Me? A tissue snob?

Ick--but not as horrible as some boxes.

Yes, I am a tissue snob.  My go-to toss-away hankie is a box of Puff Plus Lotion. Okay, I do have a packet of REAL Kleenex in my purse (thank you , Mr. L, for the stocking stuffer), but my good-to-go tissue is Puffs Plus.

NOT REGULAR PUFFS.  My god, blow your nose with regular Puss and you're likely to inhale a half acre of lint. No, thank you.

But Puffs Plus are soft on your nose (which is especially important if you have a cold) and have no perfumes or dyes. I keep Puffs Pluss in my living room, bedroom, bathroom, office, and we each have boxes in our cars.

My only complaint? Ugly boxes.

My shabby chic tissue box.

OMG--who is designing the horrible cardboard homes that house this amazing product?  Sorry, but I'ver been reusing my shabby chic floral box and another with irises on it for over eight years because they are pretty and the crappy art on the boxes these past few years has been so butt UGLY.

I take new tissues from the ugly boxes and put them in the pretty boxes.  And I will continue to do so until Procter & Gamble comes up with some nice art on the boxes. (I'm not holding my breath.)

There's just one big flaw with Puffs Plus:  you can't clean your glasses.  Nope.  Don't even try.  The bottom of my shirt does that very well.

What's your favorite brand of tissue, and why?

Praise oh praise this anthem generator!

The other day at a garage sale, I bought a second copy of the Yes CD Big Generator.  Love that CD.  (I'm a big Yes fan -- but only the albums with Trevor Rabin.  Sorry, I came in on his watch and that's all there is to it.)  I stuck it in the CD player and immediately thought of our foolish purchase last year.  Yes, we bit the bullet and bought a Big Generator.

"Ha!  What do you want to waste your money on that for?" more than one person asked me.  After all, how often do we have power failures?  Well, not three months after the generator went in, the power went out for a couple of hours.  What's a couple of hours?  Well, when it's COLD and DARK in December, it's a while.  We sat there at happy hour, listening to music and reading the newspaper by 150 watts of light, while the furnace happily chugged away.  Meanwhile, our neighbors were in the dark.

Last night we had a nasty thunderstorm.  Guess what?  It took out the power for three hours.  Admittedly, you don't need all that much power during the night.  But my clock has a battery in it.  It's not flashing this morning because 10 seconds after the power went out, Mr. Big Generac came on.

Already this summer too many of my friends have been inconvenienced for days, nearly a week, when a storm (and the power lines) took out their electricity.  We suffered a number of times with that ourselves, and we said, "never again."  The crazy way weather is changing makes me glad we sacrificed so we could buy that generator.

Thank you for being my friend, Mr. Big Generac.
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A yard sale treasure

As many of you know, I'm a die-hard yard sale person.  I love them!  And I've found all kinds of nifty stuff at them over the years.

Many years ago, my mother bought me a lap desk.  It had little Styrofoam beads in it's cushioned underbelly and it was kind of small.  I must confess, I never used it much because it was just too tiny.  It looked a bit like the one pictured on the right.

Last summer I saw a "lap desk" that was quite a bit bigger.  Someone had obviously taken a tole painting class and had used it for a project.  Not the best roses I've ever seen, but I bought it as a working tool, not a thing of beauty.  But  what a beauty it has turned out to be.

I have a distinct lack of working/flat surfaces in my office, so this lap desk comes in handy.  I can sit in my computer chair and stick stamps on postcards, or labels on envelopes.  I can take it into the living room and use it when I watch TV. (As you can see by the picture, I'm getting packages of bookmarks ready to go out to booksellers.)

Best of all, it cost me a buck.

Amazon has several that are sort of like this, and I'm tempted to buy one, just so I can have it stashed in another part of the house or at the cottage.

Or maybe I'll get lucky at another yard sale.

What little thing has made life in your home office easier?
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The mysterious, disappearing ink

So there I was, in the middle of a BIG project, which included printing out pretty pictures on my inkjet printer, and ... didn't I run out of ink right in the middle of the print job?

