FRIENDS

Aren't friends grand?

Just had a visit from an old friend I hadn't seen since last year. She's the kind you see every year or so but can still pick up the threads when you meet again as if you'd been together the day before.

Those are the best friends to have.

Don't have many, but I cherish them!

SWITCHED

I just finished Amanda Hocking's SWITCHED, the first of her Trylle Trilogy. I got it on my Kindle because I'd read how Hocking self-published her YA paranormals after failing to sell to a big publisher. In January, 450,000 copies of her books, mostly ebooks, of the nine she's written. That's pretty impressive considering they've been out there only since last March.

SWITCHED was 99 cents (I think most of her titles are 99 cents to 2.99) so I wasn't out much by trying it.

The storyline was good. It was about trolls and teenage angst. I can see where it would appeal to the younger crowd.

Wendy finds she's a changeling. Her troll mother exchanged her for a human when she was born. Unfortunately, after her father died, her human mother somehow realizes Wendy's not her child and tried to kill six-year-old Wendy.

When Wendy, bring brought up by her brother and aunt, approaches eighteen, a tracker - hunky mysterious Finn - is sent to bring her to the trolls' kingdom/compound in Minnesota. There she discovers she's - dah dah! - not just a troll. She's the princess troll.

But her homecoming is not welcoming, her mother is cold, and a princess can't make it with a tracker like Finn (they're almost at the bottom of the rankings for trolls). Worse, a renegade band of trolls comes after her for her - wait for it - powers!

The writing craft needed some work, but mainly the book needed a good editor.

Since trolls, zombies, and vampires have palled on me and since I'm no longer a teenager, the book didn't enchant. But it was a quick read and I didn't stop in the middle as I've been prone to do lately. Youngsters will enjoy it.

GORGEOUS DAY

We walked out around lunch. Temps in the 60s. Sun shining. Blue skies. The ocean was tranquil with several pelicans diving and finding fish to eat. Reminds me of why I love it down here.

Came back by the park and the tennis players were out. Was surprised to see the cute tennis instructor with his shirt on but my guy pointed out he was instructing men. Not a pretty woman in sight!

BACK TO THE SUN

Lake Lanier

North Georgia was cold. We got away just in time to miss the snow.

We had the plumber in to fix the washer faucets which he did. Then we discovered the washer walks across the floor when washing. Something about the drum being loose. And the dryer refuses to cut off by itself. I realized the 'new' washer and dryer we got twenty years ago, are now the old washer and dryer. Guess we'll spring for a new set.

The heat and air guy came. He got the heat fixed.

The landscaper came. He blew leaves and fixed a sagging walkway. Put out some solar lights by it and my guy put down 3-4 bales of pine straw. More is needed in 2 weeks when we go back up.

The lady redoing the screened porch finished up so it's ready for the cats to move back up. They're terribly excited. We, not so much. We remember the howling six hours in the car moving down.

And finally, the kitchen stove mechanic came for the third or fourth time. Looks like they'll be back since he couldn't figure out what was wrong.

So the stove's still to be fixed along with the duct cleaning, the pine straw, the bathroom leak we spotted before coming back south. We also have more storage stuff to bring up and lots of leftover junk under the house and on the dock the tenants left still to be carried to the dump.

So we'll be going back and forth for another few weeks. And then it'll be warm in north Georgia. We like it there but not the cold!

TRAVELING TO N GA

Again. Just as the bad cold weather is about to strike - talk of teen degrees and snow flurries - we're heading north.
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My guy keeps wondering why the northerners can't learn to control their weather and keep it up there. I keep wondering why we can't figure out better times to travel.

Evidently, we're gluttons for punishment.

iPhone

I have an iphone. Don't know if that's a good thing or not. I've had it less than a year and was making out okay. Learned how to put on apps. Learned how to get my email, put on a few songs, load on a game, use the GPS. Oh, and how to make a phone call.

So every 2-4 days, it needed charging and I dutifully charged it. Then last week the battery started going down overnight. I'd charge it fully, go to bed, and the next morning, voila! 39% charged. 20% charged. One day it only showed 7% of the battery remaining. Figured the battery was going bad. Knew I couldn't switch it out.

So. Called AT&T. They said it was still under warranty, transferred us to Apple. Apple said we should extend our warranty for another year since it was expiring in a month or so. I did but Apple still didn't tell me what was wrong. Then.

Long story short. Had to call AT&T again. No, it was Apple's problem. Had to call Apple again. They said I had to bring the phone in to the store. Nearest store 2 hours away. Got an appointment, drove there, registered with a gal holding an iPad wearing two nose studs and real casual clothes, milled around till someone took pity on me and showed me what was wrong just before my appointed rep showed up.

The customer rep tested the battery and said, yep, the other guy was right. Battery was fine. I could have stayed at home and fixed it myself.

So what was the problem? Turns out Apple updated the iPhones a couple of months back. Turns out the notification was so involved I didn't - couldn't! - read it all. Turns out any app you use continues to run in the background till you manually turn it off.

So I had the phone app, the cheap gas app, the email app, the map app, the weather app, the...You get the picture. All these and more were running in the background and eating up my battery. All I had to do was turn them off.

Why, pray tell, could Apple not have put this info on their site under FAQs along with all the other reasons the battery might be discharging too soon?

Grrr. Glad I didn't get an iPad

PRODUCTS I USE THAT STOP BEING MADE

I've already groused about getting used to a bra and immediately being unable to find it because it's no longer being made. I know other women share my pain because I've heard 'em complain, too.

Now I find out Bath and Body Works is doing away with my flavor of choice. At least in the liquid hand soap. And I'm afraid that's a prologue to doing away with the body wash, body cream, and even cologne.

My favorite is in their signature line. I thought their signature line meant a scent would never get dropped and would always be there forever and ever. Why else would I have gotten addicted to it?

So now I have to find a new odor I like. It's hard going, believe me. I have a very picky nose.