Petunia rambles on and on….

Is it a new toy, a household appliance, my new best friend? Not sure, but I love it.

Althought I swore I didn’t need one, wouldn’t want one, was happy with the old way – after all this, I bought a Kindle anyway.  The new Kindle Fire!

I love it! It all started when the “large-chain” book store in the local mall closed. Then the large discount book store announced that they are closing, too. While I admit that I like the feel of a book in my hands and never thought I’d want something like this, I started to see the advantages of it.

• It’s small, fits easily in my purse, on my coffee table, on the bedside table overnight.
• It connects into the wi-fi at home with no problem.
• It will download and display my e-mail, when connected through wi-fi.
• It will act as a web browser when connected through wi-fi.
• There’s a lot of free literature available out there. My background in the so-called classics is severely limited. Think it goes back to being ordered to read Great Expectations in the 10th grade. But there’s so much out there that is in the Public Domain. This is the impetus I need to improve my reading list.
• There’s a great deal available for the Kindle that’s for sale at a price I’m comfortable paying.  When I last went into a bookstore, I saw a novel by an author that I like, one who’s books I’ve read before. They wanted $37.50 for the book, a hefty price for something that I’ll read in a few evenings, and then store for years, never reading it again. It’s one thing to pay a good amount for something that you return to again and again. A dictionary, a cookbook, for those that are interested – a Bible. But for a book I’ll most likely read once, and for someone that likes to read a lot, that’s a lot.
• I can store thousands of books on a Kindle (or so they advertise!). They would take up a lot more space in my small house. The on-going acquistion of more and more books will soon have me living in the back seat of my car, if I keep going the way I’ve been doing for a lifetime!
• While I’m not a gamer to the extent that many are, I’ll play a few – Bejeweled, Mah-Jong. It can play those apps.
• I’ve got a FaceBook app, one for displaying photos, and one that works specifically with FB photos, a Weather Channel app, one that is a small knock-off of the MicroSoft Office Suite.
• The reader is wonderful. I like the controls that allow me to change background/text colors, text size and line spacing. I can control the screen brightness.
• It will play audiobooks from Audible.com.
• It’s light and comfortable in my small hands.

I’ve heard the criticisms about it. It doesn’t have it’s own “phone line” and so is dependant on wi-fi. I can deal with that. I have wi-fi at home, where I most often use my Kindle or at least upload/sync it. (BTW. set the apps on your phone so they don’t update automatically – they will cost against your data plan. Mine updates only when I manually allow it, here at home off the wi-fi) The Kindle doesn’t have external volume control. I can deal with that; not using the audio that much. The on/off button can be turned off accidentally. Duh, you can also accidentally hit the off button on your coffee pot. Watch what the hell you’re doing. I’ve had my Kindle for 6 weeks and have never accidentally turned it off and I’ve used it every day. It may not have all the fancy bells and whistles that the iPads have; it also cost 1/3 the price. I’m ok with that. Some say it should have a camera on it.  My phone has an 8mp camera (oh, and a smaller one on the other side). I have a 14mp camera with me almost all the time. I really don’t need another one.

One problem is that I can not knit and read at the same time, and I don’t think I’m gonna be able to get past that.

I read a lot of stuff on the internet which explains why the bathroom still isn’t clean and get a great deal of handy information. Anybody who’s ever shopped for home furnishings or women’s clothes knows that certain colors are big in some years, then not again for a while. Seems to be cyclical.

In a recent issue of Knitting Daily (guess how often that comes out!), they were advising us crafters of the lastest forecast for The Colors of the Season. Imagine my surprise when I read that the expected big color hits are gold, almond, avocado green, and muted mustard AND that they are being referred to as

70’s Appliances Colors!

It’s just not right for these informative missives to say things that cause me to wonder if I should be keeping a stockpile of Depends handy. Do these people remember my mother’s last house in Pompano? With the avocado green carpets, the yellow/gold curtains across that back sliding door that once made me think my kid had jaundice? (He actually did, but I had to take him out to the middle of the backyard to be sure!) The damn avocado refridgerator? And her kitchen when we first moved to DE in ’75, all avocado appliances, so she bought washer and dryer to match. She was even growing plants from the damn avocado pits. Glad there isn’t a color called “Macramé Owl.”

They are predicting “layered neutrals” as oatmeals, browns, tans, and all shades of grays. The pastels will be blush pink, robin’s egg blue and mint green.

But the real harbinger of anything pertaining to Color is always Pantone. Those folks know their stuff. And their forecast for “Color of the Year 2012” is Pantone 17-1463, called Tangerine Tango.

As I own NOTHING in this color, and own nothing that would co-ordinate with this color and don’t ever in my life ever plan on buying anything in this color or anything near it, I’m just going to have to go naked without purchasing any new clothes this year, which might make that trip to Florida more likely.

Wishing a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year to all – I am hoping for better things from this new year.

There’s a new year coming in on us really fast now! Resolutions? Hell, I’ve made them before many times and even kept a few! Should I even bother? Why not?!!

• Lose the rest of the weight that I gained way back when I quit smoking. I’ve been carrying the ballast around with me for almost 5 years now, which in a way, is a good thing! That long without a cigarette is terrific. Carrying around this weight isn’t. I’m going to get rid of another 20 pounds, at least.
• I need to buy less yarn and crafty things and make more of an effort to use up the shit lovely yarn and fibers I already have. I literally have a roomful of yarn here to pick from. And there’s also quite a few UFOS ( unfinished objects ) that need to be dealt with, either finished up or ripped out. One way or the other – they are just taking up valuable space now and not doing anything for anybody,
• I’ve got to prioritize “Stuff” both in my house and in my life. Regarding both, I’ve got too much that’s giving me more stress than benefit. I’ve got to work to change that. It won’t come easy or without a price. Still, I’ll be better for making the effort and getting it done. Some difficult choices will have to be made. Life sucks – we knew this.

Wishing a happier, better, more prosperous, safe and healthy new year to all!

See ya on the other side.