Thursday Morning Coffee Break
It’s 5:00am my time. I’ve been up for about 2 hours already, most of which I’ve spent dealing with technical issues. I don’t normally get up at 3am of course but its been a crazy week here…
It all started with my power going out over the weekend. It was a typical Saturday morning – my son was upstairs on his computer, my daughter was watching a movie on the new TV, and I was getting myself together to run a few errands. I flipped on the hair dryer and BAM – the whole house went silent.
An entire weekend of intermittent power and one very handsome handyman later, the culprit was discovered – and no, it wasn’t the hair dryer. It turns out my A/C unit locked up. August in Tennessee means 97°F and 93% humidity.
The last few days have been busy with electricians and A/C guys. And of course keeping cool and dealing with power outages (the air conditioner kept tripping the main breaker). The new unit was installed yesterday. Five days and a nice chunk of cash later, we are back on the grid and everything is buzzing like normal.
Looking back now, the one thing that stands out in my mind most is Sunday night when the power went out around 9pm. The kids and I sat around by candlelight and just talked, minus the distraction of computers and televisions. At their ages (almost 12 & 17) its rare to have such an opportunity…
By yesterday evening I was simply exhausted. I had taken the kids out for the afternoon while the A/C unit was being installed – it was entirely too hot to stay home. We did some shopping, they both got haircuts, we went out to dinner, picked up my sons new glasses – and basically ran errands and kept busy until the house cooled back off.
We came home tired and all went to bed early. Shopping bags left sitting. I woke at 3am, freezing. I hadnt thought to check the settings on the new thermostat when we came in the night before, so not only was I shivering – but I woke with a terrible sore throat to boot. It’ll pass I’m sure, and I’m certainly not going to complain about a little cool air at this point (laugh).
Its been a busy morning already. In fact, 90 minutes have already passed since I sat down to write. The kids start back to school today so I stepped away to make bacon & eggs, and wake the kids. They are busy getting ready for their first day of school now… it started early this year – a new schedule with more breaks.
And like I said, I’ve been dealing with technical issues since I woke. My ISP had outages due to maintenance, which meant I could access some sites but not others. Ironically it was my own sites I couldnt access – and of course my email. Once that got resolved I discovered that my forum “went missing” sometime last night.
I’m working on that as we speak, and hopefully we’ll have the forum back online in the next few hours. I have quite a bit of email to catch up on, among other things, but I imagine all will be back in order fairly quick.
I have to run – I told the kids I would drive them to school this morning since its their first day. I just wanted to give you a quick update about why its been so quiet here at ClickNewz, whats up with the forum… and in case you are waiting on a return email from me – I’m on it 
.
Best,
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I feel your pain, Lynn. Our air conditioner died last month and the torture of one day in GA without it while waiting for the new one to be installed – indescribable. I am glad things are back to normal, I missed your posts
I was about to send you a email because i could not access your forum. Im glad i checked here first. I hope everything gets back to normal soon.
Take Care
Charles
Thank you Biki – I’m looking forward to getting back into my writing routine
Charles – it turns out the forum issue was due to an update on the host end, and they were able to get that fixed from their side – so we’re back up & running! I’ll see you there
As for me freezing this morning – lol – there was some sort of problem with the new thermostat. The A/C guys are here now fixing that. Looks like everything is getting resolved easily enough today, which is good news!
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I’m so glad that you got that air fixed. Yikes! I can’t believe your kids go back to school already. The summer went fast didn’t it?
Is there an Elite webinar today? Just wondering. Thanks
Hello Lynn,
I know we are a very unusual family, but we don’t have a TV, my computer is for my work only and [b]not[/b] for the kids (who have no interest in it anyway), and guess what the end result is? We talk regularly!
Also, nearly every night, we play games together over supper. Usually something daft, but sometimes Scrabble or Monopoly. All of the kids, from the little ones up to the teenagers feel the benefit.
I know it’s hard to go against the grain, but I reckon the #1 best way to build a family is to make your house TV-free, computer-free (or at least reserve it for serious essentials, no games, YouTube, chatrooms, etc) and mobile ‘phone-free.
I can already hear the cries of [i]“I couldn’t do that, I can’t live without my TV/computer/mobile,”[/i] but all I will ask is, how much do you value your family? If you want to build a relationship with your kids, you have to have quality time together. You just [b]can’t[/b] do that with these things in the house.
Call me a Luddite if you like, but we have a wonderfully close family, something that just wouldn’t happen if we had a TV, etc.
Food for thought
Ta ra
Alan
It went by TOO fast! I just postponed the Brainstorming Hour for Elite Members – am working on a reschedule. I’ll update the announcement thread in the private forum as soon as I have it down.
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It must be something in the air! I’ve had non stop technical problems or totally bizarre family things to deal with for – who’s counting! I have hopes that Monday will be a new week and a fresh start. My kids don’t go back to school until Sept.
Alan, I agree. If I could do it all again, I would definitely be rethinking the tv thing. When our power goes out, we all huddle in my room or the kitchen by candlelight and play games etc.
One time my then 14 year old son and his friend learned to knit with wall to wall elbows in my bed by candlelight, a great memory although I haven’t received any socks yet :0)
Alan,
Thanks for sharing about your family. I always love to hear more about how people spend their personal time – and it sounds like you have a wonderful arrangement that works for you.
Before we moved here, we lived in a cabin on the lake where I homeschooled the children (with no television for 2+ years). Those were great times!
In fact, our “adventurous” weekend reminded me of that a lot, which is why I enjoyed it so much.
Even though our lifestyle has changed dramatically over the years, that foundation was a good one. I’m very close with my children and fortunately the gadgets just make it that much more fun. I love being able to reach them when they are out & about, and they are great to send me photos and updates over their cell phones.
