The Kindle

I've been tossing around the idea of getting a Kindle for a while now. I was actually going to buy myself one for Christmas, then decided to wait it out, sort of hoping it would go down in price. (It hasn't.)

I sent out an email to people in my building, asking if anyone had one and what the pros and cons were. One person (Christa) has one. She even brought it in for me to look at.

WOW. She said it could be dangerous. After about half an hour with it, I totally and completely agree. You can download a FREE excerpt from a book, then if you like it, purchase the entire thing. NY Times best sellers and new releases start at $9.99. Other books can be purchased too, and many for less than that.

The regular Kindle can hold 1,500 books. Amazing!

You can get newspaper and magazine subscriptions. USA Today is $11.99 a month. Other newspapers are comparable. Newsweek Magazine is $2.99 a month.

I just mentioned this Kindle thing again the other day and Ted suggested that I get an iPad instead. I haven't done any research on the iPad, so I have no idea what all it has on it. I may have to check it out.

BUT...that might not be necessary. You see, I entered a contest at another blogger's site today. She is giving away THREE, count them THREE Kindles, each with a $75 Amazon gift card. Never mind that after only two and a half hours I was "contestant" number 4 thousand and something. I still have a chance to win!

(And no, I'm not going to tell you which blog it is because I don't want to decrease my chances of winning! Most of you already know anyway, sigh.)

Wish me luck!

Dear Mother Nature

Dear Mother Nature,

Today is March 26. I do not currently appreciate your sense of humor.

Measurable snow is totally and completely acceptable from December 1 through February 28. Any snow before or after those dates must be approved by a majority vote of all those who would be affected by your sudden burst of independence.

I have yet to find anyone in our area who approves of your latest move. Did someone or something upset you? Did you perhaps push the wrong button on the weather computer? Or are you just trying to show us that you can basically do what you want, when you want?

Don't get me wrong...I thoroughly enjoy the snow accumulations you have given us this year, as they were between the pre-approved dates (see above) and resulted in a few extra days off from school. I didn't even complain when you caused us to go over our limit of five calamity days, thus requiring us to make up two days in June. That's okay. I can deal with that.

There must be almost 2" of snow outside. The grass is not visible through the snow. I do, however, find a little satisfaction in the fact that Ted was considering taking the snow plow off the lawn tractor and I told him I thought that would be a mistake. He listened to me.

So, my dear friend Mother Nature, please take note of the date the next time you decide to shower us with the white stuff. It would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Well...

We had a very nice day yesterday. Alex came home from college for the day, the weather was gorgeous (and that has such an impact on everything at this time of year), and we attended a family party to celebrate our great-nephew Michael's third birthday.

Oh, and did I mention that Alex brought his girlfriend home with him???

Ah yes...the boy went off to college and got himself one of those girlfriends.

My little baby has ventured into territory I wasn't sure I'd be comfortable with. The child who purposely put mud inside the car when he was about 5 years old, and smeared it all around. The little boy who tried to ride his toy tractor beyond his sidewalk boundaries, and when I told him to turn around, he called me Cruella De Ville. The sweet little thing who would look at me and say "But I love you Mommy" whenever he'd throw up. The angel who couldn't go to sleep without Doggie Doggie every night...

has a girlfriend.

Here's the best part though....

we like her.

We really do. Natalie's not only sweet and kind, but she's charming, intelligent, and beautiful!

She scored BIG brownie points with Ted when she arrived with a box of Anthony Thomas candy. Her mom works there, and Natalie does too during the summer. I'd include a picture of the candy, but it's, ahem, almost gone. Ted let me have a few pieces though. Wasn't that nice of him?

We went to our favorite restaurant for lunch....Bravo. Of course I had to take some pictures. Maybe when Alex sees this he'll realize that his hair is too long. It practically pokes out Natalie's eye. He has an appointment to get a haircut when he comes home for Easter weekend.

We spent the evening at Peg and Mac's celebrating Michael's birthday and we all had a great time.

Check out Peg's Barbie collection in the background. She specializes in "I Love Lucy" and "The Wizard of Oz."

Natalie was great...we had given her a rundown on who was who before we went and she just went with the flow.

Our niece Holly was busy on her phone throughout the evening, sending and receiving texts, as she and her friends made plans to go to the Kentucky Derby in May. She's also going to Scottsdale, AZ in May, then Tybee Island in September. She loves to travel, and does so whenever she can. Good for her!

Alex even played with one of Michael's toys and it didn't phase Natalie. Wow, that's impressive.

Alex was very busy with the remote control because Peg and Mac have DishNetwork and he was checking out all the music channels. Aunt Patty (also his godmother) tried to distract him, but you can see the death grip he has on it.

I'm so glad that he feels he can be himself around her and be as goofy as he is normally. Heck, I think she even "gets" his sense of humor.

Michael was relaxing in this chair, as his mom Kelly (our niece), looked on. He liked it so much, he took a little break from opening his gifts!

Michael got a tricycle and was trying to figure out the pedal thing. He also got a John Deere tractor and was ready to take it out and start mowing.

What a nice day!

Snow Days Can Be Very Busy

So we had Monday off for Presidents' Day. We were off yesterday because of snow. We are off today because of snow, too.

Let me tell you, I've gotten SO much done this week!

Let's see...Monday, I spent way too much time perusing the internet and Facebook. Then I made dinner and watched the Olympics.

Yesterday, I cleaned out my purse, and then thought about all the things I could be doing. After that, I spent some time on the computer again, and watched TV.

Today, I sorted some dirty laundry and actually washed a load. I also answered the phone a couple of times. I love caller ID...when I see it's someone I know really well, instead of saying "Hello," I like to say "Front Desk." The first time I do it to someone, there's usually silence. Then laughter. But I can't take full credit for this; Alex did this to me once and I laughed like crazy.

