A Good Start To The New Year.

 The Search

When my trusty eight year old Laptop began to slow down (truth be told it's been very slow since windows 10 was introduced and downloaded in 2015) to the point where I would switch it on then go have a shower get dressed and make a cuppa while it warmed up and pulled itself together, I realised maybe I need a new one.  I love my Laptop it was top spec when I bought it and it has a 17" screen which is great when you have as much to do online as I have.  Anyway then it began to freeze and some of the letters and numbers stopped working unless I banged hard on the keys. 

I decided at that point to look for a new one and spent hours researching and comparing prices. There seem to be very few places where you can physically go and look at Laptops which I think is essential when you intend to spend a large amount of money, it has to be right. I eventually found my way to Curry's and was quite disheartened when I saw the prices and the size of the screens the most popular seems to be 14" which is far too small for my needs even 15" seemed small to me after using a 17" I discovered that 17" screens were few and what was available was far too expensive for the specifications of the Laptop. Then I turned round and fell in love....

 The All In One PC who new! I certainly didn't know such things existed, to me a pc came with a big ugly tower but no more my friends no more.  You can still get them with a tower of course but the all in one pc consists of just a screen and keyboard, the tower part being built into the back of the screen and screen sizes vary in size from small to 27" I was like a kid in a candy store I have to tell you, I spent ages looking at various screens and scrutinising specifications.  

There followed further online research and discussions with son number one and number three, their help being invaluable but those young people who have brilliant eyesight and have to carry their work with them are quite happy with 14" screened Laptops, each to their own I say. Son number three may be far away in Qatar but he is always at the end of a WhatsApp chat whenever I need him, said look in your bank account Mother and get the best you can afford, well I did and I did! bless him my Christmas pressy was a huge amount of cash which added to the amount that I had already saved, enabled me to buy exactly what I wanted. Of course I had to take some photos of this historic event....

The Arrival and hello Gary!

The Unboxing

but

Setting Up

It arrived on Christmas Eve and I have been playing with it ever since. You switch it on and it's there! I didn't realise just how slow my laptop had become until I got this, to say I'm in love would be an understatement. With all the research I have done on Laptops and All In One PCs I now consider myself an expert so if you are considering buying a new one just fire away with your questions 😉😆

On to other things...

I have bought something else for which I did lots of research but it hasn't arrived yet so I will reveal what at a later date.

Christmas..

I did meet up with family for Christmas, we were all invited to son number two, it was lovely to get together again after so long and thankfully we are all ok.  It was lovely to see his new house for the first time.  It was also son number one's birthday and  my daughter in law made this cake for him, he is crazy about chess and he and son number two have an online game of chess on the go all the time.

It was a shame to cut into it but we did and it tasted yummy.

New Years Resolutions 

I am making none because I never keep them, but here are some thoughts but nothing is written in stone, plans can change at anytime..

• I have decided to get back to my charity knitting and crochet which I think I've neglected a bit of late mostly because a lot of charities weren't accepting donations but there are still some who are so I'll focus on making things for them. 
• I want to get fitter, sitting at a keyboard for long periods at a time can't be good for you.
• Try and blog more often so that I'm not cramming everything into one post, I'm sure readers must get bored halfway through.

The Ten Days Of Christmas

I have to thank Jo once again for sending these lovely little packages, it made those ten days of Christmas extra special, I loved opening a little package every day to find those little skeins of yarn and goodies within.  I have to say the edible goodies were consumed almost as soon as I cast my eyes upon them.  

I just love those colours! I will have to think of something extra special to make with them.

After the excitement of making the Christmas cushions there hasn't been a whole lot going on in the crafting area, I did manage to finish the hat with the Sock yarn I mentioned back here, it turned out ok..

 I don't suit it so it will be sent to a charity and someone will benefit from it's warmth.  I used this pattern which was so easy and straight forward and I will be using it again as it comes in lots of different sizes.  It only used 45 grams of yarn and I am making ankle socks with what's left over....

This is the first sock, still on the subject of socks, have you seen this Winterhaven KAL I'm joining in and it starts tomorrow the pattern for it should be out later today, I can't wait. More about this and other things next time, let me know if you are joining in.😊

Have a safe and cosy weekend.😘

Click here to see all the great parties I will be linking to.