The computer fix was a HUGE success!  Turns out that 'they' (the folks who built the computer) divided the hard drive into 2 sections (C and D), each 144 gigs.  While C was full, D was completely empty.  Doug merged them together, which means I've now got 144 left.  

Guess I won't have to delete any photos after all!

Once Alex finds time in his busy schedule to help me, I should (finally) be able to pull the Jack-in-the-box clip off off the family video and post it.  Hope it's worth the wait!

Also, while Doug was here he uninstalled a bunch of stuff we no longer use/need, which gave me an additional several gigs.  So I'm in great shape... at least space-wise!

(in great shape for the shape I'm in)

And since none of that took up much time, he was quite happy to figure out why photos that have been rotated (and saved that way, and post just fine in an e-mail or on Facebook, thank you very much) insist on reverting back to their original orientation when I try to post them here on my blog.  It's an easy fix (in theory...) which means now there shouldn't be any more neck-craning to view misbehaving pix.

And he was happy to take the brownies back to the shop with him.

So it was a very good day;
as Montini said in today's column, I won the lottery.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2012/11/29/20121129montini1130-you-say-you-didnt-win-lottery-oh-id-wager-you-did.html

Then this afternoon Mary and I went to the movies to see Lincoln. It was very well done, and should win a number of Oscars.  Of course I thought of Dad often, and wish he could have seen it.  With me!

Oops - forgot something.

For those of you who have dogs and cats, 

this short clip (2:28) should have you laughing out loud. 

(If not, I have NO idea what's wrong with you!)

http://www.lifewithdogs.tv/2012/11/dog-friend-vs-cat-friend/

I was in bed reading at 9:15 last night when the doorbell rang.  Naturally I assumed it was Alex who (once again) had forgotten his key after going off with friends, so I was feeling annoyed when I went to the door.... but it turned out to be UPS, leaving a package.

And so

I got a LOT of stuff done yesterday, so I felt pretty productive: paid a bunch of bills, made about a zillion phone calls (glad to cross a whole bunch of stuff off of that list) and also mucked off my desk (the nice thing about that is that it actually shows!)

The exterminator was scheduled for the morning, so I vacuumed and also got the leaves off of the front porch and driveway  (that almost filled half a big green barrel!)  In between doing 'real' stuff I prowled through cabinets and boxes of fabric and found some more goodies for my Reading Wizard costume and mom's giraffe vest.

Plus in my 'spare time' I made it up to Level 14 (no easy feat!)
on Word Welder

plus figured out several more games (at the highest level) of Flow Free...
only 3 more boards to go!

(Got Lisa hooked on that game when she was home recently...
she added it to her phone.)

Today the computer guru is coming over to help me muck out my hard drive.  

Their shop is close by, and they know us - every time over the years that I've brought my computer in to be 'rescued' I've always been so grateful that (in addition to paying their very reasonable fees) I've baked them brownies.  So guess what I'm going to do after I finish posting this morning?

(and obviously this is not my oven... it's way too clean!)

The guy at Walgreens' photo department laughed when I told him that I don't have 2 gigs of space left to do what I want with a home DVD (sadly they can't do it either) but hopefully after today I'll have lots (and lots?) of new empty space.  I know there must be a ton of stuff that could be uninstalled to make room, but I am afraid (very afraid!) to start messing around in there. 

 I would most likely end up deleting stuff necessary to run programs I do use - none of the stuff is labeled in any way, shape or form to make sense to a technology immigrant like me. 

The oncologist has okayed my return to the classroom (the maintenance chemo does not zap the immune system like the 'regular' chemo), so yesterday I checked with the District Office about getting my new ID and starting to sub again in January.  Maybe I'll be able to handle one day a week.  We shall see.

In the meantime, a week from tomorrow I start my new 'career' as the Reading Wizard at the elementary school where I volunteer.  Apparently I will visit every (!) classroom on half-days, and do some sort of exercise with their vocabulary words.  Vicki still hasn't given me all the details. 

For the past 7 years I volunteered in Diane's 5th grade classroom every Friday, and was dubbed The Walking Dictionary.  (Always exciting for all of us when the kids stumped me!)  Unfortunately a new set-up of the 5th grade (and of course my chemo and radiation) put that exercise on hold, but maybe I'll enjoy this new position as much.

In the meantime, I need to get working on my outfit.  My plan is to use one of the leftover graduation gowns and sew on pieces of fabrics from children's stories.  Already have my hat and wand.

