PBS is a Major Distraction

No, not Public Broadcasting System, but PaperBack Swap. I signed up for this free service a little over a month ago and its been more than a little distracting. It works like this: you go through your bookshelf, pull out books you want to get rid of, you post them on you PBS Bookshelf, other members request them from you, and you send them off and receive 1 trading point for each completed transaction.

Initially I thought this would be a quick and easy way to get rid of my excess of paperback books. The thought of trading books I'd read for those that I want was just too tempting. But then, after an initial surge of requests for my newly posted books, I stopped getting requests. So, after a little trial and error, I discovered that I could purchase points and get the books I wanted that way. Hey, wait a minute! Wasn't I supposed to be getting rid of books?

Here's what I've learned - For the cost of shipping one paperback book from my bookshelf, $2.02, I get a fresh copy of a (much desired) book that would have cost me $7.00 or more from Books-A-Million or Amazon. That's a good deal. And I can purchase a point for $3.45, which is still half the cost of buying new. However, if I shop garage sales or library book sales, I can purchase more commonly available books for as little as 25 cents each. So, I save my points for those books which are hard to find used (like those of favorite authors Charlaine Harris or Piers Anthony) and that I plan to keep. Otherwise, I request books from the library.

In the meantime, I still have a box of books in my office. Anyone interested in a trade?

Seesaw Wheat Oof

It's a wonderful feeling when something you've been patiently, albeit sporadically trying to learn, starts to show results. It could be anything from learning to drive a standard transmission car (which I've been teaching my oldest) to a new quilting technique to studying a foreign language.

For a few years now, I've been teaching myself French with the help of books, videos and some coaching from my son, whose studied three years of French. Periodically, I visit websites that have mini French lessons, and I practice my pronunciation. French is very similar to English in that the pronunciation has little or nothing to do with what is written.

I was following a link to the Paris newspaper, Le Figaro's, website with an article (in French) about a contest judging the best flan of Paris. There is also a short video showing the judging process, so I watched and listened to see what I could pick up. I picked out "texture" "cream" "color" "golden" "bakery" and "food store". Then I heard this phrase "Seesaw Wheat Oof". I knew I recognized those sounds. What could it be? I kept repeating it to myself. Sees - that's six. Wheat aka huit - that's eight. And Oof is ouef - egg. Six a huit ouefs! Six to eight eggs! I have a lightbulb going off over my head moment and it feels awesome!

Water, water everywhere

When I was in France, I drank a lot of water. Coming from the humidity of Florida's climate, the naturally drier climate of France in September had us sucking on bottled water pretty much all day long. Like everything in France, the water was expensive. Whenever we sat down to eat in a restaurant, we would order the complementary "carafe d'eau" - a pitcher of cold water, to save the $4.00 bottled water charge.

One day in Lyons, I got separated from our group after I made an extended stop at the post office. Since I was on my own for the next six hours, I decided to make the best of it and stopped to have lunch at the outdoor seating area of a cafe on the central square. I was able to order the special, a pork chop with cauliflower gratin, without any problem and I asked for the pitcher of "d'eau" (pronounced DOH). The waitress looked at me quizzically and asked me "a pitcher of what?" "D'eau", I replied, "D'eau, d'eau, d'eau." Which made me feel like a Doh (Homer Simpson style.)

I ended up ordering lemonade.

And to this day, I still don't know what I was saying so incorrectly that the waitress couldn't understand me. C'est la vie.