How much does a computer matter?

10 Days ago my computer gave up the ghost.  I had been nursing it along for about 6 months so I knew its days were numbered but it was still painful when it left us.  I had the vast majority of my files saved onto my external drive (if you don't have one I sincerely recommend them).  So, I thought, this won't be a problem.  I'll need to migrate a few files and then we'll be cooking with gas once again.

10 Days later I'm starting feel whole again (not quite but I'll be there soon).  I was even in better shape than most people.  Moma and Dad both work with computers so Moma had an extra laptop for me to borrow until we worked out my issues.  I happily took her up on that so at least I wasn't trying to do emails on my cell phone.  I could also surf the web and all that.  The problem came with all the little things.  Example, I couldn't print.  I could have installed the drivers and all that but for a week it seemed a bit crazy.  Then there are ALL THOSE PASSWORDS.  Do you ever stop to think about the number of passwords you have saved on your computer? I have my computer save most of the basic passwords, all of those message boards I visit, or the online companies I use, or the classes I've been taking.  I'm not even getting into the pain of explaining to my bank's online program that this is indeed a safe computer and to stop asking me about my Dad's fifth cousin's middle name and the shoe size of my mother's maternal grandmother.  I appreciate their diligence but I don't always remember Granny's shoe size or Cousin Herbert's middle name.

I'm also trying to figure out where everything is on the new computer and how to run Windows 7 as opposed to my old OS.  And on and on and on.  So, that is why I'm not feeling quite whole yet.

I was thrown by quite a loop when this was as tough as possible.  I thought, I don't use my cricut nearly as much as I did back in the day so this won't be that tough.  (By the way, no cricut cutting for 10 days because I was not about to migrate my Design Studio twice in as many weeks.  I haven't gotten SCAL up and running yet because I want to cut with DS first).  However, I was forgetting that all of my digis are on my computer and if I can't print, no digis.

And don't even get me started on blogging.  I thought I was so smart, I had a couple of projects ready to be posted (a tip I learned from Shimelle) except, I hadn't put them in Blogger, they were sitting on my desktop (the caput one).  It doesn't really count if you don't do all the steps.

So, here I am, finally back, I think.  I'm sure I'll run into a few more things in the next couple of weeks as I try to do something.  I didn't take pictures of the two birthday cards I made on Saturday morning for the 4 year-old birthdays (It was one of THOSE mornings).  I used digis that I had printed and colored but then never put on cards.  I did a bit of coloring in the last couple of days and I now have enough images ready for about 30 cards (15 were purchased by the local florist to sell for Mother's Day).

Have you thought about the effect your computer has on your everyday life?  What about your crafting? Do you think it would be easy to do without your computer?  Have you ever tried to do a computer free week or weekend?  How did it go?

I want to share a few pictures with you.  I recently showed you giant corn, hand sculptures, how about some mill stones?

I recently flew to West Virginia to train some folks and we spent the weekend at the 4H camp at Jackson's Mill (Stonewall Jackson's childhood home).  I'll try to do a later post on some of the stuff I experienced around the history of the place.

They decorated the entire place with mill stones (the old stones used to grind corn and wheat into flour and cornmeal).

Many of the mill stones were in front of each building, almost like a mailbox or way to give directions to the building.

This one seemed lonely.

Some still had metal rims around the edges.  You could see a progression in the mill stone "technology".

They even used the mill stones in the foundation of the house.

So, what do you think of the mill stones?  Do you have any interesting art like this? Does this make you think of any specific places you have visited?  Which ones and why?