Author Archive
Wow! I moved this site off of a different hosting provider and apparently lost track as I was installing it. I used WP Twin to clone the site (complete copy of all the WP files) so it is an easy process!
I was going through my sites to make sure I am doing the automatic backup with WP Twin, and was shocked when I came here and Nothing was here!!
I went through the process easly. The one further glitch I had was that I couldn’t find what my WP log on info had been on the original site!. I had mistakenly overwritten it with the new install info. I suddenly remembered that I had the mirror backup of all my pc files on my external hard drive (by using Acronis Home True Image). Hurrah!
I found the original log on info & was able to get in here! 
Now I need to just make a note to myself to save a doc with each back up clone containing the logon info used when the site was cloned (so this stress won’t happen again!)
I had a book returned for postage due the other day. I weighed it on 2 different electronic scales. It weighed 7.4 oz on each one.
I went into the Stamps.com interface to check to see what postage I had used ($ 2.07). I looked at first class/ 8 oz and saw it would be the amount I had attached.
I couldn’t see why the book was returned for $ 1.14 postage due.
I had been sending my paperback books out by First Class mail when they weighed less than 10 ounces. Larger than this, it was cheaper to send them ‘Media Mail’, so I sent them Media Mail.
I called the Stamps.com support center. I explained the situation & asked why US Post Office was suddenly not accepting the Stamps.com postage.
The helpful support tech. asked what kind of packaging it was.
I explained it was a impervious envelope/mailer around a paperback book.
He then asked me how thick the paperback book was.
I got out a ruler & measured it at 1 1/4 in. He stated that it qualified for “Thick Envelope” postage rate (for envelopes thicker than ¾ of an inch) which is higher than First Class.
He looked at the amount of postage due & was stumped as to why it was that high of an amount as it should have been less.
I made the comment that probably I should just mail all of my books that were thicker than 3/4 of an inch via Media Mail as it would be less hassle and possibly less expensive at times.
He replied that it would take longer to arrive than First Class. I came back with a statement of how the book swap was fine with slower shipping as long as it arrived with in 26 days. He then responded that
Media Mail would probably be a good idea.
I am surprised that after swapping hundreds of books, this was the first one that was returned for postage due. Granted, most of them weigh more than 10 oz so I shipped them media mail any ways…
I have been notified by PBS patrons that a book was delivered with postage due a few times. Each time, I sent them a book credit to make up for it. Since book credits cost $ 3.50, they were roughly $3 ahead. Most people were appreciative.
So I learned 2 things today:
1. Stamps.com support staff are courteous and helpful
2. The vast majority of paperback books will need to be shipped via Media Mail.
I had a great time reading: Indulgence in Death (In Death, Bk 31) by J. D. Robb (Nora Roberts). I have enjoyed all of her books & read many of them numerous times.
I had forgotten how many chuckles/ laughs I would burst out with when reading about Eve Dallas, Roarke & all the escapades they go through. I have been very sick with Bronchitis this last 2 weeks. 
I would reach a part where I started to laugh & it would set off a coughing fit.
I still have the cough, but am breathing easier. I was reading Under Fire by Jo Davis just now (another great read) and found an apt description: “emerged like a cat hawking up a hairball. All he managed to accomplish was possibly rupturing a lung in the ensuing fit of coughing.”
Yep – that’s about right.
I haven’t been this sick in many years. So while I’ve enjoyed reading several books while I’ve been down with this bug, I think authors might need to put a cautionary note on the cover
“Caution – causes laughter” …
Enjoy!
Abby Cooper, Psychic Eye (Psychic Eye, Bk 1) by Victoria Laurie
Abby is a great character, the book has a good plot & reads well. I didn’t want to put it down.
I thought it was great that Victoria Laurie is actually a psychic and has based her character on her own experiences.
I look forward to reading more of this series.
I wanted to read my book or Kindle on a road trip after dark recently. I was in the backseat of the car, so I didn’t want to use a bright light and disturb the driver.
I had purchased a Kindle reading light last year when I got my Kindle. I had never used it, so I assumed that it would still work. Uh oh. I should know what happens when you assume- (It makes an ASS out of You & Me). Sure enough, the battery had worn down – it was dead.
So I was stuck in the dark with nothing to do but take a nap. How frustrating!
An acquaintance was talking about using a red light to read her Nook or digital reader. She said that pilots & astronomers use red lights to read without eye strain or losing their night vision. Wow. I had never heard of this. When I thought about it, I remembered seeing movies about dark rooms & flight decks having red lights, but I never carried it over to reading lights.
