Anybody out there?

I’ve missed you. Sorry I neglected you for so long, but it couldn’t be helped.

In the past month and a half, I’ve changed jobs, taken a night class and finally, after seven productive years together, had to watch my vintage 2008 Windows Vista PC die a slow, painful, lingering death.

The old girl had been sluggish for quite a while, and I knew the end was near for the past year or two, but the frugal farm girl in me was in no hurry to spend money on a new computer if I could stretch another few months out of the old one. (And frankly, “computer shopping” ranks right up there with “visiting the dentist” on my list of my Least Favorite Things To Do.)

When my mouse started getting wonky — making me click and click and click again — I decided it was a sign.

I did some research and picked out my new Dream Computer: a nice shiny new iMac. But before I had a chance to go to the store to buy it, I got the new job — which required me to work lots of hours. And I had already committed to a six-week, three-hour Wednesday night class at a community college 45-minutes away. And the class had homework. Lots of homework.

So buying the computer — and blogging — got pushed way down my priority list — until I updated my phone’s operating system a few weeks ago. The new operating system required me to update the old computer to the latest version of iTunes. But the latest version of iTunes refused to work with Windows Vista –which meant the blog photos that were on my phone were trapped there, making it impossible to write any posts even if I did find time.

I finally gave in and drove to the Apple Store to buy the new computer on a Sunday morning a couple weeks ago when my son was home to help me pick it out and set it up. You know what else happened on a Sunday morning a couple weeks ago? Apple released the newest version of its iPhone. So, yeah, it was just me and my son and a couple hundred rabid iPhone shoppers in the store that day.

Anyhoo, long story short: I finally have a functioning computer, with the newest version of iTunes on it, which my phone can communicate with. My photos have been released from purgatory. My night class is over. And (hopefully) I am over the hump at the new job and things will start to go a little smoother on the work front.

All of which means: I am finally back to blogging, if there is anybody out there still reading anymore.