For years I avoided getting a smart phone. Well into the current millennia I used the reliable flip phone. It didn’t alert me to texts (there weren’t no stinkin’ texts) or when anything needed to be upgraded. It made calls, It 
received calls. I laughed smugly at all those people glued to their Blackberrys and iPhones. I mourned for all those lost conversations when people sat across the table from friends and spent their time texting. I glared at those who unthinkingly knocked people on the sidewalk while playing Candycrush.
Then—through no fault of my own—I received a smart phone.
Now I too have apps. Now I text and I check the news and I look things up, yes, even once in a while as I sit at the table with friends. I am a bad 
person.
So… My favorite apps are pretty boring:
- Weather—Yes, just like many very interesting people, I have an affinity for weather is. I check my phone for weather sometimes even when I could look out the window. But I don’t just check my own weather. I also check where my mom lives in Iowa, my in-laws’ home in Chicago, Fort Worth weather for my family in Texas, and any number of other places of interest (do you know the temperature is right now in West Yellowstone, WY? I do!). Weather is an important part of my daily routine. (Oh. My. God. I’m old.)
- News—Okay, I admit to being a news junkie. I probably check the news a dozen times a day to read what I could also find out on the TV or radio. It satisfies some need in me that I wish I could get rid of.
- Google—Despite disliking Google intensely, I still find it the easiest way to find out all kinds of useless, trivial information. We can be watching a show on TV. Jack will say, “We have seen that actress before.” I pull out the phone, look up the show we are watching and the episode, find the cast, find the particular character, link to her, and recite the shows that person has been in until we recognize where we have seen her. Meanwhile, I have missed the last five minutes of the actual program.
- Google Maps—What good is hearing about a location of a murder on an Investigation Discovery program if I can’t conveniently see for myself where that place is?
- Solitaire—I can’t help it, I play this mindless game whenever I am bored. If
I had to give up all apps, this is the one I would go of last. I am a sad, sad person.
Okay, so now you know my secret life. Don’t judge me. 😉
Read the next blog in the blog hop by going here.
Dee
Only a Good Man Will Do: Seriously ambitious man seeks woman to encourage his goals, support his (hopeful) position as Headmaster of Westover Academy, and be purer than Caesar’s wife. Good luck with that!
Naval Maneuvers: When a woman requires an earth-shattering crush of pleasure to carry her away, she can’t do better than to call on the US Navy. Sorry, Marines!
happen in the first chapter because you have to be concerned with character introduction and plot hints. But using a prologue, the author can spend all of his/her time engaging the reader with emotion in what follows. You know me—I’m all for engaging!
examples and see where the author might have gone wrong. As for me, I never skip prologues. I might not read the rest of the book if the prologue is terrible, but at least I’ll have a good reason for it.
protagonists become engaged? Once they’re married are they happy? Do they have children? It seems that children or the announcement of a pregnancy are routinely in the epilogue of historical romances, and I like that little bit extra. It’s like biting into a chocolate—really good in itself—and finding a caramel filling that you didn’t expect. A step beyond satisfying and into the realm of happy.
is what I long to read. I have used them myself, and even enjoy reading them then. 😉
days where she would lie in her bedroom away from distraction and get lost in the world of make believe.
an example of how I look when I go into the office for a couple hours at the keyboard. Hair coiffed, mani/ pedi done to perfection, fuck me stilettos, and designer gown. And let’s not forget the special illumination that shows off the highlights in my hair.
and bunny slippers. Because after all, what’s the point of working from home if you can’t be comfortable?? When I give up the pajamas, I like loose-fitting pants, a tee shirt, a wrap over my shoulders and upper arms, and yes, slippers. This is why I don’t hie off to Starbuck’s to write—they frown on bunny slippers.