I searched on Amazon for a red light, then focused on reading lights. I came across a Beam N Read light that hangs around your neck. They have several different models, some with 3 LED lights, some with six. Some are just white light, some come with a red filter, & a few come with 4 different colored filters.
I determined that Beam N Read LED 3 Hands Free Travel Book Light for Kindle, Nook, & More looked best for me. I was happy to see that it’s batteries last 120 Hours. I could see using it at work in low light as well as using it to read at night in cars &/or planes.
I know another nurse who works pediatrics & strains to see in the dark patient rooms without waking his patients. I’m going to show him this light. I bet it will be quite helpful for him. Being ‘hands free’ certainly will be a plus for him.
I love finding an author who writes so well that I’m captivated!
I am happy when I finish one book & have the next in the series waiting at hand to start.
I get bummed when I finish the last book by a favorite author.
I think: ‘Darn, now I have to find a new person to read.’
I’ve decided that book websites should have the capability to search by subject matter.
(ie) I like to read about shape shifters, vampires, psi-enhanced, FBI, racy romance, etc.
If you don’t know that Lora Leigh wrote about shapeshifters, would you be able to discover her as an author who brings gripping paranormal /action/ suspense/ romantic novels to life?
I think, no, I know it is difficult at times.
One feature I haven’t discussed about PBS is their showing newly posted books at the bottom of the welcome screen. So often, I do judge a book by it’s cover, especially when I’m looking for paranormal & shapeshifter tales (or tails? )
I always glance at the covers to see if I notice a likely illustration or an unrecognized title by a familiar author.
I have discovered several new interesting series & authors this way.
The other similar feature on PBS deals with related titles, or books people have ordered when they ordered the book you just ordered. Again, I’ve happily unearthed many new works & authors through checking these listings out.
I like that I can click on an author’s name & I’ll be taken to a listing of their titles with the ones available on PBS being in green while those which are not available are in red.
I will admit purchasing some of the unavailable ones to read on my Kindle when I didn’t want to wait for them to show up for my wish list.
Go go forth & discover new titles & authors to captivate your mind today!
Lora Leigh is a prolific, entertaining author. Previous post lists the bulk of her titles which I have enjoyed.
I used to collect book series I liked to read, so I could re-read them when I didn’t have any new books to read. Now that I’m constantly getting books to read from members of PaperBackSwap.com, I am putting those books back into circulation.
I decided to re-read the Men of August trilogy one more time before I posted them on the PBS site. The three books are: Marley’s Choice, Sarah’s Seduction & Heather’s Gift. I was captivated again by the great storyline as well as the erotic love scenes. Lora Leigh is definitely a gifted story teller.
I am always amazed when I read a gripping story. I just can’t fathom how they come up with any of it. From the characters, to the plot, all the way through the creation process. I guess that just goes to show that I wasn’t gifted with that skill.
I have had people look at a quilt I made & say similar things about color & pattern choices of the fabrics as well as the basic pattern of the whole quilt. While I don’t take the time to work on quilts lately, I do enjoy the creation process. I love taking relatively simple, plain fabrics & combining them to create a stunning result.
It just goes to show that people are different + it is a good thing. Can you realize how boring and incomplete the world would be if we were all the same?
PaperBackSwap’s goal is to donate 15,000 new books to United Through Reading – a nationally recognized nonprofit for the children of our military stationed overseas. Please click this link to see NBC’s Nightly News report on this wonderful program.
Here’s another message from PBS:
At PaperBackSwap, we firmly believe in the power of reading… and the power of giving. We are excited to be able to extend our charitable work to those serving in the United States Armed Forces. Regardless of why or where they are deployed, these men and women and their families contend with danger, separation from loved ones and rigorous physical conditions.
We believe that if we can ease their days at all, we should, and are ready to get started…with your help! Would you please consider donating either Book Credits or PBS money to help offset the costs of running these programs?
Your donations can really make a difference in the lives of our military families as they protect and serve our country. Click HERE to donate.
Member Comment: “My husband is currently deployed and while gone he has been able to send UTR videos to our young children. It is amazing to see their faces light up when they see their daddy on the TV reading one of their favorite books. Thank you all for donating to this wonderful cause.” -Rebecca J. (navywifereader)
I donated the small amount of credits & PBS money in my account just now & will do more with my next paycheck. I’m sure it is a blessing for the families to have such a great way to interact while their loved one is away protecting all of us.
