House Things edit

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Yesterday and Today Himself: He cleaned his closet this week culminating in a whole load of clothes taken to the Discovery Shop for their upcoming Men’s Sale. I only fought hard to keep one Tommy Bahama shirt he doesn’t like and I do. He’s down two sizes. Herself: I need more Alanon meetings, instead I’m focusing on Weight Watchers. My shirts are beginning to be too big. Purelandmountain.com offers the latest news from Japan on days he isn’t fighting his local fauna.

My computer monitor has been showing strange things. Grey lines off to the right. Black lines, outlines, shadows, and all this only after the computer warms up.

The Geezer got me a new video card. The world was much sharper, but after the computer warmed up the grey lines, black lines, and outlines were back laughing at me.

We switched monitors with the back up/hard drive/spare computer. It had a long skinny monitor which neither of us liked, and sure enough all the side effects went away. All this time the old Gateway monitor, which we think is eight years old, is the problem. In the meantime, I’m struggling, cursing, and very unhappy with the long skinny monitor having been spoiled by a great big square monitor. Most pages had to be made bigger. Every page had to be changed in some manner so that I could see it, and even then some of the type remained too small for me to see. No single new setting would fix all the problems.

I don’t have any grey lines tho.

So yesterday I did house things. I made the bed. Anything to keep my mind of my monitor. Yes, my house does have this appalling tendency to look as if a designer put it together. Eight years of art school did leave me with artistic leanings. So I made the bed artistically.

“You are not leaving those flowers there,” he began. “I put my glasses there at night…..”

“You don’t see them there at night,” I interrupted, and he had to agree. Grumpily.

I sewed quilt strips together finding that if I had a picture of the finished center handy, I would know what I wanted in the beginning. We delivered the carload of clothes, went to the store, ate at a Thai place, went to a great meeting where I ate too much cake and extra frosting, and came home to an eBay bid for a nice, big, square monitor just like G’s still in the box.

We won the bid, and my new monitor will soon be shipped. Oh, Hurrah!

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(Rewritten into the start of an essay for class.)

My computer monitor has been showing me strange, new things. Grey lines that dash off to the right, black lines, outlines, shadows, and dancing arrows all only after the computer warms up. I mentioned this quietly to the Geezer then stewed about it silently for a week or so.

Eventually tiring of being a well mannered old lady, I forced the Geezer to actually turn from his monitor to look at mine. That very same day he drove up to Frye’s and bought me a new video card. I was filled with great hope when he installed it still believing in the easy fix, and the world suddenly blossomed into a much sharper place. After a few minutes, the computer warmed up and the grey lines, black lines, and outlines were back laughing at me. Disappointment set in again.

We switched monitors with the back up/hard drive/spare computer monitor. Mine was a big square; the back up computer had a long but short skinny monitor. Neither of us liked it so there it had languished off to the side. The moment it was plugged in to my every-day computer, sure enough all the side effects went away. The hurrah’s didn’t last long though. Suddenly, I’m struggling, muttering, and very unhappy with this long skinny monitor having been spoiled by a great big square screen. Most pages had to be made bigger. Every page had to be changed in some manner so that I could see it, and even then some of the type remained unchangingly too small for me to see. No single new setting would fix all the problems.

I didn’t have any grey lines.

So yesterday I did house things rather than think about the computer. I watched the Geezer clean out his closet, I did a row on my latest quilt while he touched up all the paint in the house, and we took his too big clothes to the thrift store. I puttered with art and pillows and plants knowing my house does have this appalling tendency to look as if a designer put it together. I even made the bed,

“You are not leaving those flowers there,” he began. “I put my glasses there at night…..”

“You don’t see them there at night, do you,” I interrupted, and he had to agree. Grumpily.

Later in the day, we dressed nicely in still too big clothes, met a friend and ate a light dinner at Thai Time II, went to a great meeting where I ate too much cake and generous amounts of extra frosting, then came home to make an eBay bid for a nice, big, square monitor just like the Geezer’s still in the box.

This morning, opening up the email, we found we won the bid. My new monitor will be shipped soon. I can hardly wait. I think I need to make the bed again.