HAPPY HALLOWEEN

AMAZING AMAZON KINDLE

A while back when I got on Amazon.Com, their home page was advertising the Amazon Kindle, an electronic reader that they had for sale. I thought it was really neat, but it had a hefty price tag of $299. WHOA --- Everytime I got on Amazon, which is fairly frequently, I would see it and wish for one. About a month ago the price dropped by $20, then about 2 weeks ago, it dropped another $20. It's still a ridiculous price, but I REALLY wanted one. I know that it's still expensive, but I usually buy newly released hardback books. By the time I pay shipping on them they're usually $20-$25. On Kindle, most of the downloads run $9.99 and a lot are cheaper than that. You can even get some classics free. So I justified buying one in that after buying 15 or so books, the remainder of my books will be cheaper. I also won't be killing trees to provide me books so it's green!! Isn't that a shame that to be green you have to spend more money?
I ordered my Amazon Kindle about a week ago and had been anxiously awaiting its arrival. I kept checking the tracking with the USPS and it showed when it shipped and then it arrived ---where??? --- it didn't say, then it arrived again ----where?? it didn't say. It was delivered here yesterday while I was at work. I got it unpacked and then #2 daughter came by for a few minutes before going to Nashville to a play, then we had supper, then I had to go to choir practice. I didn't get home until a quarter til nine, so I didn't have much time with it last night.
The first book I download was "The Holy Bible", New Living Version. Since I try to read this every day I thought it should come first. Then there was a free book on "Affirming the Apostles' Creed" and I thought it would be of interest. Next came a book by Debbie Macomber to read for pleasure --- first I downloaded a 2 chapter free sample to make sure it was interesting. After reading the sample I decided that, yes, I wanted to read the remainder of the book so I ordered it for a little over $5.00. You just find it in the Kindle Store on the Kindle or Amazon.com and it's set up to charge my credit card after I push the button and "voila" 3o seconds later I have the book on my Kindle!! I've also downloaded "Little Women," "The Velveteen Rabbit," and another sample of a book (all of which were free).
If you've never looked at a Kindle before, they are wonderful. You can change the font to make it comfortable for you to read, you can let it read outloud to you by either a man or woman. It has a built in dictionary so you can immediately find out the definition of any word that you aren't familiar with. You can load MP3 files in it to listen to while you read (I haven't tried this out yet) and if you have non-copyrighted material on your computer that you want on the Kindle, you can email it to them and they'll put it in the correct format and send it back to your Kindle.
I need to get off of here and back to my reading.

I Don't Want to Dress Up!

Gabby & her Fancy Nancy dress
Kristy with her new dress

Gabby received a Fancy Nancy dress-up dress for her birthday. I found out today that she won't wear it. It brought back memories of a dress that I got for her mother --- it wasn't just a "play" dress, but a really nice long dress. Here are pictures of Gabby & her Fancy Nancy dress, that she seems really pleased with even though she won't wear it and her mama, who is not at all happy with her new dress. You wonder what goes through their minds at times like this. Kristy did eventually wear her dress to her cousin Debbie's wedding. She looked really cute in it. Maybe before too long Gabby will enjoy wearing her dress too.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GABBY

Can you already be two years old? It just doesn't seem possible. You are such a sweetie. You've always been so much quieter than your sister, but lately, you seem to be making yourself heard a little more. That's not a bad t hing. I hope you 've had a wonderful birthday --- I wish we could have shared the day with. Gam & Paw Paw love you!!!

A FALL SATURDAY

The cooler temperatures have finally arrived. What is it about cooler temperatures that make you want to eat more filling foods? They've gotten me in the mood to do a little baking. I started out the day by baking my sour dough bread and two pans of cinnamon rolls. The cinnamon rolls were delicious for breakfast. Then I went out to do a little shopping at Wal-Mart & Sams Club. For lunch we pulled some leftover chili out of the freezer. It was delicious. Then Handyman left to get his flu shot. While he was gone I decided to bake my first pumpkin pie of the season. It smells wonderful. I think cinnamon is my favorite aroma. I can't wait until it cools enough to take that first bite.

