  I have just spent 3 extremely frustrating days working with a help site to get rid of a number of viruses on my computer and 2 other viruses on my daughter's & hubby's computer. Read: missed 3 days of important completion work on my schooling. I'm so close to being done and I probably would have made it by Monday if not for this! Grrrrrrr! Have these losers really nothing better to do with their lives than create these annoying (and sometimes destructive) things? I'm mean, come on! Get a Life! Grrrrrrr! Then, after all this time on the computers, I came downstairs tonight to find our satillite dish acting up.
We've had this thing for 8 or 9 years! We've only had it go out maybe 3 or 4 times, and once was because we moved it to a better location and had to reset it. The other 2 or 3 were weather related - heavy blizzards or downpours - which resolved within one half hour. This time, they think it's our receiver. So, go buy another, right? Well, not until I'm working. We're tapped out. We've lived on credit and savings and whatever else for as long as we could and now there is no where to turn but an added paycheck from me working. I'm very bummed. Thank goodness for R's movies that will entertain her and my little black and white in the kitchen that my mom gave me when I was in my early 20's so I can catch the news here and there. J has been very sick. He can't keep himself well with these sinus issues. He has to go have a CT scan on them, which we are in the process of setting up.
They think surgery will be necessary. Poor guy. Here he is in school part time (15-18 hours a week), working full time and he keeps getting these sinus infections that are running him down. And this semester, he's struggling with his math. He's on the edge with it all, too. I'm really, really tired all the time these last 1-2 weeks. I need to get back to exercising and eating better. We go for a barbeque at a friend's tomorrow and then Monday I absolutely HAVE to get it together again. I was doing sooooo well before Easter. I can do it again, too. And I will! I have been really feeling stressed. With so much going on with J, feeling so worried about finances, trying so hard to get my schooling done (some nights I'm up until midnight or better working on it) and the problems we're having with R sleeping (she wants to be in our bed at 1 a.m. or 11 p.m., etc when the rule is not until 5 a.m. for some cuddling before we have to get up for the day). It's just gotten out of hand. She's very stubborn, so she fights to stay awake, wakes herself up all night long, etc.
Everyone is tired around here. I'm sure you can imagine that makes for a bit of disharmony among the troops.....lol. Ahhhhhh, but the big picture is that this, too, shall pass and things will get better. J will figure out that math and get well. I will finish school and get some work soon. R will get better about staying in her own bed. We will all start getting some sleep.
There is always a light at the end of the tunnel. Our cups are always half-full. We have only to look at life in such a way as to see the sun shining upon us. Years ago, I got a copy of The Optimist Creed from a friend who was a recovering alcoholic. As you can imagine, she worked hard to look at life in this way: Promise Yourself: To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet. To make all your friends feel that there is something in them. To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true. To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best. To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own. To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future. To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile. To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear and too happy to permit the presence of trouble. I love that outlook on life! I love what good it can do a person to live in such a way! And I love that it is something every single living person can strive for.
This isn't the only creed that is taped up on my desk wall (a computer cabinet), either. I also have the creed of a prophet of my church, George Albert Smith, that I admire greatly and strive toward. This is what it says: I would be a friend to the friendless and find joy in ministering to the needs of the poor. I would visit the sick and afflicted and inspire in them a desire for faith to be healed. i would teach the truth to the understanding and blessing of all mankind. I would seek out the erring one and try to win him back to a righteous and a happy life. I would not seek to force people to live up to my ideas, but rather love them into doing the thing that is right. I would live with the masses and help to solve their problems that their earth life may be happy. I would avoid the publicity of high positions and discourage the flattery of thoughtless friends.
I would not knowingly wound the feeling of any, not even one who may have wronged me, but would seek to do him good and make him my friend. I would overcome the tendency to selfishness and jealousy and rejoice in the success of all the children of my Heavenly Father.
I would not be an enemy to any living soul. Know that the Redeemer of mankind has offered to the world the only plan that will fully develop us and make us really happy here and hereafter, I feel it not only a duty but also a blessed priviledge to disseminate this truth. Such powerful words, but even more powerful actions - as is always the case in life. Being able to put the last 3 day's struggles and frustrations behind me and focusing on these 'good words' has given me a calm I desperately needed. I can't express how much better I feel. I'm going to do some school work, dishes, laundry and then head off to bed. Tomorrow is Sunday and we will see some friends and focus on the Sabbath and all that it means to us. Peace. 
