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Coincidence or Not?????

Yes I know it has been a long, long time since I have blogged here. Been busy with "stuff". But today was a day to blog about. Here's the latest about what is going on for me. A few weeks ago I decided I wanted a new picture on my computer at work as my background. So I went on the Internet looking for "beaches wallpaper". I picked one of the fist sites that popped up and clicked. Well, it was taking f-o-r-e-v-e-r to load so I just keep clicking away and tried to get out of the site (yes I am very inpatient when it comes to a site loading). Then I get this black screen with all this "stuff". Looked like adware or something like that. I "X'd" out of it and it kept giving me that "program not responding" crap...... I knew that I had a problem. Turns out I loaded a virus or a worm of some kind onto my work computer. Double CRAP! It was an accident but I feel horrible about it. I can't get onto the Internet at all (I use it for my orders), or onto our in-house stuff where I get all my information for work. Triple CRAP! I can no longer get any emails either (I get emails from parents when their kids with allergies will be buying lunch so we can be sure they will be safe when they eat lunch, plus I communicate with the teachers by email if there are any changes to the menu). Quadruple......well you know.....

Anyway, the school district tech says it is a really bad worm of some kind and is in all my files. So I will have to use a laptop for the things I can't get in to. Have you used a labtop????? I am a total PC person and love my keyboard and mouse. First the tech (a very sweet wonderful person by the way) sets up the laptop for me (I wasn't there since I had to leave). She leaves me very specific instructions on how to use it, how to lock it up, etc. However, I can't get a wireless signal in my office so I have to carry it around to find the signal and get a connection. So I wander around with the laptop trying to get a signal. Ok, so far, not a big deal. Then I try and use the little pad you use to move the mouse. OMG! I must be heavy handed or a total idiot! I am moving around the icons, tapping it, hitting it with my whole hand trying to figure out how to use it. Plus, I am scared to death I am going to break it! So...finally three days later, I am kinda getting the hang of it. I do want to master it. I have always wanted a laptop so I am determined to figure it all out.

That is not even the part that made me whan to blog today.

So, today I start up the Point of Sale (POS) system (our computer system that reads the kids cards and has their lunch account information in it) and the register reads the cards and the information I see looks like a foreign language. I could do a few cards at a time, but it would get unreadable. I kept having to shut it down, turn it off and unplug and replug in anything I could find. What a mess! I called our main office and told her I think that my virus got into the POS system and she was like "Oh NO, that is not good". I said "I know". She said she would call the tech person and see if they could come over. Meantime I went back and kept trucking along, barely being able to read the information such as what I had entered in, the names of the kids, dollar amount, whether they did or did not have any money in their account. What a nightmare. But I got through it. I was so happy when that last kid came through and I could turn the darn thing off. (By the way I could have stop selling snacks and had the kids only get a lunch but I was determined to not lose those sales)

During all this process I realized that this was probably not because of the virus, it was a register problem. I remember another manager had the same thing happen to her once. The tech called me and I told her that at first I thought it was the virus screwing up the system but now I think it was a register issue. She told me she agreed and had checked the system and there were no "viruses" in the system that she could see. What a coincidence! I have a virus on my computer but my register goes down around the same time. Hmmmm. I am a person who doesn't believe in coincidences. So I now am wondering what I am supposed to be learning here.

Back to my story. So my boss brings over a new "top" or new "guts" to the register, installs it herself and it seems to be up and running. Whewwww!!! Thank you Jesus! Will it work tomorrow? I have no idea! But whether it does or doesn't, I will get through it, because.... a challenge is good. Keeps the brain running at optimal speed. A challenge makes you realize just what you can do when you have to. A challenge makes you soooo tired you know you will sleep like a baby that night. And I intend to do just that.....

Ahhhh..... All is well.

My Blog Gets National Exposure

I was anxiously awaiting my new copy of School Nutrition Magazine. I was at a friends house last week and I saw her copy had come in her mail. That was Wednesday. On Saturday, my copy came in the mail. I sat down to look it over, page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and page 8. Page 8 has a section called NEWS BITES. I was reading along and there was in gold (see the insert on the right) three pieces. I read the first, then read over to the second middle piece and I see Life of a Lunch Lady and my www.lifeoflunchlady.blogspot.com website. At first I was like OMG, somebody else has a Life of a Lunch Lady thing going on, then I saw the website address and I thought somebody else has a blog address like me, then HOLY CRAP!! THAT'S ME! (Yes, I know, not the brightest bulb in the house) Well, let me tell you, it took a few seconds for my brain to adsorb the fact that this article was about me. I screamed! AHHAHHHH. I jumped up and started crying. I ran outside with the article in hand to show my husband, who by the way, was running to come see why the heck I had screamed. He's is yelling, "what's the matter" as he runs over to me. And I, in tears, say, "My blog information is in the School Nutrition Magazine, they did a piece about my book and my blog". I was so excited. It was one of the most exciting things that has every happened to me. I hadn't even read the article yet, but I was running around wanting to share the great news.

Let me tell you how grateful I am to School Nutrition Magazine for mentioning my blog and my book. I am soooooo grateful! Truly! Is it a coincidence that I heard from a lunch lady from Missouri who so graciously sent me some stories? I think not.

I had sent School Nutrition Magazine an email telling them about my blog and about the book I am working on. I never heard anything so I thought that they were probably not interested. I had also sent our local School Nutrition of PA newsletter an article about a promotion I had come up with and our school district did. I never heard from them, however they too had put my article in the Action Update Newsletter. I admit that since I had that piece in the Action Update, I was hoping that School Nutrition Magazine might have something in the magazine but, I couldn't have dreamed it better.

I sent an email out to all I know who follow my blog and my book adventures. National Exposure! I am hoping that as lunch ladies all over the country read their magazine, (By the way, it is the September 2008 issue) they will see my name, blog web address, and read about my book and want to share a story or two with me. Please, Please, if your reading this, I would love your story. How about telling me what you like most about being a lunch lady, how about what you dislike? We all have a story to tell, let me put it in print for you!

I had been feeling a little pessimistic about my book as of late. All the details about putting a book together is daunting. Book proposals, editing, agents, publishers, stories, stories, stories. Until this good luck! (I believe you make your own luck though). All the articles, writing journals, and books about publishing a book have been sitting on my cedar chest all summer. I didn't do much of anything with them. But now, I have a renewed passion to start working on it again. This book is truly going to happen. The Universe is aligning all the stars for me. All I need now is a publisher willing to take a chance on me and my book. And, if not, I will self-publish it.

Like I said in my email to all, Vegas here I come. Las Vegas is where the National ANC 2009 Convention will be held. June 29-July 2nd. (School Nutrition Conference) I hope to be on my book tour. Look for me! I'll be the one signing my books.

Life is good, all is well.