I got this nice message back from the donation:
On behalf of all of the soldiers and military families who are going to receive books because of your donation to Story Time with Soldiers (part of our Military Donation Program), thank you Karen for making a difference in the lives of these families!
Your generous support will go a long way and allow the soldiers and military families involved to share the joys of reading with their children.
With sincere thanks,
Richard & The PaperBackSwap Team
What a nice message. I definitely feel that PBS is a great site to use.
If you are not a member of PBS & you want to donate, click HERE to join (it’s free) & then click HERE to purchase credits or PBS money. Donate by clicking HERE. Thanks so much for your generosity.
PaperbackSwap.com has few rules about the swapping. Many of these rules are to keep the process timely for the people using it.
When a request for a book comes in, you need to to ‘accept’ it, saying that you can mail it within 2 days. The system actually gives you about 4 days before the swapping process will ‘expire’.
If you don’t mark the book as ‘mailed’ by the deadline, it will cancel the swap. The other day, I was trying to watch a webinar replay while I was processing 9 book swaps. I put all the books out to mail, but forgot to mark them ‘mailed’.
The next night, I checked my account & found a message from a member (Mary) saying ‘why did you cancel the swap?’… I pm’d her back, saying: “I didn’t, I mailed it… must have been a computer glitch”.
Later, I was going through my email & found a message from PBS stating it had cancelled the swap since I hadn’t marked it ‘mailed’ by the deadline. I pm’d Mary back to let her know. She said she’d mark the book “received” when it arrives.
I always have said that communication makes everything work out better. It proves true here as well.
I’ve read numerous authors who have portrayed Vampires, Werewolves & others in many varying ways. They often differ in how they came to be, what characteristics they have, etc.
Here are a few of the authors who I’ve enjoyed:
Maggie Shayne:
Demon’s Kiss (Wings in the Night, Bk 1)
Lover’s Bite (Wings in the Night, Bk 2)
Angel’s Pain (Wings in the Night, Bk 3)
Bloodline
+ many more
Susan Sizemore:
I Burn For You (Primes, Bk 1)
I Thirst for You (Primes Series, Bk 2)
I Hunger for You (Primes Series, Bk 3)
+ many more
Lora Leigh:
Megan’s Mark (The Breeds, Book 1)
Harmony’s Way (The Breeds, Book 2)
Tanner’s Scheme (The Breeds, Book 3)
Tempting the Beast (Feline Breeds, Book 1)
The Man Within (Feline Breeds, Book 2)
Kiss of Heat (Feline Breeds, Book 3)
Soul Deep (Coyote Breeds, Book 1)
Aiden’s Charity (Wolf Breeds, Book 3)
+ many more
+ great erotica stories
Submission/ Seduction, Wicked / Sacrifice, Embraced, Wicked Intent,
Only Pleasure, Forbidden Pleasure, Wicked Pleasure + more
PaperbackSwap.com has started a great program: ‘Story Time with Soldiers’, focuses on connecting families separated by deployment through a combined effort with United Through Reading’s Military Program.
This is the only program where, prior to deployment, soldiers can read a story book for their children while being videotaped. A DVD is then sent to the family for viewing along with the new child’s book from PaperBackSwap.
The family can then watch and read the book together with the children and help bridge the distance between parent and child.
You can help out by donating either Book Credits or PBS money to help offset the costs of running these programs. Your donations can really make a difference in the lives of our military families as they protect and serve our country. Click HERE for more information
Great action suspense FBI stories by Catherine Coulter.
Amazingly, I couldn’t find a list showing the titles in order. I enjoyed them all & wish there were more.
The Beginning, Double Jeopardy, Riptide, Point Blank, The Target,
The Maze, Blind Side, The Cove, The Edge, TailSpin, Double Take,
KnockOut, Blowout
Catherine has written other good contemporary suspense as well. It looks like she originally wrote historical romance, but I grew out of that phase quite a while ago.
Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs is a captivating sequence of stories about a kick-ass were-coyote auto mechanic, werewolves, vampires & some sexy romance to boot. I really like this series & have read them all several times.
