yes, I would like some cheese with my whine

Yes, I apologize up front...truly I do hate complaining. I know I don't always succeed, but I do try to keep it to a minimum. But one would never know after reading my last post, and now this one. I probably shouldn't post this at all, but I did want to explain why I haven't been and won't be as on top of keeping up with all your blogs.

Frankly, this weekend has just totally sucked.

*Crappy Event #1:
One of Rich's brothers is in the hospital. He was admitted from the ER with pancreatitis. Yes, from long-term alcohol abuse. The doctor said that 50% of people who come in in his condition die before they ever get to go home. My BIL is improving, however, and they think he's going to recover. He was told flat-out that if he keeps drinking, he's a dead man. While I fully believe in miracles, I'm just pretty certain that he's a dead man. Geez, I sound callous here. I don't mean to...we're actually a pretty close family, but his drinking has put a strain on everyone for a long time now. The hardest part is thinking about Rich's mom and all she's going through. It's been almost exactly a year since Rich's dad died and she's finally starting to enjoy her life again.

*Crappy Event #2:
Our computer has gone on strike. (I'm borrowing Rich's laptap right now.) It won't turn on at all. I'm just so afraid about what it's taken with it. I don't understand squat about computers, so I just don't know what to think. Rich just tells me he doesn't know what our chances are of recovering what's on there. And of course, the worst part of it all is that we have no one but ourselves to blame for not having more backed up. Like about a year's worth of photos (Rich is in charge of backing those up, but frankly, I've always been so good about sending them off to be printed that we haven't worried that much about it, figuring that not only do we then have the prints but also that Snapfish has our files if we ever want to order more. Of course, I've been lousy about sending them off lately, and we've now got that year's worth at risk.) Then there's all our home schooling stuff. We can't afford to buy fancy curriculums and whatnot, so I pretty much do all the lesson planning by myself. Seriously, I sometimes feel like I have no life outside of all the work I have to do for home schooling. I organize everything I find on-line and all the lectures, handouts, worksheets, etc. that I type up myself in folders on the computer. I add so much each and every day, that it just seemed ridiculous to back it up constantly, so I only backed it up by the school quarter. So now everything I have for this our current quarter, plus odds and ends of things I'd downloaded to save for possible future use are all possibly gone. Truthfully, I'm in near total panic mode now wondering what I'm going to do. And maybe most heart-breaking of all, there's Annie's writing. Including the 15,000+ words she had written of her current NaNoWriMo novel. But also numerous short stories, both finished pieces and works in progress. And I fear her entire novel from last year's NaNoWriMo, which she has continued editing on and off throughout the year. I'm not entirely sure, but I don't think she ever printed off a copy. She's never let us read it all, wanting to wait until she had it polished to her satisfaction. Anyway, keep your fingers crossed for us, would you?

*Crappy Event #3:
Penn State blew whatever hope they had of the National Championship. Yeah, I know that doesn't seem all that important compared to the other things, but I tell you it just sort felt like adding insult to injury.

So, anyway, that's why I probably won't be around so much in the near future. Hope everyone is having a glorious weekend, and I can't wait to catch up with you!