Dear Friends,

I haven’t given up blog writing, but I have stopped for a while because I’m moving.  Moving the blogs, I mean, to a new platform. There are many links to be repaired and other homework to do before I get the new blog up to speed and feel I can send out the address — but please don’t give up on me. I’m going through a fat period work-wise, with lots of paid (yesss!!) work to do right now, so I have to put off my blogging chores until leaner times arrive. Those times are coming, believe me.

I miss you, and I will return. Please wait for me.

Mary

Best New Books of 2010 – Get Lit!

Ever feel that you’ve missed something important – not like a dentist appointment, but rather information or a happening that everyone else became aware of while you were sitting alone in a dark room? Well, this announcement could be the very thing you need to shed a little light on.

Amazon Book editors just released their selection of the Best New Books (so far) of 2010!

Hmm . . . so many to choose from. Personally, think I’ll start with this one because I love a review that contains the words “hilarious” and “beautifully written,” and I’m drawn to any writer whose work is compared to that of John Irving . . .

And maybe then work my way over to this one because, how can I resist . . . “Juicy, Juicy, Juicy. Great fun. Great gossip. Great look into the world of Political Campaigning. And one word sticks in my mind after reading it — dysfunction” . . . ?

Hope there’s a title or two on this list that pull the string on YOUR light bulb!

Silk Pillowcases – Silken Beauty Is No Fairy Tale!

I love that my bed is covered with mounds and mounds of big fluffy pillows in crisp percale cases. They prop me up for reading or using my laptop. I stack them under my knees and snug them against my back.  Many times, I end up kicking some of them into the floor during the night, if a cranky MRH doesn’t do it for me.  “There’s got to be room for people on a bed, after all!”

For as long as I can remember, Mom (my NYOM) has slept on a flat little pancake of a pillow covered in a silk (100% silk — never satin or nylon) pillowcase.  I recall occasionally helping her make her bed over the years and wondering why she even bothered with such a trivial pillow, (mentally) rolling my eyes at her “sexy” pillowcase. Guess I never asked why she didn’t use plain cotton cases. But now that I think of it, she never had pillow face or bed head in the morning, and an enviable complexion.  Now I’m not saying my NYOM is vain. (She is, just a little, but I’m not saying.)

Now, after all these years (and, who’s counting?), I read that sleeping on a silk pillowcase is a beauty treatment. (Mom, why didn’t you TELL me? Oh. You did.) Nonporous silk doesn’t suck the expensive face creams off your skin like thirsty cotton does. Furthermore, it doesn’t bunch and fold and leave you with ugly creases for half a day, or snarly hair. Before I got one for myself, I thought I’d hate the slick feeling of silk against my cheek and wake up hot and sweaty, but the silk stays much cooler than cotton, and when it does get warm (doesn’t everything these days – in a flash?), turning it over reveals that exquisite coolness all over again.

Now that I’ve learned that I should have been sleeping on silk all this time, 100 percent silk pillowcases have become fairly scarce and difficult to find. The good news is Mom and I have discovered a consistently high quality brand — Beauty Silkz 100% silk– that doesn’t require a bank loan to purchase and is machine washable.

Note to MRH: Now don’t get your hopes up, dear. This doesn’t mean the end of Pillow Mountain on our bed. But, hey . . .  what a great deal for you — a better looking (and possibly sweeter tempered) wife every morning.  Hmm . . . maybe I’ll be ordering a king size Beauty Silkz, just for you!