I have only 1 gig RAM.
You could have installed GURM instead of deleting your brushes oopstart.

Gimps Uniform Resource Locater
This plugin allows you to call brushes into Gimp as you need them.
It works for
Brushes
Gradients
Palettes
Scripts
& Patterns
Search the Gimp Plugin Registry for the word GURM.
Follow the install directions VERY carefully.If you need help holler at me.
My cat loves our computer cursor too!
I finally got him to quit sleeping on the dining room table at night by placing his scratching post/cave house next to it.Now he sleeps very contentedly on top of that.

Cats are weird.
I will check it out. Whenever anyone says "follow directions carefully", I hear it as a signal to screw it up ;-) I will probably holler for you.