It's working fine, it's working fine, it's working fine -- MY GOD, THE BLACK INK IS NOW GRAY.  Which means the color picture is going light, too.  Ugh.  And, it was too close to dinner to drop everything and run out to the office supply store (where I just was on Saturday).

Of course, this is an old printer.  Seems to me they look at their stock for older printers and go, "Hmm...Lorraine needs this.  Let's jack up the price by 50%."  Growl.  I could buy it cheaper online, but then I'd have to wait a week to get it.  I want to finish this job today.

So guess where I'm going as soon as the store opens this morning?

Does this always happen to you, too?
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Products that actually work

All my life I have been afraid to read in the car because I'd get carsick.  I tried it a few times and became quite nauseous and got a splitting headache.

I made a trip to VA last month and decided to try Bonine.  I'd been told it was terrific to keeping one from getting carsick.  Since I REALLY needed to be working on the WIP (work in progress), and it's a l-o-n-g drive, I gave it a try.  It worked, hey, Mikey!  But it did make me terribly sleepy.  My friend, author (and retired nurse) Leann Sweeney said, "Try taking half a pill."  It still worked!  But I was still sleepy and didn't get as much work done as I'd hoped.  Back to the drawing board.

So, I have just returned from Bethesda, MD (Malice Domestic) and The Festival of Mystery (Oakmont, PA).  This time I decided to try Sea-Bands.  I was on a cruise in January and saw a LOT of people wearing these little cloth bracelets with a plastic bead embedded, pressing on a pressure point.  Guess what?  It worked fine!  I managed to edit my entire manuscript during the drive, and edit the first half of another project.

Weeee!  No longer will I have to be bored during long drives.  I can work, or read, and not have to worry about projectile vomiting.  I'd say that's a huge improvement.

Have you ever tried Sea-Bands?"

What's worse? Cheating on your diet or your budget?

I had a very nasty surprise last fall.  My accountant told me I hadn't put enough money away to pay my taxes.  This year, I'm putting my tax money away first, which means I can't touch it.  It's in the savings account, and that's where it's going to stay until June 15th, September 15th, and for the school taxes due in September.

So, this spring and summer I'm going to be living on a very tight budget.  Guess what?  Living on a tight budget really stinks.  I wanted to buy a new pair of jeans, but I remembered I was on a budget. I really want that new-to-me desk, and Saturday I was prepared to go out and find it.  But then I remembered I was on a budget. I wanted to get another David Arkenstone CD, but then I remembered I was on a budget.

But honestly, don't you have to splurge once in a while?

I was bad.  I splurged yesterday.  I've been thinking about this for years, and just never found what I wanted.  Well, last week a catalog came and there they were, the sheers of my dreams, and on sale, too.  So ... I ordered them.  Now I'm wondering what I'll live without once these sheers arrive and are hanging from my bedroom windows. I might only care when I'm away from those windows and think ... I could go out to lunch if I hadn't bought those sheers.  Or ... I could buy myself those jeans or that CD.

Or I could just shut up and and think, I'm mostly living within my means and be satisfied.  (After all, that's what I've done most of my life.)

That said, I have a feeling I won't be sorry about those sheers simply because they're pretty, they were such a good deal, and the sheers hanging from the window are really old and nearly in tatters. (Thank you, cats.)

So, what have you splurged on recently?
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A product so good they're bound to take it off the market . . .

It seems like every time I like something, it gets taken away.  We like to travel to Vermont.  Our favorite little motor inn ... sold, new owners, now terrible.  A wonderful restaurant in the same town?  Went out of business.

Ice Tea Gatoraid?  Gone.

The list could go on and on.

So I was thrilled a few months back when I found the Oxi-clean Gel Stick.  Spills happen, and I've tried just about everything on the market to get the stains out.  Nothing worked particularly well, and then I found this.  It even gets grease stains out (don't put it in the dryer--sometimes it takes two treatments).  I have saved a bunch of our clothes because of this little cylinder of cleaning gel.

And then I ran out.