Moon Called, Moon Called, Blood Bound, Iron Kissed, Bone Crossed,
Silver Borne
She has also written some related books:
Cry Wolf & Hunting Ground
JD Robb (aka Nora Roberts) has written 36 ‘In Death’ series (Eve Dallas) [wow - I knew there were a lot, but boy, she sure is prolific]. I call it futuristic, murder mystery / romance. A few of them are very gruesome – I just skim till I’m past that.
I never can guess the outcome early on like you can with some authors. It’s amazing that she keeps coming out with distinctly different story lines with this many titles.
Naked in Death, Glory in Death, Immortal in Death, Rapture in Death, Vengeance in Death, Holiday in Death, Midnight in Death, Conspiracy in Death, Loyalty in Death, Witness in Death, Judgment in Death, Betrayal in Death, Interlude in Death, Seduction in Death, Reunion in Death, Purity in Death, Portrait in Death, Imitation in Death, Remember When, Divided in Death, Survivor in Death, Origin in Death, Midnight in Death, Haunted in Death, Memory in Death, Interlude in Death, Born in Death, Innocent in Death, Creation in Death, Strangers in Death, Suite 606 featuring “Ritual in Death”, Salvation in Death, Promises in Death, Kindred in Death, The Lost featuring “Missing in Death”, Big Jack, Fantasy in Death
I just finished Fantasy In Death - it was a good read. I always find myself captivated and don’t want to put the book down.
It’s a bummer when you come to the end of the series a favored author has written. I always wish there were more to read right now!
I’ll just keep a look out for the next title to show up.
I’ve been loving my Kindle DX. It is a bit bulky as it is quite large, but still is very lightweight. I can’t fit it in my purse as easily as I’d like. I guess I need to switch to a wider purse. I chose the DX as I am a very fast reader & thought I would be constantly irritated at continually needing to switch pages. I don’t feel that way with the DX.
My daughter, also an avid reader, bought herself the regular Kindle. She doesn’t read as fast as I do (which is fine) so she doesn’t see a problem with the smaller screen. She really likes how very small & lightweight it is. It also fits in her purse easily. I found a soft sleeve to protect it that is not bulky.
My daughter has also found many free books on Amazon.com which she can download to her Kindle. Many are classics / public domain works. Some seem to be authors wanting to give a taste of their work to the readers. Regardless, it’s nice to find them. Free Books For Your Kindle
I was contacted by a member of PaperBackSwap.com who had mailed books to me which had never arrived. She wanted to know if by chance I had received the books, but not marked them received on the site.
I replied that no, I hadn’t. She responded that she was going to contact the Post Office to see if the package could be traced.
She just got back with me saying: I did get confirmation from UPS that they received wrappings with nothing in the package. I had the address label of the receiver returned to me in a letter from UPS and I now have to process a form letter telling them what was in the package.
I responded that I worked with a mail contract carrier once & saw that mail pieces go through a lot of handling & machinery. It’s probably amazing how few things we ship get lost/ damaged. I never think about the possibility of whatever I send not getting to its destination.
I mailed a couple of books in a manila envelope once, & got a semi-tacky note from receiver that the package was rather torn up & they were surprised the books made it to them.
I went online & found some inexpensive ‘Tuffshield’ type shipping bags & use them for the books now. They’re self adhesive, strong & waterproof. It is much easier & faster than cutting up shipping bags (that I’ve received items in) & using them.
Now, the only time I mess with reusing packaging is when I reuse the bubble envelopes I receive books in just so I’m not wasting them.
I just reordered the 7.5” x 10” (200 for < $ 14 with shipping) & 12.5” x 15” (100 for around $15 with shipping) from Amazon. They came quickly. This is the first time I've ordered the larger size for multiple book shipments. It's nice as I have 4 books to send out to one person this am.
I have several series of books that I’m working on reading that I really enjoy. I’m going to hate it when I have read them all.
If you like action/ supense with romance added in, try these out. They grab you quickly & make it hard to put them down.
