Sewing, stitching, baking, cooking, gardening, shopping and general homemaking.

Monday 6 September 2010

Computer And Other Stuff

I finally got my new computer tower connected up on Friday.  It took the whole day and I was worn out just watching the engineer fiddling with it.  He was having trouble removing the free trial Office programme and installing my bought version.  Then I couldn't have Outlook Express anymore and he couldn't get Outlook to work.  In the end he had to go home and after I fiddled around myself for a while I downloaded Windows Live Mail so I'm quite happy with that for now.  But - the next day when I switched on I was still having the same problem, the screen was just not showing anything at all, occasionally it sort of flashed, but nothing.  It did come on after a bit of switching on and off and restarting the tower.  That's when I started to think that the problem has been my monitor all along - damn!  Graham is buying me a new monitor today because this morning it took ages for the screen to work.  If I've spent all that money on a new tower and it was the monitor all along I will feel very annoyed!

On Saturday we travelled up to Manchester for a christening that took place on Sunday.  We stayed at a Novotel this time.  It wasn't as good as the Holiday Inn we stayed at recently.  Some areas in the room could have done with a good clean, the teaspoons and shelf for the complimentary drinks was grubby and the tap in the bathroom wasn't clean either, It was one of those latest style of taps that has the handle that sort of swivels and it was a bit mucky in the swivel area when it was turned to the on position.  When these small details are missed it makes me wonder about the cleanliness overall, maybe I'm a bit fussy though.  The breakfast next morning was ok but the plates were cold, the fried eggs hard and the tea cool.  I know I'm being a bit picky and really it was ok for just an overnight stay.

On Saturday afternoon we had a walk along the canal path at Bridgewater canal
The weather was really mild and we had a lovely couple of hours.

The christening on Sunday was lovely, a very nice service and a fab buffet lunch afterwards.

Grace, our great-niece, was very well behaved and slept most of the way through the day.

Last week, while I was without my computer, I was busy making aprons

The link above is to the tutorial, this is a very easy apron to make and I made four altogether and have cut out more - very useful for gifts and, like the one above, for swaps.

Here's a picture of the cooking apples I got off our small tree

This is the most apples we ever had off this tree.  Showing these apples reminded me that the previous weekend we went to Lowdham Show, I only took one picture, the show tent with all the produce was so crowded it was difficult getting any good shots in.  Every time I was just about to take the following picture a woman stuck her hand into the frame - I'm sure she was doing it on purpose!  In the end I had to ask her to move

I took this picture because I thought it was a very clever arrangement.  It contained, potatoes, red onions, jars of preserves and other veg, I loved it.

4 comments:

Melissa Price said...

Ann, computer issues are beyond frustrating. I hope it wasn't your monitor all along! But on a better note, those apples look delicious. I'm sure you'll enjoy cooking with them. And that was an unusual arrangement with the potatoes and red onions. I liked it, too!

nic @ nipitinthebud said...

hope your 'puter is behaving.
What a lovely family weekend you had.
Your pinnies look too nice to get butter and flour all over (perhaps you're a tidier cook than I am :o)

Peggy said...

Hi Ann, I would be the same as you in a hotel room while I would not consider myself 'picky' if I notice one thing then my mind starts wondering about what else is not up to scratch.Hotels should conform to standards they are not B&Bs.
I like the flower arrangement too,it is very creative and has imagination, maybe thelady sticking her hand in wanted to be snapped with it?!
I hope your computer problems are solved, at least with a new tower and monitor it should be plain sailing for a few years!

Berit said...

Beautiful scenery; Sounds like the buffet made up for the inadequacies of the repast your accommodation provided! :)