I went to every grocery store in the area and NONE of them had it.  Finally, when I went to Virginia last month, I found some in a Martin's store, so I bought two.  Then I had a DOH! moment ... I'll bet I could buy it online.  It bites having to pay shipping, but I think in the long run it's for the best--if I want to keep our clothes nice, that is.  (And I could toss a few books or DVDs onto the order to get the free shipping, right?)

What product have you recently found that you LOVE and are terrified they are going to discontinue?
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Coughs And Sneezes Spread Diseases

Yesterday was grocery day!  Man, the people out there!  It's no wonder there are fears of a pandemic, because sick people are out shopping, getting their germy hands on the carts (I always use the cart wipes, and if they're out, slather the cart handle with my own Purell) and coughing, sneezing, and wheezing their way through stores and other public places.


As I was walking around the veggie aisle, which my grocery store (Wegmans) has a beautiful way of displaying everything out in the open--making it look like an open air market, a man walked up to the lovely pile of onions COUGHED ON HIS HAND and then proceeded to pick through the entire lot before finally choosing one.

As I left the store, a man had a coughing fit about 10 feet ahead of me.  That man never even covered his mouth with his hand, he just coughed into the air.

Is it just men who are incredibly rude, or people in general?  Haven't they gotten the memo that you're supposed to cough in your sleeve to avoid getting germs on your hands and spreading them far and wide?

I appreciate it that the store has a few Purell dispensers, but why is it only near the Pharmacy?  There are people hacking and coughing, sneezing and ... well, I know of one elderly woman who hasn't willingly washed her hands in decades, so you don't know WHAT kind of germs she's toting around.

And so I leave you with this small piece of advice:



And COVER THAT COUGH!
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Happiness = a Bic pen

When I was a kid, the first pen I owned was a Bic.  I thought it was marvelous! No longer was I relegated to writing homework assignments with a lowly No. 2 pencil.  I was practically an adult because I had learned cursive and I was writing with a PEN!

Back in the day, Bic pens were only available (to me at least) in blue or black.  I always chose blue.  I like the color blue.  It's the color of my eyes.  The color of the sky.  It's nice, friendly.  Black is a little too business like for my taste.  I like things nice and friendly.

As I mentioned in another post, I've been using Bic pens a lot lately, because I seem to be doing a lot of my (novel) writing by longhand, and then later typing up my pages.  For Christmas, Mr. L slipped into my Christmas stocking a package of blue Bic pens AND a package of red ones, too.

Red pens have POWER.  School assignments were always marked with a red pen.  For years I edited with a red pen.  But now ... eh, I found it's harder to see the red ink than the blue.  (And I don't like the implications, either.)  So the package of red pens still has 9 in it, while the blue package is empty.  Those pens are scattered around the house--any where I might need to pick one up and immediately start writing.

Bic pens come in green, too, but I haven't seen any of them around in years.  : (
The do come in other colors, and maybe it's just me, but I haven't found them to work as well as the plain old blue ones, mores the pity.

What product have you fallen in love with lately?  (Or rekindle your love affair with?)

I can work while I ride!

So, last week I went to Virginia to not only visit my good buddy Ellery Adams, but to do a signing at the Short Pump Barnes & Noble in Richmond, but also to participate in a cozy mystery panel at the Virginia Festival of the book.  Both events were terrific.  I met a lot of new readers, and did many drop-in signings at bookstores in the area.  (We were pooped!)

Since I don't fly, we drove to Virginia. Losing a few days of work was out of the question, so I needed to be able to write during the journey.  The problem is, I get carsick if I try to read. I decided to give Over The Counter Medicine a try.

Can you say Bonine Motion Sickness Protection to the rescue?

I'm very pleased to say that the Bonine worked great.  Okay, I was writing longhand but I managed to get quite a bit of work done on the next Booktown Mystery.  The down side?  I was pretty sleepy.  But I got more work done with the Bonine than I would have without it.

Do you get motion sickness, and if so--what do you use.  (Anyone try those Sea-Bands?)

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I won't strut the catwalk in these boots . . .

Winter's here, and I've got boots.

