Kindle for Christmas?

Three years ago I got a Kindle for Christmas. It is one of the earliest versions and I love it. Two years ago I bought both my teenage girls Kindles for Christmas. This year my 14 year son wanted a Kindle for Christmas.

When I bought my Kindle it was very expensive, now they are around $80.

I guess because I was one of the earliest users many of my friends have asked my advice on whether they should purchase a kindle for their son or daughter for Christmas.

Well here are the pros and cons; this is for the old Kindle, I will get to the new Kindle Fire later.

Pros:

Price is $80, can read it in the sun, can read to you, make words larger (this is for people over 40), play music, some can get on internet, share books with family and friends, upload books within seconds, many free books, have app on phone or I Touch or I pad and therefore able to read if you do not have a book or are waiting in line.

Cons:

Can not read in the dark, needs a light, scary to read in the bath (but I do), if you have an I Touch, or I pad can download the free app and read books on that device (might hurt your eyes), that last one is a pro and con.

Kindle Fire: I do not own one but I have seen them and they are basically a smaller I pad with more apps. They are cheaper than an I pad but they can download games, books etc. You can also share books. But if you own an I pad you can also share books with the app or read your books on your PC.

Do not know much about the Nook. I do know that Nook and Kindle can not share books. I also know that if you want to organize your books on your PC you can download a software program (safe from website) called Calibre. That software will allow you to add or delete books,download books, add writings from your PC to your Kindle and so on. But the Nook can not download from the Kindle using that software, only Kindle can download from Nook- allowing to share books.

So my opinion about the Kindle might be quite obvious. It is cheap and my kids are reading so I love it.

I read an article that claimed that ebooks will not take over the book industry. I am not too sure about that. My favorite part about the Kindle is that I can download a book instantly.

I am an inpatient person.

We had three book stores located near where I live. Waldon books, about 10 minutes away with not much selection. Barnes and Noble located 30 minutes away and Borders about 30 minutes away.

Only Barnes and Noble is still in business. I think the only reason they are still around is because of the sales from the Nook.

I know that the classic book will always be around. There is nothing like a new book, I love to hold and smell and treasure those books. But I really love pressing that buy button and seconds later reading that same book I would have had to drive 30 minutes away to purchase.

I love my Kindle!

I love going to the dentist.

I sat in the dentist chair yesterday. I was prepared, prepped and then prodded for two hours. Yes, I have horrible teeth. The fact that I like sugar a lot does not help. So while I was getting a crown and a large cavity filled, I could not help but think that the dental procedures have not changed near enough in all the years I have lay in the dental chairs.

Look at everything else that has changed. Why can't dental procedures catch up? They are still behind the times.

I would think that a laser of some sort would be a nice improvement. It could pick out all the problems, go in the mouth and fix it all up. Twenty minutes later...done!

No, now we still have to suffer though drool running down our face while the assistant tries sucking the spit with the spit sucker and shoving large cylinder shaped cotton in every crevasse but not removing the taste from your tongue of the bad clove tasting liquid that the chemists think cover the other bad taste from the shots injected into the gums and the roof of your mouth. Those things are not even the worst part! The worst is the sound of the horrible drill, drilling into your teeth and the sound echoing in your ears. No one should really ever be awake to hear the kind of sound a drill makes as it drills into your teeth.

My 99 year old grandmother once told me that when she goes to the dentist she does not get shots to get numb, she never has. They just drill or pull the tooth. While she was telling me this I suddenly noticed the large gaps in her smile. No wonder she had so few teeth in her mouth. If given the choice, I think a quick painful pull would be better than a long horrific drilling. Yikes!

Luckily dental procedures have progressed far enough so that we can get numb and not feel it. Some people just go to the dentist so they can have an excuse to get numb. My husband has never minded the dentist for that reason. The laughing gas is his addiction. It is his legal drug. Personally I have never used it so I do not know what it feels like, but I have seen it's effects.

My son had to get three teeth pulled the other day. He tends to be a little like his Aunt, dramatic about pain, so I always let the dentist give him the gas. Once that gas was flowing into my sons nostrils he continued to breathe deep. In with the deep breath...hold. Out with the deep breath...hold. This went on for a few minutes until his eyes were good and glazed. That is when he turned to me in his drug induced voice and said, " I's reelly do't want fhree teefh pfuled". Hmm. I think he might be taking after his father.

Although I do wonder why some chemist has not found a drug that numbs your mouth and then takes the numb immediately away after the procedure is done?It would be nice not to be on a soup diet for the rest of the day for fear of biting a large hole into the side of your cheek. It would also be nice not to have Novocain mouth and smile for hours after the dental procedure.

I guess I should just count my blessings...I don't have a gap filled toothless smile!

Bras! Bras! Bras!

Yep, you heard me right. I am talking about Bras today. Not just any bra, but the dreaded exercise bra.

The choice exercises my bras endure are: running, zumba, biking and kick boxing.

Since I have been running for about 8 years now I have slowly learned which bra's I like and those I do not.

In my years of looking for that perfect bra I realized that most exercise bras are either made for women that are 32 A's and do not require most support and the other women that are larger, requiring much more support.

There are a few stores that feature the "incredible" bra, mostly sporting good stores.

My advice to all you women and girls out there.... don't be pulled into having to buy from the sporting goods stores. They are overpriced and the bras tend to be uncomfortable. Most are Nike or Underarmour brand costing about $30 to $50 each. Do they not realize we need bras often. I would rather spend my $ on something that others will see, not something hidden.

Well, last year my daughters and I were shopping. My daughters, just like their mother are shoppers. They noticed that we were near the active wear section in Target.

Both claimed they needed new bras for soccer and that the new craze was wearing colored bras under white t-shirts.

So of course I could not deprive them of such a needed object, I bought them each two. Both choosing uniquely cool colors.

When I saw the price $16.99 I figured I too needed a new cool colored bra to run in.

Well, I am never going back to those expensive bras again.

Nike has a lot to learn from Target.

The Target bras are so comfortable you feel like you are not wearing one. They support while being soft. They are the best things in the world.

They also come in many cute different colors, not just white and black!

So go run down there and get one or more....you will love them!

My submission

Tonight I am home alone with my youngest son. I think because I am bored I did something scary.... about a month ago I wrote a personal essay about my marathon in my English class. Tonight I submitted the essay to a few magazines. The two scariest things about submitting the essay is: clicking the send button and licking the envelope. There is no going back. It is like seeing that huge hill that leads to the loop on a roller coaster. So we will see what will happen. Surly they will at least have the courtesy to tell me "no" if they don't like it. I hope.