My Kindle, Can't Live Without It

If someone had told me 18 months ago that I would be hopelessly attached to my Amazon Kindle, I'd have told them they were crazy.

Before the first Kindle Fire came out, my daughter, who with two little ones to take along when she went out was already a dedicated Amazon shopper, sang its praises. She had come across news about it and almost wished she did not already have an iPad. She told me it would be more affordable, a great internet tool, books to read, etc. It didn't lodge in my brain as something I must have.

First of all, I'm a book lover. As far back as I can remember, books have been a constant in my life. I've ranged far in wide in my literature choices and sources, but I couldn't imagine giving up holding a book to read it on an electronic device.

I discovered science fiction, and more particularly Ray Bradbury in one of my elementary school literature books. I distinctly remember the delight of reading "All Summer in a Day" when, having completed my assignment, I read stories that weren't on our reading list. Recalling the classroom, I was in the third or maybe fifth grade (I had the same teacher both years).

In the fourth grade our teacher read us the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. After lunch we had a quiet time when she read. Of course, I couldn't wait for her pace and had to read the books on my own.

Sometime in middle school, my mother began bringing me books from the Wytheville Community College library and bookstore. I read Jane Goodall's In the Shadow of Man, and was briefly convinced I wanted to follow in her footsteps. I obtained my first well-worn paperback copies of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy which I treasured until the covers wore off.

I love not only reading, but having books. I adored the Scholastic Reader book orders and saved my money to be able to buy books and posters. At the end of the school year I would order books to be delivered during the summer, when there was no school library to supplement my insatiable desire to read. I still have a lot of them on the shelves in the girls' playroom. Their publication dates are in the early '70s, so I was not yet in my teens. Yet they have followed me for all the years since, through moves when cherished toys were left behind and divorces when I tossed a lot of the accumulated debris from my life.

How could I give up my wonderful books for a Kindle?

Then, last August during our tax free days in North Carolina, I happened to encounter the display in my local Walmart. (I have had a bad experience with this purchase, so recommend if buying a Kindle to get it from the source and be sure to get a warranty worth the paper it is written on, but that's another unfinished rant.) I had money, I wanted to reward myself for my hard work over the summer, and I bought it.

It wasn't love at first sight, although being able to browse the internet without a computer or the need for a magnifying glass made it quickly attractive. A few choice apps, like Facebook, had me interacting with it regularly. A benefit of Amazon Prime let me borrow a book and I tried it for reading. It was pretty handy. No bookmark required. I learned I could access library books through the Kindle and borrow them electronically.

Then I discovered a free app that would suggest free books every day. Soon I had a library of over 400 books. There was no end to my reading capacity and I no longer had to save my money or go to the library.

My Kindle and I became inseparable. The little device was never far from my side as I used it for shopping (Ebay, Amazon, etc.), socializing and reading. It went along on doctor's visits and trips where I might wind up sitting in the car for a while. I have two versions of the Bible and an devotional apps as well, so it even goes with me church. And no, I do not Facebook during service, even though we do have Wifi at church.

Right off the top of my head, I have no idea how many books I now own in electronic format. Only once has some glitch made me lose my place -- far better than the frequent "Where'd my bookmark go?" that I'm sure to encounter if I put down an actual book around my house. They're stored in the Amazon Cloud, so I don't have to wonder where I will have space for them and I never have to dust them.

Oh! My! Gosh!

I still use the Kindle Books and Tips app most days, just to check for freebies, and I get a daily email from BookBub listing bargain books and freebies. I've tried out a few other sites through Facebook, but those are the only two that I still use. My library continues to grow and I still consider myself a book lover -- I've just redefined books to include the electronic format.

I'm so addicted to my Kindle Fire, that when Amazon dropped the price on the HD model this fall after removing the camera and making a few tweaks, I went ahead and bought an HD model although I'd never had any problems with the first one. I thought I'd be able to share it more with the girls, who were already enjoying a bunch of educational apps on it every chance they got.

That turned out to be a good move, as my original Kindle Fire inexplicably quit accepting a charge or working at all a few weeks ago (back to earlier rant and the warranty I thought I had). Because I'd already upgraded, and everything I had on one was in cyberspace, transferring my content to the new one was no issue at all.

Was $200 for a product that only lasted a year the first time too much? That's less than $20 a month, heck no. I bought a warranty through Amazon for the second one and expect better service, but even if it didn't the lower price means it was about $12 a month. Really, that's cheap entertainment, however I use it.

So yes, I love my Kindle Fire HD and recommend it to anyone giving a tablet a thought, or any reader who hasn't even considered it. Thanks Amazon!

Saints Preserve Me from Losing my Mind in Walmart

Just the other day, taking advantage of rain and a baby free day, I went along with my husband on a grocery, etc. shopping expedition to the nearest Walmart.

Yes, I know all the bad things about Walmart, but the fact is when you live in or near a small town odds are good that may be your best if not only shopping choice, so any way, we wound up at Walmart and managed to escape with our lives. Sanity, well, that was touch and go for a while.

I can talk to anyone and a crowd doesn't bother me, but I've been known to have a panic attack surrounded by bright lights, too much commercial merchandise, and no easy exit. Seriously, if I'm going shopping alone (like, in my dreams or the distant past) I pop a headset into my phone and at least get music to focus on. I think it may be a focus issue -- the same thing that makes babies cry in stores. There is simply too much sensory overload. I want out.

Our local Walmart has been undergoing an interior renovation which husband and many friends have complained about, but I had not experienced first hand. The bit of shopping we did on the general merchandise side and in the toy department for Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes, was no worse than expected. Sure, things had been moved, but hey, Walmart does that.

Then I needed the restroom. Trust me, I'd had a quart of coffee and another quart of water, I NEEDED the restroom. Unfortunately the conveniently located one had a nice little guy in it cleaning. OK, so I'd go up front while my husband got started in the grocery section which I expected would follow a normal progression. I hike to the front of the store to find an unwelcome surprise.

The restroom area was completely blocked off with orange construction fence. OK, what am I supposed to do, walk to Circle K? If I leave you'll need ropes and chains to get me back in here. Instead I turn around and hike (and you know when I'm talking about Walmart I do mean hike) back to the back of the store again where luckily the guy who was about to get his head chewed off was gone from the ladies room. That burden eased, I went in search of my husband only to find an unanticipated wall of snack foods turned totally opposite its normal orientation.

Dead in front of me was my most dreaded snack food - Cheetos. While I'm usually able to avoid the snack food aisle -- totally the safest bet to keep those unwanted calories out of my diet -- there was a solid wall of the snack food I cannot resist. I wanted to grab a bag and claim it was for the baby who has a similar addiction, but I knew she'd never see the first doodle. Instead I made a hard right and kept walking only to find half the grocery section cordoned off by more construction fencing. Thank God I wasn't ready to resort to alcohol or I'd have jumped the fence.

No sign of my husband, but luckily I had a cell signal and called for help. Once I latched on to him I managed to survive but told him he'd narrowly escaped dragging me out of the store like a demented sister with a cheese doodle smeared face, orange fingers, and possibly wet pants. It was not a pretty picture, but one that was entertaining enough to made the trip's memories much more fun than the actual experience.

So if you ever see me alone in Walmart and I don't speak, look for a headset. And if you see me with an open bag of Cheetos, just help me find the exit, please. I'll be OK eventually.