New Purse!

Even though I was a total tomboy growing up, I have definitely found and embraced my girly side. I love purses, shoes, and clothes.  Grant and I are actually on our way to Arkansas right now to get more clothes out of our storage unit for winter. I decided that this was a good excuse to get in some blogging since lately I have been making a lot of excuses to not blog.
So, even though I love those items, I don’t not buy things blindly, it takes me a long time to make decisions about more expensive items like coats, shoes, and purses. I have waited 2 years to get a coat until it was on sale and I knew I wanted it enough. So, I have been looking for a new purse for some time, but since I am so picky about things I just couldn’t find one I wanted.
Grant and I are now living in the Rivas’s house in Lakeway, and we went driving around to see which stores were in the Galleria by our house and came upon a Marshalls. This is a great store, and I decided we should go have a look. Of course, when I shouldn’t be spending money I find a purse that I really like, but I knew I shouldn’t get it so we went home with nothing and tried to forget about the lovely purse.
One week later, my sister Kira was in town and we were shopping mainly to hang out and went to Marshalls, and I wouldn’t let myself go see if that purse was still there because then I would want it more, and I should be forgetting about it. After our shopping trip, I came home to find the purse that I wanted on the island of our kitchen with a note from Grant. I don’t know why he bought it, but OF COURSE I LOVED IT.  We don’t have a good excuse like a birthday or anniversary, but it was such an awesome surprise.
So here are pictures of my new purse in all of its glory ;p! It is a guess purse that normally retails at $115.00,but believe me it was much cheaper than that now, but it still makes me happy to know it was a great deal.

I also got a new wallet, my sister Kira had an awesome one, and mine was literally busting at the seams, but I didn’t want to get the same one that I had before because it would probably break in the same places again, so, I liked how sturdy Kira’s was, so I went to the Stein Mart and found one by the same company but a different look. I am VERY happy with it, and hope that both of my new purchases last a long time!

Young Married's Fall Festival

The Young Marrieds in our church do a variety of different activities, and this month, the social team decided that it would be a fun idea to have a fall festival which consisted of going to a pumpkin farm and taking pictures, picking out pumpkins, going to our house/Rivas’s house, having a pot luck, and carving the pumpkins. Grant and I were planning on doing all of those activities, but as the time got closer with everyone coming to our house, I realized that we were still too far behind on cleaning so we didn’t go to the farm.
Grant was so excited that we weren’t going since it was farther away from our house than we had anticipated in the first place, but once everything was clean and my portion of the food cooked (Chili and Spiced Cider) everything was a lot better. Everyone came over and we had a better turn out than I was expecting consider we only had 2 couples say they were actually coming. I think that we had about 11 couples show up which was awesome. All of the food was great, and I even got a few compliments on my Mother-in-Law’s cider recipe which made me happy because that means I didn’t mess it up.

Here you can see some of the ladies in the dining room carving some pumpkins.

Some more people carving pumpkins, I am glad that the Rivas house was as large as it was, otherwise it would have been very crowded.

Here is a cool picture that Grant took so you can see a few more people.

Some more pictures of the great pumpkins.

I am not completely sure whose pumpkins this was, but I think it was Andy Luksys’, and it was the biggest pumpkin I think out of all of them.

Here you can see the two lit up, they definitely look awesome!

Here is my pumpkin … I decided to go with something different than the usual face, I got my inspiration from a magazine, and I would say once Grant gave me a power drill to make the circles everything was smooth sailing from there.

Here you can see it lit up which is pretty cool. I was kind of sad that we missed out on the farm thing because I would have loved to have some of those cheesy photos because Grant and I hardly EVER take pictures since it is just the two of us. But I will just have to force him to take more pictures of us because I feel like we haven’t been documenting our time very much.

Talk about a headache!

So today I spent most of the time trying to figure out the problem with windows 7 not wanting to frikin install.  I still haven't gotten a different drive yet but it is killing me that I can't figure out what is going on. I went back to trusty google and researched more and just saw that other people were having the same problem. It is driving me up the wall. I was thinking that maybe mu iso is bad or maybe It is the brand of DVD I was using. Or maybe it what my drive sucks at burning at high speeds.  Sooooo I redownloaded the iso and then I even got a different brand of DVD-r and then I burned it with jessica's laptop. Surely that should solve my issue. Well guess what!  It didn't!  So I took my DVD burner out and tore it apart and tried my best to get to the lens of the laser to clean it.