Suzanne Brockman –
Tall, Dark & Dangerous
1. PRINCE JOE, TDD #1, 6/96, 2002 – Joe/Veronika Prince imitation
2. FOREVER BLUE, TDD #2, 10/96, 2003 – Blue/Lacy brother murder
3. FRISCO’S KID, TDD #3, 1/97, 2003 – Frisco/Mia niece/wheelchair
4. EVERYDAY, AVERAGE JONES, , TDD #4, 8/98 – airplane/pregnant
5. HARVARD’S EDUCATION, TDD #5, 10/98 Harvard/PJ
6. Hawken’s Heart – Crash/Nell; Admiral/uncle murder
7. THE ADMIRAL’S BRIDE, TDD #7, 11/99“ Jake/Zoe; nerve agent
8. IDENTITY: UNKNOWN, , TDD #8, 1/2000 Mitchell/Becca dude ranch
9. GET LUCKY, TDD #9, 3/2000 – Lucky/Sydney;
10. TAYLOR’S TEMPTATION, TDD #10, 7/2001 Bobby /Colleen
11. NIGHT WATCH, TDD # 11, 9/2003 Wes Skelley/Brittany
TEAM 16
1. THE UNSUNG HERO, 6/2000 Tom/Kelly The Merchant/uncle Joe/Dad
2. THE DEFIANT HERO, 3/2001 John Nilsson/Meg; daughter kidnapped
3. OVER THE EDGE, 9/2001 Stan Wolchonok/Teresa; Gina hijacked;
4. OUT OF CONTROL, 3/2002 Ken WildCard Karmody/Savannah; asia
5. INTO THE NIGHT, 11/2002 – Mike Muldoon/Joan (prez-> naval base)
6. GONE TOO FAR, 7/2003 Sam/Alyssa dead ex-wife
7. FLASHPOINT, 3/2004 Nash/Tess covert action tearing up couple
8. HOT TARGET, 12/2004 Cosmo/Jane Hollywood
9. BREAKING POINT, 7/2005 Max/Gina Gina thought dead/Jones & Molly
10. INTO THE STORM, 11/2006 Jenk/Lindsey; Tracy vanishes;
11. FORCE OF NATURE, 8/2007 Ric/Annie –
12. ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT, 10/2007 Jules/Robin Christmas wedding
13. INTO THE FIRE, 7/2008 Vinh/Hannah Hannah hearing impaired
14. DARK OF NIGHT, 1/2009 Decker/Tracey; Sophia/Dave
15. HOT PURSUIT, Summer 2009 Alyssa/Sam
Allison Brennan – 3 great FBI stories
Kay Hooper
4 related ‘Bishop’ trilogies [hard to put down]
Stealing Shadows, Hiding in the Shadows, Out of the Shadows
Touching Evil, Whisper of Evil, Sense of Evil
Hunting Fear, Chill of Fear, Sleeping with Fear
Blood Dreams, Blood Sins, Blood Ties
I’ve have 527 books on my PBS bookshelf. Do you wonder how I locate the book I need in order to process the book requests that I recieve in a timely manner?
I have organized them fairly well. I have a metal shelving unit that is 3 ft wide x 4+ ft tall with 4 shelves.
I happened to have a shipping box that was as long & wide as the shelves, so I got 2 ‘trays’ out of it by cutting 4 inches above the top & bottom flaps. I found other large boxes to use as well.
I labeled the boxes: A – F, G – M, N – R, & S – Z.
I put 1 box per shelf, going from the top down. As I collected too many books for 1 box, I layered another box on top (I labeled it accordingly).
Since the bulk of my books are paperbacks, I separated the hardbacks to small boxes on the ends of each shelves. When I went through & posted a number of my crafts & quilting books, I started a hard back area on a nearby baker’s rack.
I am getting close to having all the books on it that it will hold. I probably won’t post many of the 200 books I just got from a hospital patient library sale until I send out some of the ones I have already.
I read books rather quickly. My mother in law reads even faster & more volume. She often keeps me supplied with books to swap.
Occasionally, I run out of books to put up on PaperBackSwap to swap. I have a number of ways to get inexpensive books to swap.
1. Check out garage sales. Occasionally you’ll strike it rich with one that has ton’s of books. I try to get them to do 4 for 1 dollar or better.
If it is the end of a hot day, & they still have a large quantity, they will sometimes even go with 10 for a dollar.
2. Attend your Public Library’s yearly ‘friends of the library sale’ where people have donated books for the library to sell to benefit the library. I usually will just buy paperback books (it costs less to mail a paperback than a hard cover).
3. Then hospital that I work at just downsized their patient library. They got rid of hundreds of books. They sold paperbacks for 25 cents each. I took plastic grocery sacks with me & filled them up with random books, 20 to a bag.
I told them to just make me a collection in empty boxes they had until I had all 10 sacks filled. This gave me 200 books for $ 50. Quite a good deal for us both.
I also was able to gather westerns & other books I normally wouldn’t get my hands on to see if they fare better/ worse than the romances & mysteries I normally post. So far they don’t, but no matter.
