Dropped Out

One huge mistake I made was checking out a complete stranger's blog in the challenge on the letter I. It was about ice being bad for dogs. Incredulous or informative?? ? I don't know what I clicked, but POOF! A major virus WIPED out so much data on my son's desktop. You know, like I thought whole school projects in his COMPUTER SCIENCE major classes were GONE FOREVER? Well, he is too smart to not back stuff up, so we were okay. But oh, wow. my stomach and heart were SICK!! Many times this month I've considered dropping out of the A to Z Challenge when it was taking so much time and mental energy--with few visits from others to make me sense I had an audience. But I don't like to quit. I kept going with my tributes. Then, my laptop quit for me. It just wouldn't charge well. Actually, the adaptor cord got too frayed to be safe anymore, so we pulled the plug on it--literally. In the middle of my S post. I was okay with that decision. A corny thought, of course, crossed my mind. "You're s'post to be getting other stuff done anyway." I know, I can't help myself when it comes to corn. Rather than being upset about my handicap, I'm relieved. I've gotten quite a bit accomplished in my unplugged state and got busy with an A to Z list of the real life variety: A--appliances--cleaned the microwave and stove and made ART B--brushed the dog's teeth )I kid you not. I did that for the first time with him, and he was really good about it.) C--curtains--washed my family room curtains )oh, the dust on them!) D--dishes--planned which ones to use for upcoming Mother-Daughter Tea E--Entryway--a work in progress I have a ton of work to do around the house and much to do at school in preparation for our upcoming art show and Mother's Day projects. I am so excited, but stressed, too. It's always a LOT of work to put up a display for only minimal viewing time. Still, children's art thrills me to pieces, so I am up to that kind of challenge. Why isn't blogger publishing my paragraph breaks? They show up in the draft but disappear in the final version. It is driving me crazy. I hate huge paragraphs. Who wants to read big chunks of text without white space???