Got An Updated McAfee

From a gold box deal on Amazon! $21.00 with shipping! I got it today and installed it, (which took over two hours), and at first I was very unhappy with it. I had gotten in the hope that the computer would run faster, and that I would get rid of that virus that was sending Spam mail to people on my old email account.

At first it was even slower then before, significantly slower, like ten minutes slower. Then it came up with a message saying program snap-max. . . something like that wasn't running and the computer rebooted it's self. The computer is now running at a good speed.

I think one of the reason it took so long to load was because I couldn't get the old McAfee to uninstall. I got the virus scanner part gone and another part as well,, but the message center wouldn't uninstall. The install wizard had an option for pressing on and I chose that, because, what else could I do? Hopefully everything is running correctly.


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Went to the Social Security. No one is using my benefits. Also got a credit check. There was two addresses on there that I had never lived at, and two closed accounts for a store that I was sure I had only one at. But they were both closed and paid off. . .

Got the false addresses taken off. The credit report said high fraud alert, I think because of that.

I tried to file a police report but the wait was two hours. will try again.

Have come to conclusion that the thief has a house key, (*yes, extra keys were hidden in bedroom), and I get to buy yet another lock.

Will do that tomorrow.

The Break-In

Well, have talked to brother. No he did not break into the house around the last week of May, last year. I have gone through the drawers again, and this time I found the quitclaim deed. That's good. However, that means my old passports, my AA diploma, the old birth certificate and the new one are gone, (yes, can't find that either),  and my divorce papers are gone. In fact the only papers I can find are student loan paper work and the pink slip to my old car. Where is the pink slip for my current car? FUCK!

Will look around some more and I have to go file a report with the police, and go to the county registrar about the house deed.

Goosie

Goosie is showing her age. She is eleven now, and has led a rather hard kitty life, what with the FIP, the Stromitis, and being locked in the neighbor's garage for five days, without food or water.

She now only goes out to take a poop, after I get home from work. She only stays out for about ten minutes. The rest of the time she lives in my bedroom, apparently sleeping 23 hours a day. When it started getting cold, I brought in a little space heater, and it has rarely been turned off all winter. Goosie apparently feels the cold, and spends the night lying next to the edge of the bed that the heater is on, so she gets the updraft of the hot air. Occasionally she dangles her head over the edge, and turns her ears hot pink from the heat.

I think she has artrititis as well. She no longer bounces from the bed to the window sill, but sits on the bed for a couple of seconds get her leap together. The same with the leap from the bed, to the nightstand, to the dresser where her food is. When I pet her I have to be very gentle if she is standing up, as she staggers from the pressure. Also she doesn't seem to like me petting her very much now, and complains if I stroke past the middle of her back (but, she also longs to be touched).  She mostly likes having her cheeks stroked now, and a lot of the time she is the one moving her head around, while I just hold my hand out. Even then she manages to hurt herself, and slashes me in revenge.

On the other hand she is eating like a horse! Where as before she just licked the gravy on the cat food, she now eats the whole can, occasionally a second can later on, and nibbles at a steady rate on her cruchies. The neighbor next door has moved, and I wonder if she used to feed her, or Goosie raided her dog's food as she didn't start eating like this until the neighbor moved.

She gives me feedback as to what she likes to eat by kicking the bed when she is displeased. She also makes a point of waking me up several times a night to show me her kitty tantrum (KICK,KICK,KICK), about my food choices for her. I keep finding scratches and dried blood trickles on me from this. She has made me go to Wallyworld at 3:AM to get something she likes as I wanted to sleep. Gone is the human tuna, and in with Meow Kitty. She loves this and eats it all, and rewards me with letting me stroke her tummy. She also has returned to kneading my stomach, as she hasn't done this all winter, instead lying in the hot air blast.

I'm hoping this summer she will return to going outside. I worry that reason she hasn't is that I started letting Mittens out as well and they are deadly enemies. I don't let them out at the same time but Goosie can look out the window and see her, so might think she is out there all the time. Time will tell.

She is very crabby, but still has her lovey dovey moments. I love her so much.