I now have a goodly supply of books to post over time.
I want to read an ebook I have on my pc in PDF form on my Kindle. I’ve searched for information about Kindle supporting PDF’s. The information is conflicting. It looks as if it ‘supports PDF’s’ but doesn’t format them correctly. The guide recommended converting from PDF format to either html or .doc (Microsoft Word format).
I found a free online service to convert PDF’s to MS Word. It is www.PDFtoWord.com. You upload your PDF by browsing your pc, then select change to .doc, enter your email for it to be sent to you, & click the ‘convert’ button.
Wow, that’s easy. It takes a few minutes, but then you find an email with the document attached in your in box. Click here to visit site.
Basic Do’s & Don’t's with Printing Your Own Postage
1. When printing stamps:
a. Fill in the correct ID number for the sheet of stamp ‘labels’ you will be printing on. Area to be filled in is on top right hand part of the print stamps screen.
b. Know which side of the label sheet needs to face downward in order for your printer to print on the correct side. My HP takes the page head first, face down, but my Epson take it head down & face up.
c. When printing less than a full sheet of stamps, click on the bottom row of the sheet to print them first. If you print the top of the sheet first, the page gets too floppy to use.
d. Mark in upper right hand area number of stamps you want to print of same denomination – whether it’s 1 or 25
I mail out books frequently for a book swapping site. I put the book & any paper into a mail pouch, affix the mailing label, and weigh it.
I then take that weight into the Stamps.com software to select the postage I need. Most regular sized paperback books weigh around 6-8 ounces.
If I have a trade paperback (the oversized ones) it may weigh over 10 ounces. I found that it is less expensive to send books that weigh 10 or more ounces as a package & select ‘media mail’.
This designation is massively less expensive than first class or even parcel post.
Book trading saves resources as you aren’t buying brand new books. It is also a great way to get books that are no longer in print. I have discovered a book on low carb lifestyle called The 7-day Low-Carb Rescue and Recovery Plan by Dr. Rachael F. Heller & Dr. Richard F. Heller which is very helpful at improving weightloss with the low carb lifestyle. I found this book swapping on www.PaperBackSwap.com.
I had never seen this book in the book stores. It is available on Amazon.com. You are recycling when you buy used books on Amazon as well.
I have been reading my Kindle Dx like mad since I got it! I love how you can read it so comfortably. I don’t feel any eye strain or have trouble making out the letters. I like that I can change the font size easily if needed.
I’ve ordered a book light to go on the Kindle Dx for when I am in a low light area. But so far I haven’t needed it.
It’s also neat that it will go to sleep I show a different picture each time. Right now it has some ‘illuminated manuscript’ type illustration showing. It’s probably in Latin.
I would guess it has about 20 different sleep mode pictures.
I am happy I can read the Kindle DX for several days between charges. That is helpful.
Right now it is a bit less than half charged. I’m going to charge it while I sleep so I won’t run out of juice.
While I’m awaiting my Kindle’s arrival, I was looking at different titles of Kindle edition books & magazines. A large majority of titles available on Amazon.com have a Kindle edition. It’s great!
I was happy to see that many Kindle publications are just a few dollars. In fact, I found several ebooks that show how to do things on the Kindle that you can’t find out from the owner’s manual. One of them was laid out like a cookbook & was only $0.99.
You can even get monthly subscriptions of several magazines on your Kindle. I’m going to get ‘PC Magazine” for less than $2 a month!
I discovered that you can download the Kindle reader for your pc free of charge. I might just have to get started picking out titles before the Kindle dx arrives.
I’ve wanted a Kindle Dx for a long time. I am such an avid reader, I love the idea of having 3,500 books at hand!
I recently went on a cruise. I only wanted to take 1 suitcase & had a hard time packing everything while being under the weight limit of 50 pounds. I took 4 paperback books in my suitcase & a couple in my carry-on bag. I finished 3 of the books while on the ship & left them with the steward to share with co-workers.
I would have saved the weight & bulk of packing the books if I had already received my Kindle. Oh well, better late than never.
Now that I’m 50 years old, I like the idea that I can enlarge the font size to make it easier to read. All the reviews state that it is actually easier to read than a book. I like the sound of that. I went ahead & got a booklight that attaches to the kindle so I can read in low light if needed.
I was looking through Amazon for a case for the Kindle Dx. There were several neoprene cases that sounded nice. I almost went with a pink camo case. I normally wouldn’t even consider such a pattern, but it was more fun than plain black.