For many years (more than a decade), I couldn't say that.  Why?  Because I couldn't find any boots I liked.  Okay, I'll admit it. My last pair of boots leaked like sieves and I figured I may as well just wear my sneakers and have wet feet anyway.  But this year ... I decided to bite the bullet.

I'm no clothes horse.  I've had fashionable boots in the past.  Not only did they leak, but they hurt my feet.  This year, my mother saw a pair of Totes boots she liked at JCPenney, but they didn't have her size, so I ordered them for her online.  As it happens, we wear the same size shoe, so when her boots came, I tried them on, and--Whoa--they fit perfectly. Even better, they weren't super expensive.  I went straight home and ordered a pair for myself.
What a difference.  Unlike my sneakers, they're WARM.  So far my feet have stayed dry.  I can shovel and not have Popsicle toes.  I am a happy camper!

It's true, they are NOT glamorous, but so what?  I want warm, dry feet and they deliver.  Now to hope they last more than one season without leaking.

Are you a fashion hound when it comes to boots, or do you just want dry feet?
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Last week I went to the Lands End Inlet (as opposed to outlet) store.  Way cool!  I was on a mission:  to buy one of their wonderful tote bags.  I thought it would be a great way to carry stuff to and fro this summer when we go to the cottage.  (Can you tell I'm already counting the days until we can start going down there again?)
So we drove across town and go into the store.  I asked one of the clerks where to find them. She said against the wall, but if we didn't mind monogrammed ones, they were on sale.

She wasn't kidding.  The monogrammed ones -- I assume ones that were ordered but for some reason never purchased, or perhaps they were monogrammed incorrectly -- were drastically cheaper.  As a former vendor in an antiques co-op, it pains me to pay retail for anything, so getting a bargain was a good deal for me.

I picked through the bags (and boy, were there a lot of them) and found the perfect one.  It was white with pink accents with a monogram of HCO.  Not only that, but there are cool pockets inside, and it zippered shut.  Can you say "almost perfect in every way?"

When I went to pay for it, the clerk said I would get an extra 20% off.  Even better!  As she cashed out my purchase, she asked if I was interested in removing the monogram.  I was.  So she put in a sheet of instructions on what to do.  Ya know what, I actually read the thing for helpful hints!
I got home, borrowed a seam ripper from my mother, took out a pair of fine tweezers and went to work.  First, I went after the BIG C in the middle.

Whoa--this was a lot harder than it looked.  I had to get out Mr. L's head loupe because the stitches were very tiny and my close-range eyesight has never been all that good.  After quite a long time, I managed to pick out all of the letter C.  As far as I was concerned, that was enough.  Until I realized what the remaining letters spelled.

Can you say "HO!"

NO, I did NOT want to be known as a HO -- but oy!  The "O" was pretty easy, but it took forever to pick out that H, which had a lot of curlicues. Afterwards, I followed the instructions, which said to use a little liquid Ivory Snow and gently wash the area with a toothbrush and it would help hide the offending letters. (Lucky I had some on hand.)  I did, and it did! Now I have a lovely tote and without someone else's monogram or an offensive term written on it.

What was your last great bargain?

Pet Peeve Thursday: We don't carry that

A lot of stores lament the fact that people come in, check out their merchandise, and then go online to buy (and usually cheaper).  A lot of stores are going out of business because of this.

I'll tell you why.

I need tall jeans.  I can't buy them in the stores.  At least not tall jeans that aren't low-riding.  I can only buy them online.

I recently tried to buy a pair of sneakers at a local store.
"Sorry, we don't carry your size."  Why?  Because it was wide?

At another store, I tried to buy a pair of winter boots.  "Sorry, we don't carry that size."  (Again with the wide.  Must be all those years of going barefoot and wearing flip flops.

I had to go online to buy all three items.  (Of course, in the last two instances, I just went to their own websites.)

I know it's expensive to carry one (or more) of everything, but if a store won't carry what I (or anyone else needs) is it any wonder they're going out of business like crazy?
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Like Jerry Seinfeld says, "it's got a taint!"