I'm thinking about what to make for dinner tonight too.

I might even cross a few things off my "To Do" list....not because I actually DID them, but I'm just tired of looking at how long the list is.

I guess you could say that I'm lacking motivation.

I hope we get to go back to school tomorrow.

Let it Snow!

We've had a LOT of snow here in east central Ohio lately. Last week we missed three days of school due to the snow.

I saw my oncologist last week (another post in itself) and he lives in the "big city" just north of here. He just couldn't seem to understand why school was cancelled. I told him that our county is rural and if he took a snowy day ride on the county and township roads that our school district encompassed, he would NEVER put his kids on the bus. He seemed to understand the situation a little more once I put it in perspective for him.

The snow is beautiful, but it can definitely cause some issues for people getting around and living their normal every day life. Unfortunately, the world does not come to a standstill because of snow. Even though we didn't have school, I still had some doctors' appointments and errands to run.

Here in Ohio school districts may choose to start the day with a 2 hour delay (mostly due to weather, but occasionally for meetings). They may also choose to dismiss 2 hours early (again mostly due to weather, but occasionally for meetings). However, they cannot do both, or the day will not count toward the 180 day minimum requirement. Also, here in Ohio, we are allotted five calamity days before we need to make missed days up. Next year that will change to three (bad move, in my opinion).

A district may choose to implement a 2 hour delay in hopes that the weather will calm down or the temperature will rise a little, and the day will then count. Once in a while, we begin with a 2 hour delay, then the decision is made to cancel school altogether for the day. Safety of the students and staff is the top concern, and I'm glad that I'm not involved in making the decision as to what to do as far as a delay or cancellation.

This is how our recent school attendance has gone:

Friday, February 5 - 2 hour early dismissal
Monday, February 8 - 2 hour delay
Tuesday, February 9 - No school
Wednesday, February 10 - No school
Thursday, February 11-No school

We also had a snow day in January, so we are now at 4 days off, with only 1 to go before having to add days at the end of the year.

Yet another snow "event" is due to come through the area today. We are off school because of Presidents' Day, but hopefully we'll be able to make it in tomorrow. I don't recall the last time we've had so much snow. Usually the snow will almost completely melt off before the next snow comes, but this year, we're just getting them one right after the other.

But it is pretty, you have to admit.

A Blog Change

Unfortunately I've had to enable the word verification step to the comment section of this blog. I was hoping that I wouldn't have to do that, but given that I've had SO many spam comments, I don't have a choice. For me, approval of comments before they are posted, will just not work, so this is my only option.

I appreciate your cooperation with this and hope that it doesn't keep you from commenting.

My Italian Heritage is Showing

Last night I was on Facebook for a little while and came across a quiz I wanted to take. I tend to avoid those quizzes, but this one sort of "spoke" to me, so I thought I would give it a shot.

"How Italian Are You?"

It really wasn't that difficult and I scored well enough to earn this ranking: EXTREMELY ITALIAN!!

Okay, so not a big surprise, but what I really wanted to know is if I got any questions wrong. Unfortunately, they don't tell you that. And if you're a good guesser, you could probably do well on any of those Facebook quizzes because they're multiple choice, but I was still proud of the ranking I earned.

Fast forward to this morning. We had a 2 hour delay to the start of school, because it snowed a little last night, and there is still some ice under the snow. I didn't leave for work until about 8:45, and as I left I noticed that my sister-in-law's garage door was open and her car was still there. I thought that was a little odd, as she usually leaves for work around 7.

As I continued down the road, I gave her a call on the car phone.

(We have OnStar and I absolutely LOVE it! The hands-free calling is so much safer than trying to drive while punching little buttons on a cell phone. And for the record, I don't use my cell phone while driving. I think it's way too dangerous.)

So when Patty answered, I asked if everything was okay because I saw that she hadn't gone to work. She explained that one of her cats was having some issues, so she was taking her to the vet and would go to work after that. We were talking as I was driving to work, and about half way there I noticed that my hands and arms were moving all around. At one point, I even took both hands off the steering wheel! Other people on the roads probably thought I was crazy.

I tried to stop using my hands while I talked.

I couldn't. It was impossible.

I talk with my hands. And I'm extremely italian.

Yep, that's me.

A Productive Evening

Last night ended up being rather productive for me. That's rare anymore. I usually feel as though I'm spinning my wheels and getting nowhere fast. However, last night was different.

I actually cooked dinner. Lately it's been "fend for yourself" so this was definitely something different.

After dinner, I disappeared into the laundry room and folded four loads of laundry, washed another load, then hung it up to dry.

Upon leaving the laundry room, I picked up the 2 week stack of mail that has been accumulating in our mail basket. Hey, at least we bring it in from the mailbox. We just never seem to go through it. Of course there was much more junk mail than "real" mail, but that's typical. I went through several catalogs we got and found some interesting items I may have to consider ordering.

In the mail, I also found a couple of bills that I pay out of my checking account, as opposed to our joint account. I didn't want to write out the checks until I recorded and balanced my checkbook, so that was the next thing I did. I hadn't recorded the last 30 checks I wrote (thank goodness for duplicate checks!) so that took a little while. Then I wanted to make sure I had money in my checking account, so I went to the computer and brought up my account for the last three months. I'm extremely proud to say that my checkbook was perfect down to the penny!

Of course I noticed my purse was a mess when I got my checkbook out, so I cleaned out my purse a little.

After that, I took a shower, settled into a nice long talk with Joe, then went to sleep.

All in all, a very productive evening!