I never realized....

...just how dependent I was on my laptop. A few weeks ago, my laptop decided not to start up. Oh, it turned on, but then just died. At first I was handling it okay. Maybe this was a sign from God that I needed to spend more time with my family and less time gallavanting online. That was a VERY strong possibility. Then it hit me. What if it crashed? What if all of my files were gone? I had pictures of my kids on there - hundreds of them - none of them backed up. All of my business files, gone. I took it to Circuit City so that they can back it up and then we can send it out for repair. Thank God we bought the warranty - the computer is less than a year and a half old. I get home and the conversation with my husband goes something like this:

me: "I almost cried at Circuit City when I thought about all the pictures I may have lost"

him: "Is that the only thing you are concerned about? The pictures?"

me: "Yes. I mean I'll be bummed if I lost all of my business documents but the pictures. You can't get them back."

him: "Oh, I have all of your pictures."

me:"What? Where?"

him: "On my mp3 player. I downloaded all of them by mistake."

me: "All of them? Are you sure? Even my photo editing projects?"

him: "Yup. They are right here."

And they were. All 499 pictures. God is good! I prayed on the way home from dropping the comp off, asking God to be gracious to me. I know it was not a big thing in the grand scheme of things but He heard me. And He cared about the "little"things. :)

Moving on......While my laptop was out for repair I was forced to use our spare computer. It's not horrible, just a bit slow. I can deal with this, I thought. Until I realized that I could not print anything out. I tried to install my new printer/fax onto my old computer and no such luck. I kept getting errors. Okay, I guess I can manage without my printer for a week or 2. Then I realized that I needed to ship out some products for giveaways I had participated in. The handy little click-n-ship feature I just found on usps.com was now not an option for me. The thought of dragging my girls to the post office with me just did not seem appealing. We can not go ANYWHERE without making some kind of scene. Ugh, just the thought of it made me anxious. Okay, I guess my winners can wait. I hate doing that to them but hopefully they'll forgive me this one time. Then, THEN, I realize that I am missing a very imporant piece of the puzzle for online shopping at my store, The Emilee Grace Company. Now, I'm getting a little antsy. I NEED my laptop because I NEED to be able to print to fix this little problem. I'm trying to think of ways to manage without my lappy and printer when ding dong, the door bell rings. Mr. Fedex is standing there with a box. I'm thinking it's some product (some nursing covers - keep an eye out on my site for those - they should be available in about a week - I know, a shameless plug for me) I just ordered for my business and I'm pretty excited. Then I look at the label and it's addressed to my husband. Hmmm, why is it going to him and not to our business. Then it hit me. OMG - our laptop! How excited was I?? I bust it out of the box and there it is. Shiny. Sparkling. Clean. I have to wonder if this is really my laptop? It looks brand new. All of my faded letters have been replaced. All of the loose compartments and openings are nice and tight. And what's even better is all of my files are here. Life is good!