I realized I had purchased a NetBook case previously that would fit it as well. I like 1 less thing to buy.
Shipping via Priority Mail with Stamps.com is easy & saves you money!
I had to ship something to Ohio that weighed almost 3 pounds. I got on my Stamps.com interface & saw that parcel post would be almost $10! I’m used to mostly sending books & am spoiled with the lower ‘media mail’ charges.
I was wondering if there were any other options when I remembered Priority Mail. It had been a while since I had shipped using it, so I couldn’t remember the flat rate fee.
I rummaged in my closet & found a Priority Mail Flat Rate box (11 7/8″ x 3 3/8″ x 13 5/8″). The stars were smiling on me as the item I needed to ship fit inside the box.
I looked on the Stamps.com interface under ‘packages’ & it’s drop down menu for ‘Priority Mail Flat Rate box’.
I was please to see it was only $9.85 & would get to it’s destination by 3 days or less (as opposed to 2-9 days for parcel post).
The help section @ Stamps.com on Priority Mail said that you saved up to 11% off the retail rate by purchasing the Priority Mail postage from Stamps.com rather than the Post Office!
Also, you can arrange to have it picked up from your house or location if you set it up the night before.
I had errands to run, so I just zipped into the post office & deposited the Priority Mail Flat Rate Box (with the postage on it already) in the ‘packages to mail’ bin.
As I was walking out, I thought about getting a couple more Flat Rate Boxes to keep on hand for next time. I was amazed to see that the postage listed for the same sized Priority Mail Flat Rat box was about $10.50 (I didn’t write it down).
So not only did I save money, but I didn’t have to stand in line to buy the postage. That just made my day!
You can even go to the USPS.com website to order Flat Rate boxes to be mailed to you. You don’t even have to pay shipping & handling!
That’s great cuz my Post Office was out of the size I wanted to get. You don’t have to order large quantities, either. This way I can get a variety pack of each size shipped directly to me. What a convienence!
P.S. I just went to www.USPS.com to get the flat rate boxes shipped to me. I got 10 APO boxes for sending items to soldiers, 10 small Flat Rate boxes & the variety pack of 4 different sized Flat Rate Boxes.
I was totally shocked when I ‘checked out’ and had no shipping charges! I am flabergasted that they’ll send them straight to me totally free of charge.
When shipping books using the delivery confirmation for quick credit, do NOT tape over the bar code.
If the bar code is covered in tape, it cannot be scanned, so you have wasted your 27 cents.
I like using the delivery confirmation so I am a. more likely to get a quick credit, & b. not having to rely on the person receiving the book to promptly go to their pc & mark the book received.
Most of the people using PaperBackSwap.com are wanting the system to work well so they will mark books received in a timely manner. But I figure it is a small cost for me to pay and it might get my credit posted faster so I can find another great book to request.
So always pay attention with barcodes & stamps when you are adding tape to the package to make sure you don’t make them useless by covering these with the tape.
Back in September, I was notified by the PaperBackSwap.com system that 7 books I had ordered were considered ‘lost in the mail’ since it had been over 26 days since they were ordered & had not arrived.
The system credited me for the 7 books so I could use them for other books. The system simultaneously removed 7 credits from the lady who was shipping the books to me.
The person shipping the books lived in Hawaii & I live in Texas. She paid an increased fee to speed them on their way, but was warned it could take 30 days to arrive.
This nice lady sent me a message through the PBS system about this delay to reassure me that they were on the way. She even enclosed a gift from Hawaii since I had ordered so many books from her.
I held on to the 7 credits for a bit over a week after PBS had returned them to me. When the books arrived, I went into my ‘Transaction Archive’, found the books (by order date) and marked them ‘received’. This enabled the credits to be returned to the shipper.
I also sent her a message that they had safely arrived & I appreciated her thoughtfulness.
Communication sure can make life smoother, can’t it?
Customizing your postage with your own graphic or photo is fun! It makes correspondence so much more personal to have unique postage.
You could also use your company logo for a polished look to your mail outs. I used to see people using a postage meter to print the postage on their mailings – but it is a big hassle. You have to lug the meter to the post office to pay for the postage.
I was shocked to see that the ink for postage meters is 100 times more expensive than top of the line ink for your home computer printer.
The convience of printing postage on my pc is huge and made even better by using photo stamps to make one of a kind postage.
