Can you say dumbass?

So. This weekend I discovered, much to my horror, that I attached the wrong score sheet to 50 percent of my entries. Isn’t that great? And I had already sent out the entries to the judges LAST week.

GRR!

So, this weekend, I got to redo all of the entries in FOUR categories, resend them to the judges, and explain what a huge dumbass I am. I feel like an idiot.  

Oh, sure, I know mistakes happen. But SHEESH! This was a dumb mistake. I’ve been having contest nightmares anyway, so this just really doesn’t help at all. Thankfully, most of the judges hadn’t started on them yet. And those who had, I’ve been working with to get their entries fixed.

In between redoing score sheets and sending a bunch of emails, I decided I needed to upgrade my Office. Ever since I crashed my Word last weekend, things haven’t been working right. So the kiddo and I went out to Best Buy this weekend. It rained most of the day on Saturday so I figured it would be a good day to do that.

Well, the store had Office 2007 Home & Student on sale. And then since my Outlook Express wasn’t really working right, either (I couldn’t get any of my mailto links to work with the email client), I decided to take the plunge and buy Outlook as well.

And of course the kiddo talked me into a new Wii game.

So I walked out of there $300 lighter.  Luckily, they have a “90 days same as cash” plan and I’m pretty sure I can get it paid off in that alotted time.

I have to say, I hated Office 2007 at first. But I’m finally getting used to it and learning where everything is again. It’s totally different from 2003. And I mean totally. Everything is a in a different place and it looks completely different. Very sleek. However, it makes more sense where stuff is. I’m still finding some of the things I use like forms. But other than that, It’s kinda cool.

Outlook is a dream come true. I so totally needed that program! I love that I can leave my email open and minimize it and it’s just down in the system tray instead of in the task bar. LOVE that. I love the calendar thing too. I can set reminders about deadlines and promo days and I never have to even THINK about it anymore. No more writing things down on scraps of paper all over my desk. I feel so organized!

And Office came with this cool thing called OneNote. I’m still learning it but as best as I can figure, it’s like an electronic notepad. You can store notes in there on all different kinds of projects. I mean, this is a writer’s dream tool! At last, I can store all my notes for my books in ONE place and it’s NOT in a Word document. How cool is that?

I’m hoping to make some very good use of OneNote. Oh – and you can copy and paste stuff from your email into OneNote, too. That just rocks.

So I think the $300 investment will be well worth it. Plus, I can write it of on my taxes next year. 😀

Anyway, Saturday I spent most of the day on contest damage control and learning the new programs. I did some system maintenance, too, which was much needed. My computer is running much faster now and I think it’s happier. I have to keep this baby trucking until I can afford a new one. Hopefully within the next year or so.

Sunday was super busy. We got up early and I made cinnamon rolls. Then we went to church. They had their art reach program and some of these paintings by the folks in the congregation were AMAZING. It made me wish I could paint. The sermon was about art and gifts in our lives. Sometimes I feel like I’m there in the right place and the right time and it feels like the preacher is talking directly to me. It’s kind of cool. And I always feel better about myself and my life when I walk out of there.

Then we hit Great Clips because the kiddo was in desperate need of a haircut. I told him he was looking shaggy and he thought that was hilarious. He thought I meant Shaggy on Scooby-Doo. hehe We got his hair cut and he looks SO incredibly cute. After that, I took him to McDonald’s and then we hurried to eat because it was off to soccer practice.

Sunday was overcast most of the day. The sun tried to peek out every now and again, but it never quite made it. Plus, the wind was very cold. Standing outside at the park for more than an hour was painful. I don’t know how those kids did it. My ears were hurting by the time we climbed in the car to go home.

I finished sending off the corrected entries to the judges that afternoon. And answered lots of questions. I hate feeling stupid. I hate making stupid mistakes. I do strive for perfection and I usually come close. 😉 But this time, I screwed up. And when I screw up, it’s usually a big one.

Oh well. This too shall pass. I’ll just have nightmares until we get the final scores back.

And Monday has arrived once again. It amazes me how fast the time goes by. Time for work and school…