SMILE

Unfortunately I am one of those people who absolutely detests going to the dentist. Over the years I have put it off as long as could before I went. Occasionally I'd get started and go regularly for several years, but then my employer would discontinue the dental insurance or money would just be too tight. I've been needing to go for a while but again I put it off. I've suffered some discomfort for a while. Nothing that lasted very long or was too bad. It was just enough to keep reminding me that I needed to get something done. I finally made my appointment for September, but then I decided to purchase dental insurance and it wouldn't be effective until October so I had to reschedule for this month. I finally went today. It wasn't nearly as bad as I had feared. Actually they weren't sure why I was having pain. I have some old fillings that are beginning to deteriorate. They are assuming that one of them shifts when I bite down and that's what's causing the pain. They did a complete set of x-rays to check out all my teeth and their roots. They have advised replacing 3 of my fillings, which are in 3 different quadrants, so it'll take 3 trips. He's also recommending a crown to go over the root canal that I had 12 years ago. He said that if the tooth cracked they wouldn't be able to fix it. My insurance won't pay on that until next October, so I'll probably delay that until then. Overall, I think it was one of best dental visits I've ever had. WHEW, what a relief! I was expecting at least a root canal! I didn't schedule my next visit until November 23rd. I'm hoping I'll be home from Kansas by then. If not, I'll just have to reschedule.

FALL BIRTHDAYS

For some reason or other, our family has been blessed to have babies in the fall. I arrived eons ago on the 9th of November. Then our daughters were both fall babies. The first was born on October 11 and the second on November 1st. After they came along I no longer wanted a birthday cake for my special day since we had already had 2 cakes in the past month. My oldest daughter has continued this tradition of fall babies. Our first granddaughter arrived on September 26th and the second on October 18th. The third grandchild will be arriving shortly. With a due date of November 7th, he/she could arrive anytime. Add to that my brother's son who made his appearance on September 28th. So there you have it --- beginning with September 26th, then the 28th, October 11, & 18th, and November 1st & 9th. Make a guess when this next little one will arrive. I'm guessing somewhere around October 26th. I can't wait! No matter when the baby arrives, it will definately be another "fall baby" bringing our total to 7 birthdays between Sept. 26 & Nov. 9th (Maybe it's a good thing we don't live closer together and have that many cakes to eat!)

SKYPE

I'm excited. Handyman has installed SKYPE on my computer. If you've never heard of it, it's kind of like a telephone for your computer. To call another computer is completely free (other than purchasing a microphone, if one isn't installed on your computer, and a webcam, if you want video). And since I want this so I can talk to my granddaughters, I definately want the webcam. They've been ordered and are in Des Moines, IA right now. (Aren't computers great, you can find out almost anything!) We talked to Handyman's brother tonight - on a conference call. I think it will be nice for the granddaughters to be able to see us and also see Toby while they talk to us. He went through our email list and found his brother, sister-in-law, a cousin, one of my cousins and our former exchange student on SKYPE. We're gonna have to get some other people on thee because I think it'll be really nice. Once you're on you can see which of your friends are online. It'll be better than instant messaging because you don't have to type your message and wait for a reply.

HAPPY FALL Y'ALL

The weather this weekend has been just beautiful. Yesterday I opened all the windows and enjoyed the cooler air while I cleaned house and prepared food for today. Today started out a little cooler and hasn't warmed up quite as much. We've even had a little rain shower this afternoon. I've gotten the porch decorated for fall with pumpkins and mums and my WKU sweatshirt on the goose. We had friends over today and they noticed that we had a cocoon hanging from our garage window. I remember when we used to find the cocoons hanging off the bean vines each fall. I sure would like to be able to see the butterfly emerge. But I'm relatively sure that won't happen.