Laptop computer

We got our first computer in 1999. That made me 50 years old. Our daughter was in the Army and stationed in Korea. We were trying to find other ways to keep in touch with her besides the phone with its difference of a day in time.

I was always facinated with the computer and was eager to get one of my own. Every mistake I made taught me something about how to use the computer. I learned a lot! There were even conversations with technical support that sounded like this, "I've never seen that before. What did you say you did to the computer?" LOL And of course, I could never tell them exactly because I called them only after trying everything I could think of to fix the problems. I never could remember all of the steps I followed to get to the place I ended up.

We are now on our 4th or 5th computer and I have finally acquired my first laptop! I'm loving it! I've progressed from just emails, to Facebook and blogging and selling Avon at http://esthersavon.com. Hubby does our taxes and our banking online. I don't know now how we went so long without one.

Isolation Lake

I grew up an introverted child. We moved around quite a lot during my childhood. I sometimes went to 3 different schools in each school year. That made it difficult to make friends, fit in, or learn to adapt. It became normal to withdraw and try not to be conspicuous. I remember I sucked my thumb as a child and continued to use that for security until I was about 12 years old. Visiting a distant cousin and having to share a room, made me quit abuptly. I feel I substituted food as my new coping mechanism and security blanket.

When I grew up, I was still an introvert and never felt like I was normal. I was always the wallflower. Home became my sanctuary. It was the one place I could go and feel I could let down my guard and be myself. I could relax and not worry about being judged for what I was or what I had not done according to the worlds idea of normal. As a result, my first instinct is always to be a hermit, to stick close to home. It is where I am most comfortable. Talking to strangers, even neighbors would be opening up, and letting someone in. That has to be something I really want to do and it has to be my idea. Which means, I am a bad neighbor. I might smile and wave, but we are not social people and stick to family and have no social friends. Writing this down, it sounds pretty pitiful, but at 61, I'm not sure we can be any different. I interact with co-workers, but have never had a social life. We have each other. We have family. And so far, that has been enough.

Chocolate Covered Bacon @ Frank Restaurant

We all grew up with unusual tidbits. I used to eat ketchup on saltine crackers.Hubby says mayonaise on saltines is much better. He also swears his chunky peanut butter and jelly and banana sandwich is to die for. So far, I've just taken his word for it. I prefer mayonaise and cucumber sandwiches with salt and pepper instead. Hubby says you are supposed to eat cottage cheese with fruit...we grew up eating cottage cheese sprinkled with pepper instead. As a child I also liked to put potato chips on my deli sandwiches. My daughter likes to eat pizza with ranch dressing on it. Actually, she likes to eat almost anything with ranch dressing on it. My dad had a specialty he liked to bake when I was a kid...strawberry and rhubarb pie...we really hated it. The most unusual thing I've had this past year, is a new product we started making and selling in our bakery. It has become a surprising best seller...chocolate covered bacon. It actually makes sense. I always liked eating chocolate and something salty together. We oven-bake thick sliced bacon and dip the slices into our special melted chocolate. Yumm! If you are ever in Amarillo, Texas, you'll have to come to Cakes N' More and gve it a try!