Things going on

I wanted to re-do Win XP on the desktop computer for a long time, I’ve searched and searched for my OEM Disc of Win XP Home to no avail off and on … until a recent “get some things moved around” resulted in me going through my old Sony laptop for parts to save and throw the rest out. My removable drives were already out of it, and I was able to scavenge to get the processor (a real Pentium 4), the memory, and the modem, etc.

Later DH came to me with the DVD/CD combo drive, asking if he could toss it out. “No Way!” I said. “It’s worth it to sell or give away to someone, it fits more than one model of Sony laptops,” then thought to myself, “I think, or is it the Compaq stuff I have from the laptop BEFORE THAT [which fried, and I was able to get the Sony, keeping all the accessories from the Compaq due to how the deal to get it fixed or exchanged transpired] and so I went on, and then DH came and showed me the drive again, saying something like “Is this what you’ve been looking for?” holding the drive open, thinking he’d broken it, since it had fallen when he put it down, and the front came off, exposing the disc inside.

Oh yeah, it was the missing Win XP Home OEM disc. That is a good reason for not finding it, with it hiding out in old hardware that has no use any longer. Note to self: when searching for something look EVERYWHERE it might have once been, even archaic places. 🙂

So I’ve been thinking about how to go about the endeavor of re-doing the desktop drive. I have lots of stuff on it, but since checking around today I see that it’s not as much as I really thought it was. Between my laptop and moving stuff there, and backing things up on DVD discs and then using the external old laptop drive to chuck the rest of the stuff, I think I can safely say that the disc can be thoroughly cleaned up and refreshed. I just have to make sure to archive all the installs for my motherboard and associated drivers, and my other hardware. It’s a good time to go to the manufacturers sites and get what’s newer or better.

I have a tiny partition on that drive which used to house Windows Me, and I had it there while Win XP was installed to boot up in the older environment for some children’s CD software that just wouldn’t work right in Win XP back in the day. It really was the motherboard, ’cause when stuff went wrong all over, we got a new processor and motherboard and wham …. it all flew loverly like. So eventually I did delete Windows Me but was stuck with that little dumb C: drive and just never wanted to move my stuff off the drive to fix the situation up, until I couldn’t find my OEM disc to do a re-install of Win XP. :rolleyes:

I moved some pictures around, and am trying to really and truly get my digital stuff organized for usefulness forever. I’ve accumulated a mess of things, not just personal photographs, but all sorts of graphics from movies, websites, and then digital scrapbooking stuff, and scads of ‘what was I doing’ with older scanned photos in the midst of fixing that I never finished, and more.

Another project I’m working on is cleaning up a chair of mine I got from Cost Plus World Market some time ago. It’s a foam cushion (separate back and seat pieces) covered with a cotton twill seat and back cover that is connected as one piece, the cushions slip in via a slot in the back. Anyhow, it got filthy from children and cats and dog doing all sorts of unmentionable things (it looks like that at least). I washed the cover once, but the cushion part didn’t look so great but I stuffed it back into the cover at that time, and the cover really just didn’t look as swell any longer.

Even then it’s cleanliness was in question, so I just let it all hang and what got done to it got done to it with no complaints from me. Until the other day. I looked at it, and realized it’s a nice chair, needing rescue to be useful in my “dining room” where my scrapbooking stuff is. I had DH move it out of the basement and bring it up the other day. Today while a cat was curled up in the middle, I moved the chair to the corner, and positioned it nicely, liking the “look” and proceeded to query myself about it, worth it to wash it, or try to, or to put on the nice new cover that had been sitting around for a long time. The chair is dark stained wood frame, and the cushion cover is taupe-ish. The new cover I have is black. I never put it onto the cushion since I KNEW my children would destroy it just as fast as the other had been destroyed. So then I decided right away NOT to put the new cover on it. I took the dirty cover off to wash it and looked at the cushions, so very, very dirty, can I wash them in the washer? I looked closer, each piece was the same size. I foam core with a polyester-ish batting that surrounding the core, just simply stapled on, to gain a softer feel when sitting, and provide an edge of thickness on each side, in the way it was stapled. Hmm, I thought and proceeded to the laundry room with cushions in hand. In the laundry room I took everything apart and washed the outer portions first, and then the core. Both turned out fine. They are drip drying now. The cover just beeped, I have to look at it. It might need another wash with a long OxyClean soaking session. In any case, it’ll need a hole to be mended once it’s dry, and I WISH I could press it, but my iron situation is …

I don’t know where my iron is, it has problems, I haven’t ironed in a couple of years for the most part. It’s fairly easy to do without one as long as you turn hems and cuffs and stuff properly before totally dry while laundering. I actually prefer clothing to dry out of the drier, and you can get clothing very nicely dried with no need of ironing (since crisp ironing is only nice for before you wear the item, once you wear it, it’s mussed up, KWIM?) and I feel that my way without ironing is actually a nicer garment once that initial “put in on” stage happens, comparatively this way looks better than the hard put in time of ironing. It’s not that I wouldn’t want an iron, I actually LIKE to iron, believe it or not. My iron was a good one, my ironing board a bad one, and my iron took a few too many tumbles and didn’t work right. I’m hoping to get a new board and a new iron sometime soon.

Over and over though I have to say it’s easy enough to cut ironing work out mostly and have good clothing, less stress applied to it in the heat department makes them look better, and wear, longer. Ironing for collars is preferred, lapels, pleats of some natures, and … this chair cover. I’ll do without though, and see what I can mangle up with my hands before it’s completely dry.

BTW, it’s been so very hot of late, but tonight it’s cooler, FINALLY! I was just out checking on my hennies, they’re up on their roosting rods for the night already, and the sun is going down, darkness slowly descending, and the air is “just right” not to cool, not warm, not cold, just right. Humour being everything, Accuweather is right now saying it’s “80°F (RealFeel® 78°F) and raining” where I am. Ha! Ha! Ha! More like, 70-72°F with a feels like “70°F” and mostly cloudy. OK now they have revised that, and it’s “Clear with the temp being 75°F (RealFeel® 76°F)” —- whatever. I still say it’s about 70-72 feeling with mostly cloudy skies. My eyes and skin are real and know, KWIM? Weather is relative anyhow. I mean, that’s what I meant by “my eyes and skin are real and know” in the first place. (I am a sibling to weather, I know it well, we get on each others nerves sometimes, and love each other dearly at times, and seem to hate each other a lot, while totally knowing each other very, very well by sight, and smell, and presence.)