Haven't had as much luck collecting fabrics as I would like, but still looking.  (A great excuse to hit all the quilt stores, right?)  In the meantime I'm pretty sure that I have enough to get started.  Of course I'll post a picture of the wizard robe next week. <g>

Today was Busy Bees - always fun!  Seems like lots of the ladies had stuff for me, and I was practically 'attacked' when I arrived. <g>  Carol brought in a very interesting article for me - about a cat that had breast cancer!

It was especially nice to see a number of ladies who had been MIA for quite a long time due to their illness (like Doris and Pati) or a family member's (like Grace.)  

Pat brought in a pile of charity quilts (some piled on the table in back) that she was getting ready to deliver.  I made this top a few years ago trying out the Crazy 8 block from the Quilter's Lumberyard (used up a bunch of my green scraps) and it finally drifted to the top of the 'to quilt' pile.

It was a short meeting, so we got to the best part (Show & Tell) pretty quickly.

Sharon  brought in a couple of Friendship quilts.  

This one was made by her quilting friends in Hampshire, Illionois

and this by her friends in Florida.

And look at the beautiful jacket that she made -

Sandy brought in a Friendship Quilt from when she first started quilting.  In the beginning she cut a small square out of every fabric she bought (of course that plan didn't last too long) and they ended up in this quilt.  

Sandy's other Friendship Quilt dates back to 1980, when Busy Bees started; she set the blocks to go from light to dark in the same direction that the sun tracks in her house.  The really amazing thing about this quilt is that Marty, one of our 'newer' members, spotted her name today on one of the blocks, which 'proved' that she remembered correctly that she was part of the Bees 'way back'!

Pati, who is back after chemo, shared this Friendship Quilt made by her online quilt group to cheer her during treatment and recovery.

They signed these blocks on the back.

Pati's hand-pieced work was made for the Hoffman Challenge, and recently returned after being 'on tour'.

Pati does beautiful work, and this is not the first time a quilt of hers has toured!

Sandy's 'Day of the Dead' quilts were colorful

and this one had lots of sparkly embellishments that (sadly) don't really show in the picture.

Sharon tried the One Hour Table Runner - 

and said the yoyo spiders took longer than everything else combined!

  

She won this embroidered block and by merely adding a border has a nice holiday wall hanging.

Louise finished up some UFO Sunbonnet Sue and Fisherman Sam placemats...

too pretty to use!

And Bobbi Carr elicited many oohs and aahs with her spectacular quilt that we all decided she MUST enter in the  AQG show in March.  Would you believe that her husband Dick made a bunch of the flying geese?  (Apparently once he got started he really went to town.  Wonder if I can get Tom to help me with my quilts....)

Chemo went well this morning; I didn't get the least bit drowsy from the benadryl (weird how sometimes I do, and take a mini nap there, and sometimes I don't.)

Of course I might still take an afternoon nap - the jury is still out on that. 

 In the meantime, 

think I'll dive into one of the books I just picked up at the library.

Before Lisa headed back down to Tucson this afternoon, she and Tom and I went out to lunch at Rocket Burger.  (Alex was at work.)  I'd heard about their wide selection of sodas, but still was surprised by the sheer number of choices.  It was a hard decision (especially since I usually opt for water, my drink of choice) but I ended up with Zombie Brain Juice - it's SODAsgusting!  Dog Drool was a contender, though.

RB also had a generous selection of sandwiches and burgers; always the purist <g> I decided to go for a 'regular' burger, and it was quite good.  If you're interested, Rocket Burger is on the SW corner of 35th Ave. & Cactus.  (It's not far from Moon Valley HS, and rumor has it that they're The Rockets.)

And before I forget, this is on the back of the shirt I've been wearing today.  (I got it from one of the book vendors in Wickenburg.)  Love the sentiment - but don't think I can wear it to school.  Thoughts?

Never posted yesterday - just busy doing piddly things (like taste-testing some of the goodies that Lisa baked.)  That's a job for which I am definitely suited!  

One was a batch of chocolate cookies she was making for her neighbors.
I pronounced them delicious - and found out that she doesn't care for them.  

This morning was my pre-chemo blood draw (piece of cake) and then a trip to the dentist to have the brace removed to give my tooth a test run, and fill in one of the chips.  Unfortunately he's still talking as if a root canal is a possibility.  

After all the horror stories I've heard over the years, the R word is frightening (I'm definitely a dental coward!) But he says the only (!) time a root canal is painful is when there is infection in the tooth (because then painkillers don't work as well.)  Since I have no infection I shouldn't (!) have to worry about that.

Next errand was to mail 3 packages at the post office.  (I sure do miss the satellite PO at Hallmark's; sadly that store closed.)  At least the line wasn't as long as I expected, and I was out of there fairly quickly.

Now we'll see what other stuff I can cross off my TO DO list today.