More than a month ago, I ordered a book from Hoffman Media called Scones & Tea.  Yes, it's by the people who put out Teatime and Victoria Magazines.  Now, I've ordered stuff from them before and never had to wait more than a couple of weeks to get it.  This one ... took 6 weeks.

When I opened the package, I noticed there was a bill inside and a note that said I had ordered via check and underpaid.  No, no, no.  I ordered right from their email and paid via my credit card.  Now, truth be told, I don't remember if the shipping was free or not, but since I've ordered from them before (and since) and there was never a shipping fee before, I assumed the shipping was included in the $19.99 price.

Nope.  Now they want $4.

I sent them a note telling them that I did NOT order by check and that I believed the shipping was free.  Guess what--it wasn't Hoffman media that answered my email.  It was some fulfillment house.  (Probably they're the ones who sat on my order for 6 weeks.)  Make no mistake, they want that four bucks, and there was no "Dear Customer," no apology for whatever misunderstanding that may have happened, no explanation, no nothing--just a statement that says I owe and I need to pay it ASAP.

This is NOT good customer service, and not what I expected from a company that prides itself on Southern hospitality.  First of all, they should have acknowledged that I didn't pay by check.  They should also have given me some explanation as to why when ordering by credit card the shipping was NOT included. They did neither. "PAY UP SISTER" was their message.

It's too bad I really enjoy these magazines, or I could just ignore them and never order another thing from them again.  But I still want to read those magazines.

I tried to call and was on hold so long that I was in danger of using up my cell phone minutes for the month.  (Which is why I ended up emailing.)  But I'm not happy about this situation.  Would I have paid an extra $4 for this book had I known the cost was $4 more? Maybe -- maybe not.  But having to pay extra after you've already received the book?  Not amusing.

And I haven't even opened the book.  Now, to quote Seinfield, "it's got a taint."

Have you ever had an experience like this before?  If so, what did you do?

And I Didn't Pay For Shipping!

Way back in 2008, I blogged about how I wanted a GT Express 101 counter top cooker thingy.  (And if you missed that post, you can read it here.)  It was being sold on an infomercial for $40 (for two) with an astronomical shipping price.  Suffice to say, I didn't buy it.  I figured I probably couldn't use two of them and didn't have anyone to give the second one to.

I must've watched that infomercial at least 100 times. I could practically recite along with the hostess Cathy Mitchell and her pal Joe, who cooked all kinds of omelets, cakes (with bite-size Snicker bars in the middle), enchiladas, cornbread, and all kinds of neat stuff -- in ten minutes or less!

Boy, I really wanted one . . . but I got over it and moved on.

Earlier this summer, I saw a used one at a yard sale, but it didn't have the recipe book.  I came back a second time and looked at it longingly . . . but decided that at $3 and no recipe book, it wasn't going to come home with me.

And then ... last weekend I saw another one, BRAND NEW IN THE BOX for $5.  You never saw anyone peel off five bucks as fast in your whole life.  It had everything, the little flipper-overer, a bottle to measure pancake batter, and best of all, the recipe book full of 101 recipes.  Woo-hoo!

It was with great anticipation that I fired that baby up. Since the infomercial touted it as great for using up small quantities of leftovers, that's where I started.  I beat a couple of eggs, tossed in some leftover parsley potatoes and a half a slice of Swiss cheese to make my very first omelet.

The booklet said it would take 7 minutes to cook.  I peeked halfway and shook my head.  It was going to take a LOT longer.  But then the 7 minutes was up (I used my handy dandy kitchen timer) and gosh darnit if that little omelet wasn't done to a turn.  Of course, then it was time to get that baby out of the GT express 101. The flipper overer looks like it should be easy to use, but it felt awkward in my hand.  I had to use my left hand to get the omelet out of the left hand side of the cooker.

Was this omelet any better than I could have made in my omelet pan?  Probably not.  Was it easier to use?  Yes, because I didn't have to stand there and baby it. Did it taste better?  I would've tasted a lot better if I'd cooked it in a big gob of butter, but they tell you NOT to add more than cooking spray, and therefore you get healthier food.