 Cause really that is the only thing left unless it was a different hardware issue, which I couldn't believe that could be it. So I put it together and still no go. Frikin starting to get on my Nerves. The worst part of it all is that around 6 we were having some people over so I needed to figure it out soon. Cause I know I would of been in a weird mood (unsocial, trying to think about ways to fix my problem). So what I ended up trying was boot with a live ubuntu cd again... and then copying all the files from the windows 7 iso to the partition, where I wanted to install 7 to.  Then once that was copied I used the 7 cd and booted into the setup but went into the recovery setup and then got to the cmd prompt.  I changed the directory to the partition and did a good ol' run "e:\7\sources\setup.exe". Then BAM! it started the setup.. but would it make it past the "windows expanding files" part?  Yes it did.  Every other time I tried this, it would hang at 0% or 1% and then throw me an error.  This time it just start breezing by that part.  I was so ecstactic.. You can even ask my wife.  Well it finally finished around 5:45 so I'm happy that I got it done before 6.  But! I now only can boot into xp or 7.  So I reinstalled grub over my MBR.  I have my linux now!!! sweet, but windows 7 isn't showing up.  So I go into /boot/grub/menu.lst and add a windows 7 section and save exit restart.  Well when you add a section, you have to classify what partition it should read for the boot.  So I chose the correct partition and restarted the computer.  Upon restart I scroll down to 7 and then I get an error that is not allowing it to boot (it can't find the partition or something).  At this time Anthony and Shea show up for the shin-dig and I have still not officially fixed my booting.  As of right now I believe I can only get into linux (which I already did) and windows xp (which I didn't try yet)  Well Anthony wanted to see windows 7 and I'm like yeahhh.... kinda working on that myself.  Well him being a geek as well said let us see if we can figure it out.. long story short, we couldn't get it and then just tried booting into windows xp. OH Gosh well once past the grub bootloader I was then met with a windows bootloader that i could choose 7 or xp.  Gross I know..  I will figure it out later but I theoretically can get into linux/xp/7 so I am happy.

Ta-daa!

Windows 7 and the headaches I knew were coming!

DISCLAIMER: if you are not a geek, you will probably not fully understand any of this. And also you need to be a little ADD to stay with my thought process. /end disclaimer

So not sure if ya'll know? But if you are a student (or still have a student e-mail like I still have one) you can get windows 7 home/pro, 32/64bit for $30. Well....... That is a great price for windows 7 but boy does it come with complication for me. So I went ahead and bought it because I have no clue when my school email will go byebye. Well it is a promotion thing through digital river. It is an online download of a 3 separate files that total 2.9 gigs. Which shoot that aint nothin. Only took about 40 minutes to download I think. But I couldn't get it downloaded as an iso. Meaning I couldn't just burn it to a dvd and then clean install windows. What I bought is a upgrade, which you need to have windows vista to upgrade or windows xp. Well I have windows xp because I didn't want to go into the vista nasty world. But I figured I might as well get into the windows 7 I figure that is where windows is going, and I don't wanna get left behind on knowledge of an OS. Where was I... oh yeah well I have windows xp but I still want to keep it while I get accustomed to windows 7. ( for now on I'm just going to call windows 7 ...”7” cause i'm lazy. Also here is the link for the offer http://windows7.digitalriver.com/store/mswpus/en_US/DisplayHomePage?resid=dQJxNwoBAiMAAFa2YYUAAAAK&rests=1256329835913 Well I went to the land of google to try and see if I could find an iso of this version of windows, since theoretically I just payed for the serial key. If I can find the iso no pirating is happening. Well I (when I say I, I really mean my friend matt!!) found a site that showed how to make the three files into an iso after you kinda extracted them. Now you have to use a terminal.. or in windows it is called a command window I think. Omg !!! oh no not the terminal you mean I have to like type out directories!?!?!11 well it is practically copy and paste (ctrl-c...ctrl-v). oh here is the website for the how to make it into an iso. http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/how_burn_your_student_copy_windows_7_dvd so I extract one of the 3 files but it crashes with an error.. I'm like well crap.. now I have to redownload 3 gig of info. Well I went back to trusty ol google... which makes me think of this picture.. here

So back to the extraction. I searched on google about the error. ( by the way if you don't know how to do something or you get an error.. just copy and paste to google.) Well it seems a lot of people are having trouble with that error. I found out it doesn't matter to me, because that is all about doing the install within windows[which is not what I want]. So when it did extract I got all I needed from it and followed the how to. Awesome I'm that much closer to my goal of breaking my computer with 7. well when I say break I mean software not physically.

Let me tell you a little more about my story and worries. The reason I'm so nervous is the fact that I'm dual booting Ubuntu 64bit(linux) and windows xp. Well I have GRUB as my bootloader. It is the default bootloader that comes with ubuntu. Well a little more to this. I have 4 partitions on my main OS hard drive. The first being a partition for ubuntu 32 bit version. ( that was back when I was skeptical about 64 bits and compatibility issues.), the second partition goes to windows xp. The third partition went to a stuff drive as I call it. Well I was feeling frisky and I partitioned that stuff drive later on to get a partition for ubuntu 64.. well let me tell ya... I have no problems with 64 bit ubuntu.. frikin uses all of my ram.. another issue with 32bit *sigh*. So anyways once you go 64 bit you can't go back.. who says size doesn't matter?!?!11 ok well I have a 32 bit ubuntu partition that I haven't touched in months. Well that was /dev/sda5 and my 64 bit partition was /dev/sda7. I formated my 32 bit partition and then deleted the logical drive so windows 7 would just see it as unallocated space. Well as soon as I rebooted.. grub is already complaining.. and by complaining I mean it isn't showing anything to boot at all. No windows xp or ubuntu.. head ache has begun. So I'm like screw it I know that there is is formated partition so I put in my 7.iso dvd into the drive and start the death of the life, aka 7 install. Well it is taking for ever and nervous at the same time that I don't accidentally miss the unallocated space wording and format my other partition or something. Well I finally feel confident about it and then boom error it can't read a file. OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!111111. This is where the e-mail I sent to anthony came from which is this: (his reply to my email was "You should blog about this. Just cut and paste this in, it's teh awesome." and now look what you gone and made me do)

