Computer is dying

I was working on looking for a sewing pattern and looked away to see what Amber was doing and turned back and there was nothing on the screen. Black. Computer was still on, but no video.
Damn.
Wiggled the mouse around, maybe it hit one of the 'hot corners' and turned the screen off, but no response. I then remembered that I have the screen saver set up differently.
Double damn.
The screen has been getting weird the last few months with it suddenly, not exactly blinking, but..can't explain what it looks like. Anyway, I have known for a while that it's on the way out and now it had happened. Only thing to do is do a hard shutdown and wait to see if it recovers after a while.
I waited for maybe a minute or two and then turned it back on..nothing. I had to take Amber to work so I shut it down again and hoped that something would happen. I told Amber and she said she would ask her computer tech friend if he has an extra video card for my model. I told her that it may not be the card, it may be the CRT itself.
Well anyway, I came back from that trip and lo and behold, turned it on and it's okay. For now.

Whew!
I don't have $200 for a new monitor let alone $1500 for a new computer. I was looking on Amazon and ebay for replacement computers and my model with just a bit extra memory is about #300 but then you pay shipping/freight and that tacks on another hundred or so.
I OWE taxes this year of almost $1000 due to not filling out my form for the 401k withdrawal right. dammit.
I already spent my vacation money, so there's nothing extra coming in unless I can start selling stuff that I make...which is almost ready.
I have the first prototype of my knitting tool ready to photograph and put up on etsy... crossing fingers on this.
I am also going to tighten up part of my story into a short story and send it off to some magazines soon. That is, if my computer stays stable.
If my computer dies... I can't do anything.
I'm really paying attention to my writing and the form, pacing and stuff that I remember reading in a writing book years ago. It's helping a lot when I edit.
Okay, off I go then. Have to take some pictures and do some writing.