Was it everything they advertised?  I'd say yes.  Of course, I've only used it once, but I have a feeling I'll use it again.  Maybe not tomorrow, but soon.  Will I ever use it for anything other than an omelet?  That's debatable.  But it is easier to clean than my omelet pan, so ... what the heck.

Have you ever used an AS SEEN ON TV product that worked?

Keeping the lights on

I often worry about the wrong things.  One of the things I worry about is losing power.  Worse--losing the Internet because I've lost power!  But wait, maybe after recent events, this isn't such a wrong thing to worry about.

During the time we've lived in this house, we've lost power--for days at a time--twice.  We've lost power for hours at a time five or six times.  In the summer . . . it's not so bad.  Although after a tremendous thunderstorm (microburst) we were without power for five days.  It was heartbreaking to see the streetlights on, but the every house in the neighborhood shrouded in darkness.  (And wouldn't you know we had just stocked our freezer a couple of days before the storm.)  At that time, I had a day job, so I could go to work and cool off and surf the net.  My self-employed husband could not.  And with no power, he couldn't work, either.  It was a long five days for him.  And we (and the neighbors) were furious to find that it was the turn of a wrench that powered up our neighborhood once again.  They just didn't have a crew available to come do it ... FOR FIVE DAYS.

When we lost power after an ice storm and the house went down to 44 degrees, it was a nightmare.  We couldn't get a hotel room because we had cats.  We weren't going to leave the cats, so we stayed at the house.  And FROZE.  That's when Mr. L channeled Scarlett O'Hara and said, "As God is my witness, I will never be cold again!"

We bought a gasoline-powered generator.  What a great piece of insurance.  After we bought it, we didn't lose power for several years.  But last winter we did--for more than three hours.  That was the first time we had to use the generator.  First, Mr. L had to crawl around in the snow and plug the generator into the circuit.  Not so easy when you have had two knee replacements.  Next, we had to endure not only the roar of the generator, but the fumes.  (And yes, it was stationed outside and well away from the house, but you could still smell it.)  I was convinced we'd die of asphyxiation. But the furnace did run.  We could use the microwave and toaster oven to make supper.  (But we couldn't run the computers.  Mr. Generator was good, but not that good.)

Today (well, if we don't have a downpour), we're having a natural gas-powered generator installed.  Oddly enough, we'd made the decision before Hurricane Irene struck and left millions in the dark for days.  We've got a lot of problems in this country, and one of them is an aging infrastructure.  Why did so many people lose power during Hurricane Irene?  Because the power lines are above ground--running through trees, that break and fall during bad weather.  (Think about it, this is 19th Century technology we're talking about.)

The next time the power goes out, I want my lights, heat (or AC) and I want my Internet.  Hopefully, new Mr. Generator will deliver it for me.  (Think of it this way:  a Thomas Kincade painting vs. Bob Cratchit trying to warm himself over a candle?)  And yeah, this is taking a BIG bit our of our savings, but it's also bringing us something equally important:  peace of mind.  You can't put a price on that.

It's ALWAYS time to wake up

Sometime last summer my digital clock lost some of its light bars so that the 9 became a 5.  This was disconcerting.  Happily, Mr. L bought me a brand new Sony alarm clock for Christmas.

Joy to the world.

Well, not exactly.

You see, when I plugged the clock in--SURPRISE!  It already knew the time.  That was great ... except it's not correct.  Mr. L always sets our clocks using Naval Observatory Time, and according to NOT this Sony clock is TWO MINUTES FAST and you can't change it!

Okay, what's two minutes?  Well, when you say to yourself, "It's Saturday. I will NOT get up until at least 7 a.m." --that clock is two minutes fast!

And another thing, my old clock had red digits.  This one has green ones.  And they're BIG.  And they LIGHT UP THE WHOLE ROOM.

Never look a gift clock in the mouth, eh?

Do you have some appliance that's annoying you but is a necessary part of life?
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Where's Alexander Graham Bell When I Need Him?