*hahha well get this.. my dvd burner is old.. i was even having problems installing ubuntu.. says it couldn't read a file.. but there is a retry button.. so it finally would read the file.  (i think my burner is just dirty, which would surprise me.. i've had thru out college)  well windows 7 is like .. if i can't read one file  your screwed!@!!11111 so i thought.. dude i can just boot off usb.. i have a newer board.. like i don't even think the board is over a year old yet.. sooo i get the install on a usb harddrive.. and then boot into bios.. looking.. only options are harddrive, cd rom,, or frikin FLOPPY!!! who uses a floppy these days... so i'm go to my friend google.. and find out my mother board can use a usb stick to flash bios.. frikin bios!!! so i askmyself why in the world can ASUS not have usb bootable.. tell me that anthony WHYYY!  so I yeah.. that is my story of the day. *

So I can't get 7 installed because my dvd burner doesn't work. Well I'm living at the rivas and I was thinking surly andrew has to have a computer or dvd rom around here somewhere? Well he did.. but my computer wouldn't even recognize the dvd rom in bios. So that is a no bueno. So my motherboard can't boot a simple usb, which I know motherboards like 4 years old that could... I can't read the dvd itself. Well I guess I'll just go back to my linux until I find someone with a dvd drive. Anthony is hopefully gonna pull through for me. It is a external usb dvd rom though.. little nervous.. Ok so back to me going back and relaxing in my linux.. ohhhh nooo grub is all like.. what! You want to boot into a OS.. heck no! I'll give you an error 17! well guess who I went to for help.. no not my foot in the screen.. it was my pal google (remember him?) yeah here is a link for what I just copied pasted. http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=224351 OMGZ0RS!!!11 more terminal and now your throwing in a live cd.. whaaaaa!?!?! .. well I had to use the ubuntu live cd to get to a terminal in root and reinstall to the mbr (master boot record). And noww I just wait more .. for what I know is to come.. more headaches!!..

But have no fear! Raid 5 is here!! You might be thinking through all of this, this guy needs to be backing up all his stuff if he is messing around with formating and master boot records and what not.. well let me just say I have a raid 5 setup with all my personal stuff on there. But it still sucks losing your OS to something stupid like a format or rm /*.. haha don't ever do that one.. Well I've spent a lot of time configuring my ubuntu to get it that way I want.. But oh yeah! I just remembered.. 9.10 is coming in 6 days!!!! can't wait for it http://www.ubuntu.com/

what is raid ? or even radi 5?  http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2007/06/11/understanding_raid/1

Sick = Not Fun!

So, for the last week I have not been feeling well, but I still kept going to work, and taking loads of dayquill/nyquill. Then this morning I decided that I have had enough and need to go to the doctors. Grant and I are working on getting health insurance, so we weren't excited about paying some ridiculous fees since it is all out of pocket. So, I found a medical clinic down the road where they always had walk ins. We went there, were the only ones in the waiting room (maybe because it was a holiday,but not sure), and only had 1 piece of paper to fill out which was incredible.
The nurse took Grant and I to our room as she did the typical question and answer session about family history etc. Then she did this new way to check fever... all she did was run this weird wand thing along my forehead and already had my temperature. Well, after that she checked my throat and was like hmm (not a good sounding hmm) ... I was nervose. She decided that she would test me for strep throat since my throat was red... testing = more money so we weren't too excited about that.
Then we waited for the doctor, when he came in he was a funny nice man asking the typical question, "How are you doing?" Such a duh no brainer... obviously NOT good, but I played nice. He did the typical examination to also say... hmm... in a not good way to my throat, and then left to check the lab work. Grant had Mono two years ago, and so anytime I am sick he ALWAYS claims that I have mono... even though I have not had it yet. When the doctor came back in, he asked me who I had been kissing with a huge grin on his face!!! I was like wait what?! Then he started laughing and told me that I had Strep Throat.
Strep throat has never been fun, but he threw me for a loop thinking I had mono even though he didn't even know that Grant had ever had mono. He just meant that I had been contagious with Strep for the last week and just encase he checked Grant's throat to make sure he didn't have it. So, so far so good Grant doesn't have it, lets hope that he won't get it later. Also, the doctor ended up lowering his typical office fee for us, and we received 25% off because we paid upfront which was a huge happy surprise! Strep throat is not fun, but it is awesome to see God bless us in such crazy and unexpected ways. Also, I am not happy to be sick,but I am happy that I had something that I actually did need a perscription for, because I would have felt very bad to have gone and paid a lot of money for a viral infection that I can't do anything about. I have only been taking antibiotics for one day now, but I am noticing a little bit of a difference so WOOOT!