Where to begin?

Both my son and daughter are back in the nest for what might be our last summer together. Our son is looking for an accounting job, and our daughter is taking a much needed break from summer internships… getting ready to go “back east” to law school.

We have been living in San Antonio for the last sixteen years… Both of our children attended elementary, middle, and high school right here. They both went to college in Austin (less than 70 miles away), so we have been very lucky to have them close enough that we could see them on a regular basis.

What a shock it was when I heard that my son is applying for jobs as far away as California!!! And our daughter will be moving east in just two months. Where has the time gone?!?

I didn’t really think about this possibly being our last summer together until last night, when my husband “announced” this bit of information. I don’t know if I was living in a time warp, dream land, or just not facing reality >>> I just hadn’t “put it all together.”

I don’t want to dwell on the negative (which I am inclined to do), rather embrace the time we have to enjoy each other. But, with the “help” of my husband’s one little phrase, I am already dreading the time when our two children will go their own ways, and our time together will be limited to holiday visits and phone calls.

At least it isn’t like “the olden days” when phone calls were limited… more than 35¢  per minute made them a costly event. It seemed to me that whenever I talked to my parents on the phone, my father would say hello and pretty quickly lapse into how much the phone call was going to cost. I am pretty sure that some of our phone calls consisted solely of how much we were going to pay Ma Belle per minute!

So, I am armed for this brave new world, which I will be exploring in a short while: We are on the “family plan” of T-Mobile… an answer to every parent’s empty nest syndrome, and perhaps not such a great joy for sons and daughters of new Empty Nesters…

Last week, as I sat “patiently” awaiting my specialist doctor, I took out my pad and wrote this entry. Writing this blog saved me having to find another specialist doctor to consult… I didn’t fancy the idea of having to find a psychologist/counselor, so I wrote this entry instead!

I am sitting in one of my “specialty doctors” waiting room right now…. wondering. Hmmm… “Wondering”?!? No, I’m not wondering about my health – which would be a logical thing to be wondering while sitting in a doctor’s waiting room. Nope! I’m wondering what makes him so important that he can schedule three patients to be seen at the very same time!?! Hmmm….

I’m wondering why this doctor has a sign-up sheet that says patients will be charged and rescheduled for an appointment if they arrive fifteen minutes late for their scheduled appointment. I’m wondering why he doesn’t have an area on the sign-up sheet that specifies the time your appointment is for — as if you can’t (or won’t) ask the other waiting patients what time their appointments are scheduled.

I guess that the fact that the doctor went to all of those years of medical school, residency, internship, specialty training, etc., is the reason. But, I just don’t get the logic behind that reason.

It seems to me that when patients and insurance companies are paying so much for the given services, the doctor is the service provider who should be on his “best behavior.” When did service providers become oblivious to simple courtesy? Gone are the years when a doctor who kept you waiting actually apologized upon entering the room. Now, not only do you wait in the waiting room, but you also wait in the little cubicle exam room… and then the doctor comes in and rushes through your appointment time because he feels like he is running late. He is! But, the remedy to always feeling like you’re running late is: don’t schedule three patients for the same fifteen minute block!!!

When I complain about such small irritations to my husband (since I don’t have the nerve to complain to the doctor) his response is always the same: “Why are you in such a hurry?” followed by “You would never make it in the work force today.” My response is always the same: “Thanks for listening. If I can’t complain to you, then who?”

Boy do I feel better after writing this off-Cozy Mystery subject entry! It saves me from hearing my husband’s “same old-same old” response!

One of the last comments the site received was a note that told us about a Cozy Mystery author who a site reader is enjoying. I thought that was a great thing to find out about…. and decided to ask you all if you would tell us about a Cozy Mystery author you are currently reading, and why you enjoy him/her. What a great way to get some new ideas for authors to try reading.

So, if you wouldn’t mind >>>

Which Cozy Mystery Author are you currently reading and why are you enjoying him/her? If,on the other hand, you are reading a Cozy Mystery author who you aren’t enjoying… remember what Vickie (“V”) says about life being too short to waste time on authors you don’t enjoy!

On another note: Please don’t forget to enter Camille Minichino‘s Miniature Reading / Crime Scene Drawing. Good luck!

Do you ever wonder what all the hubbub is about a particular best-selling Cozy Mystery author? I DO!

There are several authors whom I have tried… popular authors… VERY popular authors… who I simply think “try too hard” to be funny, amusing, clever, entertaining… These are authors who I have actually gone on to read more than just the first mystery in their series, since I know that sometimes there are kinks that need to be worked out when first starting a new series. And, let’s face it, if they are best selling authors, when a lot of authors are being discontinued by their publishers, these funny, amusing, clever, and entertaining authors must be good!

But, try as I might, I can’t find their books enjoyable… The humor seems “forced”… I just can’t continue reading them.

I am thinking of one such author, who people clamor to read. They await her next novel and cannot wait to find out what kooky, hilarious antics her main characters will get into next. She leaves me wondering if I have an awful sense of humor. 

I know that I am in a tiny (as in itty-bitty, miniscule) minority when it comes to this particular author. She has such a huge fan base. But try as a might, I just cannot read her cozies… Each time one of her reoccuring characters pulls another “funny.” or mumbles a wise-alecky crack, I just roll my eyes >>> away from the book’s page! I just can’t seem to enjoy the “hilarious” antics which are tossed liberally with snarky, sassy dialog. The author just seems to try too hard to make it all sound naturally funny.

I once stumbled upon one reviewer who admitted to not liking this author. And, I stress the “once”>>> I totally agree with that reviewer’s assessment, but apparently a whole lot of people don’t.

Maybe it’s just a case of the emperor… Anyway, that’s what I like to think.