Being a single mother my children are probably more independent than some. And thats okay by me. They are great kids, and we are pretty happy with where we are together in life.
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I’ve always been told its Mercury Retrograde. I havent looked it up, but I’d bet we are smack dab in the middle of one! Its some kind of astrological phenomenon that wreaks havoc on communications (including technology).
Things seem to be wrapping up on my end – I hope the same for you
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I was thinking the exact same thing this morning – while de-stressing in the tub (at least I had hot water!) after giving up on even attempting to get any work done on my computer – seems to be selectively not loading the sites I need to work on – going on 3 days now.
Maybe things are looking up, just got my copy of traffic secrets, can’t wait to dig in!
Awesome – I cant wait to hear what you think of TS2!
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wow Lynn, what a week. The temperature and humidity in Tn. sounds just like here in the panhandle of Florida. It is tough to handle without A/C.
You are on the uphill now!
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It’s looking really good so far. It’s starting to thunder in the background (my new theme song, hehe) so I am going to have to shut down soon. But at least I can look at the book :0)
Actually, Lynn, Mercury turns retrograde in September
“Mercury turns retrograde September 24th at 22° Libra
 Mercury turns direct October 15th at 7° Libra.”
What can I tell you – beware of September!
Lynn…I love your coffee break posts…I absolutely enjoy reading them. I am glad you are back.
Thank you Sandy
Biki… thanks, I think (lol)…
Jan: a storm is rolling in here this evening too. We really need the rain, so I’m looking forward to it. Survive your storm okay?
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I had to unplug for most of the afternoon, the storm was really close. We’ve been getting torrential downpours here almost every day even when it starts out sunny. My son got home from the store where he works and said the skids were floating at the loading door and a ditch flooded. We had hail too.
But I did have a better chance to look at the Traffic Secrets manual. It gave me some really good info for both my site and things I should do for a project I’m working on. I’m really liking it so far.
I have to go away for 2 days, much of it will be spent as a passenger and waiting so I am bringing it with me to work on my plans, perfect timing.
Oh wow – sorry to hear that. There was a terrible storm on the plateau last night but fortunately it missed us (I’m in the valley).
Enjoy your trip & TS2 – I look forward to hearing your thoughts once you’ve had an opportunity to get through it all!
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I have to agree it is sometimes nice to just pull away from all electronics and spend some good quality time with the family.
Glad to hear that your new A/C unit is working and it is not so hot in your home.
Geez, I can’t live without my AC here in Massachusetts.
I remember my time in North Carolina all too well…whew!!
Speaking of tech problems, I just discovered the second computer won’t reboot – something about a “missing or corrupt system/config file”.
I won’t touch it,of course, because that would probably result in a nuclear explosion with my luck with these things.
Time to call the computer guy!
Dan
Hey, does this mean you might respond to my old PM sometime (reasonably) soon?
Take care of the sore throat first.
Thanks Melissa!
Good luck with your computer, Dan. And yes – I am working my way down the list and catching up as quick as I can
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LOL…handsome man….
Hilarious you put that in the blog post…
D
Hey Lynn- we all wanna see a picture of that handsome man;-)
lol
For your soar throat- i have had soar throats forever and the only thing that helps is homeopathic medicine. Here’s the formula that works wonders with me if you want to have it made there in the U.S.:
(I always keep 3 bottles of it with me to prevent my throat from getting worse if it starts)
Baryta Carbonica 6CH 0,5 ml/ml
Atropa Belladona 3DH 0,5 ml/ml
anyways a natural pharmacy will make it for ya and you can take 30 drops 3 times a day with a bit of water. It works better than antibiotics and doesn’t ruin your stomach like antibiotics do.
Hope that helps:-)
Eren
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LOL I’ll have to wait until something else breaks
Thank you Eren, I made a note of that. I’m feeling a lot better this morning actually. I think it was a combination of the dramatic temperature changes and my allergies – considering all the open ductwork and such.
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Yikes, Lynn! That must’ve been aw-ful!! So glad you got it all fixed, though! My brother and his wife just recently had to replace their A/C unit – whoa, those suckers really are a chunk of change!
My kids started back to school on Thursday, too. The dog and I were so sad and lonely. The dog wouldn’t even eat. Although sad, it was so completely adorable! The night before, with all the scurrying about/getting ready – he thought we were going on another trip – he was a nervous wreck! Poor little guy! (ha! He’s only 120lbs.! He is my baby, though…)
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How sweet, Lisa – lol, sad but sweet. I know what you mean though. It was only 2 days this past week, but I really had some “separation anxiety” myself! Maybe we’ll all get adjusted next week as the routine starts to take hold. It just always feels like such a big adjustment…
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Holy smokes Lynn, what a mess! Luckily it’s almost over though and things are starting to get back to normal. This summer has been a rather easy one for me – by some stroke of luck, I had air in both my house and car all summer. This usually isn’t the case, usually one of them is out (there’s a leak in my air somewhere which no repair man will touch, so it has to be charged about every other year).
I can’t believe how early school is starting this year. Here I thought the 18th was bad, but your kids had to go back much earlier. Just doesn’t make any sense to me why they have been doing this. If anything you would think they would run school a bit later into June. I mean around here it’s not that warm in early June, but it’s so hot in August the kids end up with 2 hour early outs the first 2 or 3 weeks of school. Duh!
Anyway, hoping your issues are all worked out soon and it will be smooth sailing from here on out.
Thanks Kara
Things are running quite nicely so far this week – thank goodness. I’m playing catch-up of course, after being offline so much last week… but just content for things to be back to norm!
Follow me @lynnterry on Twitter.