photos we found saved on CDs; so we did lose a few other photos and lots and lots of documents, but nothing that is worth $2000. So, come Christmas time, I am going to need all your addresses because my Christmas card address list was on the aforementioned hard drive.

So, our recent pictures of Julia (Easter, swing set, etc....) were not backed up yet and unfortunately are lost forever. :( I will try to get some pictures of Julia to post soon!

Moral of the story: Please, please remember to back up your hard drive (and clean up the dust)!

Coming soon...

We will soon have one of these in our backyard:

Yes, we finally broke down and bought a swing set for Julia (or all of us?). We did a lot of researching, cost comparison and quality comparison. On the recommendations of many other parents/friends, we went with the higher quality and yes, more expensive brand. The cheaper ones just don't compare. Julia had a blast at the swing set stores and we couldn't get her out of there; though Mike and I were having a great time too. We told Julia to play on the super big, elaborate sets because, well, we would never have one of those because they cost about as much as a luxury car with upgrades.

So, in about 2-3 weeks, we will have a swing set similar to the picture above (except with a yellow slide-per Julia's request) and without the rock wall.

Julia is very excited, though I think she has forgotten it is on the way. She did say she was going to play on it with "her cousin Ainsley" and "hold her hand" while she goes down the slide. :)

Fashionably Late?

My apologies to all my readers (particularly the grandma's who are religious readers of this blog). Life gets so busy and lately cyber networking and blogging have taken a back seat to other priorities (is blogging a priority?). Anyway, since getting a new cell phone (love my Droid) I am able to keep up in the Facebook world, but as for blogging, well, just not enough time in the day.

A few weeks (or months) back I promised I would post pictures of our newly painted interior. I am sure many of you forgot and probably don't care either way, but some people have asked when I am going to post the pictures. Well, I like a completely finished product and though our painting is complete, the decorating is not. For the same reasons I haven't had time to blog; I haven't had time to decorate! A few pictures have been hung. A few other items have been hung or placed on a counter or table and then immediately taken back to the store due to my dislike of the look or feel of the object. I am very picky about this decorating project because I want it to be exactly what I want because I don't want to have to do it again for many, many, many years! Anyway, the kitchen is not even close to being done. Living room is about half decorated with some vases; need to hang family portraits (though I now need to replace the frames since they recently came crashing down on me a few weeks ago from a closet shelf and blessed me a with a nice gash in my lip which has now turned into a nice subcutaneous scarred bump).

As for the master bathroom, that is about 95% done. I am waiting for ONE more piece of decor. I searched and searched for this item that will be placed in between our new square, double vanity mirrors. I could only find it at Pottery Barn and was so excited at how well it matched the mirrors. I put it in my virtual "shopping cart" on February 12 (date is important here) and proceeded to check out only to get a message that stated that the product wouldn't be shipped until April 15th!! What!? How could that be? I just want ONE! Well, I searched high and low and all over the Internet for an alternative and couldn't find anything. I guess that is why the Pottery Barn item was on back order-everyone wants it and can't get it anywhere else. Here is what I am eagerly anticipating on my doorstep after April 15th:



Once this lovely item is installed and filled with the item of my choice (not providing details here), I will take a picture of the bathroom and post. As for the other rooms, well, I guess all I can say is stay tuned...it will get done in the next few months (or years!). :)