I'm so "Dell"ighted!!!!

Woohoo! Yeah baby, you know what this means....I went online today and built myself a computer!  Dude, I got a *Dell*....the "Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005" to be exact. So, in 3-5 business days, I should have my precious cargo delivered right to my door....and no, it was NOT from the "Dell outlet center", thank you very much!  Dh just walked through the room and grumbled something....from what I can discern it was "mmmph-must-be-nice-grummmmp-stay-at-home-while-I-work-mmmphmmmmumble-new- computer-grummmmble-never-lets-me-on-and-I-pay-for-it...." LMAO....

Anyhoo, I will be giving this old computer to Betsy for her room, since I'll be getting another monitor and printer. Well, actually, she will be getting the new printer since I just bought my cool one. This way she can do homework and not bother me whilst I do my oh-so-important web work (i.e. surfing, iming, journaling, etc.)....

Oh yes, the story behind the firetruck/ambulance. Well, we were all sitting at my mom's on Christmas eve, having a lovely time when the phone rang. It was my mom's next door neighbor who is a single mom with a son who is 12. She was crying hysterically and the only thing mom could understand was 'burn', so she and my aunt went over. Apparently, she had been carrying a pot of boiling water and it spilled down the front of her (navel to knees), and it actually melted her underwear to her skin. They stayed with her and called 911, and they came to the house. They immediately put cooling packs on her, and luckily stopped the burning (did you know that a burn will continue to burn for 10 minutes after the initial spill/fire what have you? You should soak the burned area for 10 minutes in cool water if you ever have this happen!). They said that had we taken her to the hospital ourselves, they would have all been third degree burns....luckily she ended up with first and second degree burns, and they let her stay at home. They showed her son how to change the dressings, and mom and my aunt took turns checking on her during the evening. Usually she and her son go to North Carolina for Christmas with her mother, but this year, he had asked that it just be the two of them at home....poor kid was so scared! About an hour later, wee one asked my mom if she could take one of her birthday cupcakes over to him....I haven't heard how she is doing, but I'm sure my mom will be back and forth between the houses....

My dad had an enjoyable Christmas I think. He actually sat with us while we opened our gifts. A bit of backround on dad....he was always the "showman". People always called him Dick Clark because of his ageless appearance (he did favor him a lot), and his character. In the late 70's through early 80's he would tape record every holiday event our family had; interviewing people and acting like a radio show host. He LOVED to do that. We have hundreds of tapes with him doing that. After the tape recorder he was Mr. Picture....you couldn't do anything at a get together without being photographed. He made picture albums, and they were all dated and captioned....this Christmas my uncle got him a really cool flashlight with halogen bulbs. The light actually looks blue. Dad seemed happy with it....although he rarely smiles, and can't see much of anything, he turned that thing on, and as each of us opened a gift, he would shine the light on them, like a spotlight. It was as if a little piece of my dad was still there....emceeing the evening. After about a half hour, he was ready for bed, and in a tired, quiet, slurred voice, he asked John to tie the flashlight to the bed so if he needed to get up at night....he could shine the light in mom's eyes so she would wake up and help him! He can still make us laugh....that evening when we got home, I said a special thank you prayer for my favorite gift....Mr. Showman making one more appearance.