Car Oil

The car was roaring again, so I checked the oil. There was nothing showing on the dip stick! Called the car shop and they said to bring it by and they would top it up. Took two and half quarts to do the job. They did a little fiddling around to see if a valve was stuck open but the guy couldn't recognize it on my car. They decided to check it out when I bring it in for the next oil change . It's not dripping, nor do I see any blue smoke behind me. . .where is it going?

I talked to Bob and he said I might need a ring job, which is $1500 to $3000. I told my sister and she freaked out. At that point, I might as well just get another car.However Bob told me something else. The good news is, that if the car  can pass the smog check in May, I can just keep putting oil in it. So hopefully my sister doesn't need to freak out.

I'm making a point of checking the oil level, every other day. My secret fantasy is that I have an asshole draining my oil, (which in my neighborhood is not that inproable), which means I would have to just enclose the car port and park it in there. I don't know how much that would cost, but it would be cheaper then a ring job. . .

Car saga. . . #3 and some knitting news!

The car shop also told me that my hub was out as well, so that raised the price to over $500. I own only own $99.01 now. . .

Really need two new/used tires on the right side of the car. They are sooooo bald.


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 Have started trying to make fingerless mitts for my sister's birthday on the 17th. I say try, because A, I haven't made the cuff long enough (I'm knitting it flat), and B, I'm not really sure whether I have enough yarn for this. I'm knitting them out of stash yarn, in to colors, Knitpick's tulips (discontinued) and Wisdom Limerick yarn in a pinkish purple/brownish/orange combination. God I'm loving the stitch definition of the Wool of the Andes yarn.

And The Saga Of The Car Goes On. . .

Yes, it started making a knocking sound. I knew I was 500 miles pass my next oil change. But, you know, there should have been more then 1/4 of an INCH of oil in it! It's not like I have an oil leak. So I WALKED to the 7-Eleven and bought three quarts of oil to put in it. It took two and 1/4. Then the next day I took it to the car shop for new brake pads, and had then do an oil change. They replaced the oil with synthetic oil. No knocking. Engine actually sounds great.

However they told me the other knuckle had gone out (I knew that, I could feel the bobbling), and that I need new transmission mounts. Each one is $250.00. The good news is that I can piecemeal this. First, the knuckle, then the mounts, one by one.

However, due to my mess up on a credit card, all my "spare" cash is going to catch up on that. I have no savings (unless you want to count the ten dollars in the saving account, Ha!) left after the brake job.

The only upside to this, is I still think it's better then spending $300 on a car payment every month for the next five years. Oh, and if I'm really lucky, within a year, I should have my credit cards paid off. Then everything I make can go on the car (or new one) and the student loans.

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So, B & B's baby was born Tuesday! I haven't finished the third baby coat for little Daniel. There's a little voice in my head tat sezs "Make it a hoodie". I may not have enough blue yarn for that, but I have a ball of white in the same yarn.

But because I knitted the second and third coat, I didn't knit the secondary presents for my family. Heck, I haven't even sewn them up yet! Or finished Don's present. Noticed how I'm doing this instead of knitting. . .

Yes, must get back to it! BYE!

I Think I'm going To Start A Little Business!

I'm thinking of knitting baby sweaters  as a side line. I could never knit fast enough on my own, so I'm going to invest in a knitting machine, (the plastic version, no way I could afford the $1000 to $2000 ones. Maybe later), and do as much as I can on the machine and finish them off by hand. My plan is to try EBay, (not sure I would qualified for Etsy, with using the machine), perhaps the farmer's market and the fall festival in the next town next year. And oh yeah, the local flea markets. I'm going to use acrylic baby yarn to start out with. If I make any money at this, I will upgrade to wool and alpaca for a specialty line!

  I have to clean out the master bedroom to do this in. Stay away cat hair! That won't be to hard. There's very little in there anyway. I can use my parent's dresser to store stuff for the sweaters. Then I have to drag one of the radio room tables in there. That will be a bit hard, but I'm going to bug Best Friend about getting her stuff out, yet again! So maybe there will be a pathway to drag it through!

I'm quite jazzed about this. I have read enough about the knitting machines that I don't think it will kill the desire to knit in me. They are similar, not identical.