One Christmas -- at least (mumble, mumble) years ago, my brother (the one who always buys me small kitchen appliances) bought me a wall phone.  It's a great phone ... but it's fallen off the wall a few times, and there's a big chunk of plastic missing from the receiver, and the 47th replacement cord has a short in it.  (It's long.  I like to walk around the kitchen when I talk.)  It's time for a replacement.

I will probably be the last woman on the planet with a landline.  Why?  Because I loath cell phones and handheld wireless phones.  You can't rest them on your shoulder when you're in for a marathon call.  Your arm gets tired after a while and all the blood drains from your fingers.

I like that when the power goes off, the landline is still there.  I have a cell phone and it takes about five minutes from the time I turn it on until it finds a signal.  In an emergency, it's the pits.

The problem now is finding a phone that I can put on my shoulder.  Ain't no such animal.  Wireless only.  Sure they're great if you want to walk around the house, but not much else.  (The shelf life for those phones seems to be about three years.  We keep having to replace them because the batteries go dead and it's more expensive to replace them than buy a new phone.)

In the Booktown Mystery series, Tricia has an old black Art Deco phone on her cash desk.  We had one of those when I was a kid.  It was an "illegal" extension phone.  The bell was disconnected so the phone company wouldn't know.  Now -- who cares how many phones are scattered around the house.  (We have five.)

I want that old fashioned phone.  (I've seen a few at "antique" stores, but they want too much.)  And I want one I can rest on my shoulder like the one pictured above.
I've searched the internet to no avail.

Am I the only one left who wants a REAL phone?
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Great product. Now if I could just use it . . .

Okay, so Mr. L gave me a Kindle for my birthday last year.  And I love reading on it.  It's great.

And aside from opening a book, I really have no clue how to use it.

It came with a very small "instruction manuel" which basically tells you how to turn it on and BUY BOOKS.  Other than that, you're supposed to use the USER GUIDE on the Kindle itself.

Well, that would be swell...if I could GET TO IT.  I have three pages of books and book samples on my Menu (if that's the correct term), only I don't know how to page back through the list of books and samples to GET to my User Guide.

My friend Dru-Ann Love was going to give me a step-by-step lesson in how to use the thing while we were at the Malice Domestic conference in Arlington back in April, but we were both busy visiting and making new friends, and when we were together, we forgot all about it.

My sister-in-law is coming to visit next week.  She's got a Kindle.  I'm gonna sit that girl down and have a little chat on Kindle 101.  Then maybe I'll gift her with one of my books.  (I think that's the only way I might actually get her to read one of them.  She's not a mystery fan, moresthepity.)

Until then, Mr. Kindle is going to gather dust.

Things you can do when you're not on deadline

It's amazing the things you can do with your time when you're not on deadline.

Yesterday, I took my car in to get the lock on the hatch door fixed. It's hard to load the groceries in the back of the minivan when you can't open in.  I also spent 90 minutes in the dentist chair.  Those those little expenses sure made my Amazon earnings for the month look like babysitting wages.  But .... in three weeks I will be able to chew a bagel!

I felt sufficiently happy to accompany Mr. L out to lunch.  A two-martini lunch.  (One each!  We toasted Bound By Suggestion, the 4th Jeff Resnick book which I hope like hell will be available next month -- should the rewrite and new cover come out well.)  A couple of hours later, I picked up my minivan and went shopping.

Weeee!  Shopping!  Okay, I went to the Salvation Army Thrift store (and bought two plates for $1.40) and the Dollar Store (where I bought loot bags for the Cozy Chicks goody bags for Malice Domestic and a couple of bars of soup), but it was shopping just the same.
Today not only will I go grocery shopping (and this week can open the back of my minivan to load in the groceries and 25 lb bag of cat litter), but we MIGHT even go to the MOVIES (to see The King's Speech).

All these marvelous things can be done without guilt when you're not on deadline.  And you can watch Star Trek episodes in the middle of the afternoon, too!!!
Tomorrow it's back to work on Bound by Suggestion and then I have to start Victoria Square #3.  But whoa--two days off in a row.  I could (and better not) get used to it!

What what things can you do when you don't have to be at work?