Prayers for Tornado Victims and Families...

Have a Blessed Day...

Please stop by and see my Announcements

in the post I did the other day - HERE

and have a Beautiful Day!

Lots of NEW Things Here!!

Finally...I have my computer back!  I'm up and running again!  It feels so good to have a QUICK computer, rather than that dinosaur of a laptop that I worked on for 2 1/2 weeks!

Now...for all the NEW stuff going on...

As you can see, I've made a few changes in the way The Comfort of a Safe Place looks!  I hope you like it.  This will be my Blog for every day kinds of things - cooking, antiquing, painting, baking, the Pups, vacations and more.  But, you'll see several things on my new Navigation Bar. 

The LINK "BP BLOG" is of course, for my Bell's Palsy Blog.  And coming up in less than 2 weeks is the ONE YEAR anniversary of when I got Bell's Palsy.  I've done an update post but on the 28th (or near), I'll be posting my latest RECOVERY VIDEO...and YES, I'm still recovering!!  To check out my Post over there, click HERE.  Make sure you watch for my recovery video later this month.

I've started a NEW Blog - Young Living Essential Oils & Supplements...where I can share all about these terrific oils and how I've been using them.  I love them!!

I posted over there last night...just a short little post about Allergies & Itchy Eyes - which you can see HERE.  Take a good look around...there's alot of information over there.

Do you know what Choffy is?  Ever tried it?  Well, I did and I'm in love.  It's BREWED CHOCOLATE and it can be served hot or iced...and it's YUMMY.  I became a Distributor shortly after sampling it...and hubby and I are loving it!!

You'll find the Recipe for these delicious Cupcakes HERE - and while you're there, you'll notice alot of neat buttons on my Navigation Bar...and on the side-bars.  Enjoy your visit.

Hope you'll return for another visit to my Blogs.  Have a Blessed Day!!

Still Away...

Well...it looks like I won't have my computer back until sometime NEXT week. Office Max shipped out my hard-drive last Friday - to Ohio, for record recovery (documents & photos). It was supposed to be worked on on Monday and Tuesday and shipped back to me by today or tomorrow. Well, come to find out today, they just began working on it (Thursday, yeah). We have no idea how far into the process... they are or IF they will recover anything...and I'm so tired of this dinosaur of a laptop!! Between it and how slow it is and the fact that my hand is still VERY sore from being smashed in the door last Friday - it takes me forever to do anything on it. And most of the time...the computer freezes or bounces me out, requiring me to re-start the computer - which is a 15 minute process with this thing. So.......it looks like I'll be away for a bit longer. — feeling annoyed

Seems I'll Be Missing From My Blog, Facebook, Email and Everything for a While Longer!

It all began a week ago today...About 10:30am...

All of the Power in our Neighborhood went out.

It was a warm {high of 80°} and very windy day here in southeastern Michigan

and we'd had lots and lots of rain the previous couple of days.

So when I found out sometime in the early afternoon that 3 power poles had fallen across the road just outside our subdivision, caused the power loss, I wasn't really too surprised.

- stock photo -
Not our Area, but This is what it looked like after they got all
3 of our toppled poles replaced...buckets everywhere!!

No one in our subdivision had power for over 10 hours that day.

When the power finally came back on, I checked the temperature in our refrigerator and freezer.  It was 56 in the refrigerator and 39 in the freezer.  Not good.  We began making a list of everything for insurance purposes and then throwing everything in the garbage. 

The next day, hubby tried to finish up with moving our computer to a new desk - or location in the office.  (He usually takes care of all that kind of stuff.)  But instead of being an easy job, it turned into a week long thing.

Since I have 2 Blogs, 2 on-line Businesses, a couple (or more) Facebook pages, a Twitter account, 2 Websites and a few Email Accounts...it's absolutely necessary for me to be able to get on-line on my computer.  But, I've been on sporadically for the past week and a half...and will continue to be on and off sporadically for a while longer.

It's amazing how things can go from GREAT - to OK...then NOT so GOOD and then to downright AWFUL.  I don't handle stressful things very well.  I want things to run smoothly.  When things go "off track"...I don't do well.

- stock photo -
But nothing stock about the feelings!

You see, after everything eventually got hooked up and the computer was working, hubby tried to install a new wireless keyboard.  Somehow, that's when everything went WONKY.  The keyboard wouldn't work at all and hubby couldn't uninstall it.  So everything was frozen in time.  I couldn't do a Blog Post, send an email or comment on Facebook.  I couldn't even TWEET.  Only thing I could do was "LIKE".  And, no I didn't like it at all.

Then, finally, he was able to make the call to HP to see how they could help him.  (Why is hubby taking care of all computer things, you may ask?  That's his specialty - was his occupation for many years before retiring.)

Hubby and HP spent an entire evening {like 4 or 5 hours} on the phone...trying to work things out.  Then the next day - after another 4 hours, everything was done.  Computer had been set back to factory settings, because they couldn't determine the problem.

Things, needless to say, hadn't been backed up in a while...so all my Documents and Pictures are gone.

{hubby had buy Jan a new Memory Stick-hers is broken on his To Do List, because he knew what kind I needed}

- stock photo -

Even though Factory Settings were applied, the wireless keyboard does not work - and no other wireless keyboard can be installed.  Why?  Who knows.  Not even HP can tell us.

In case you haven't figured it out yet...I am no Computer geek.  I know how to do enough to make pretty Banners, Backgrounds and fix up my Blog, Facebook and Twitter...even dabble with HTML when I have a problem...but figure out anything else?  NOT ME!!!

So that brings us to yesterday - Wednesday.  Hubby decided to take my computer in to see if  it were possible to have My Documents and My Pictures all recovered.  Another entire day without my computer.  And the Recovery failed.  Miserably.  Nothing.

But, they said there's still hope - they just need my hard-drive.

- stock photo -

They need my hard-drive, so they can ship it to southern Ohio to be worked on.  Another recovery effort.  So, it will be shipped on Friday morning...hopefully arrive Monday morning, so they can begin working on it.  How long will they be working on it?  Well, that was my question - and they said they haven't ever worked on one more than 48 hours.  So...if they get to work on it on Monday...they could finish with it on Wednesday...IF.  Then it would ship back out on Thursday and hopefully arrive to be put back into the computer on Friday or Saturday.

If I count correctly, that could be 8 or 9 days.

And, there's no guarantee of recovery.

Cost of this Recovery:  Approximately $350 with Memory Stick
- and no charge if no recovery - 

8 or 9 days without my computer is going to be a very long time.  It will seem like an eternity.  Of course, we have hubby's slow-as-molasses-in-january laptop, but I find that to be as troublesome as NOT having a computer.

I know...you're thinking...Jan, you'll be fine...it's NOT forever.  But, to me it seems like it is.

Now, will I be happy and delighted if the Recovery works?

Absolutely!

All of our photos - of our pups, our wedding, my son's wedding, our old house, this house, my nephew who died at 4 months of age, my sister, daddy and uncle who aren't here any longer, all my Banners and collages and MORE...PLUS all my Documents are GONE.

It would be PRICELESS to have them back!!

If you would, please pray the Recovery works and I'll see you sometime in early May.

Meanwhile, I'll be here, reading up on my Young Living Essential Oils - losing more weight...and trying to de-stress my life...and sipping Choffy!!  Oh, yeah, I will be painting, too!  Lots of things to do around here and I'll have to stay busy to not fret about no computer!!

♥