Modern Convenience

What modern convenience would make my life a little tougher if I didn't have it?

I know I can do without a microwave because I'm doing it right now. Ours blew back in May and while I have been looking at a replacement I have yet to find one that sets off my can't - live - without meter. Even when I did have a microwave I rarely used it and I think the preTzel boys have suffered more than I. But it is nice to see them actually heating something up on the stove rather than "nuking" it for a few seconds and then eating pre - processed crap that is kinda/sorta warmed but with cold spots.

My cell phone? I'm not attached to it. I do like the convenience of it but other than that I could do without it and the overly enlarged bill it came with.

I love the water heater but I had to do without that this passed Spring until Mr. fixed it but it wasn't so bad. We heated water on the stove and bathed that way. Not so bad when you have a huge stock pan (actually 3) that made heating the water a quick job.

My vehicle? Eh. I could do without it but it would make it more difficult to work. There isn't public transportation that goes directly from my home to work so it would require me being up at 3 a.m., showering, getting ready, walking the boys to mother preTzel's abode, walking to the bus stop, catching said bus, riding it downtown (about 20 minutes) then waiting for a transfer to go north and then to the mall near my work (about 40 minutes) then walking from said mall to work to be there by 7 a.m. (It's about a 15 to 20 minute walk from mall to work.) Repeat and rinse for the ride home. This would put me late getting the preTzel boys from school and while they can walk we do have a few "predators" in our region that I'd rather not take chances with.

I do not drink coffee so a drive - thru coffee shop is not something I frequent.

I can tell you that I loved being able to throw a diaper on my kid and then throwing the mess away without having to dump the poo in a toilet and soak the diapers in a pail of bleach to get them clean. And even though I enjoyed that convenience I could have lived without it.

My kids love yogurt and have even found they like the fact that mom can run right to the store and pick up their favorite Yoplait flavor. Teen's favorite is Coconut Cream Pie. Mine is Strawberry Cheesecake. The two younger boys like to get the Yoplait Kids' pack that has a variety of flavors in it. I think they would be said to find that the convenience of picking it up in a store was taken from them.

But what is a modern convenience that I have and feel that if I didn't have it my life would be altered in such a way that I would feel bereft and as if I'm losing connection with who I am and the outside world? What will impact my life the most if I had to give it up?

My computer. I can not do without it. I use it for writing, I use it for games, and I use it as a learning tool for the preTzel boys. We did not get a computer until 1998 and it was a Packard Bell with not even 1 GB of RAM in it. Do you know how slow that was? Very slow. But I fell in love with it the first moment I laid eyes on it. We've had about 8 computers since then but my Packard Bell holds all of my old writing, my old pictures, and is a friend to me. I keep her upstairs and will go boot her up when I have an hour to spare and sit and wonder at how once I thought she was so fast and now I know she's a dinosaur compared to the computers we own now.

That computer was my super - highway to the world wide web. It was the first computer that introduced me to chat rooms and message boards. It was the computer that taught me to type with out hunting and packing. It was the computer that became such an integral part of our lives. It is that computer that brought me to where I am now: quickly typing this blog post for a contest on The Parent Bloggers' Network so that I can once again enter. Without my old Packard Bell I doubt I would have been as quick on the keyboard, met as many people, and would not be here now writing on my blog.

What modern convenience could you not do without?