Miscellaneous

Well, Liesl has been tucked in and is doing that soft snoring thing that is pretty cute.  She knows how to make herself comfy.  Sometimes I envy how comfy she looks all tucked in.  I really wonder what she dreams about, especially when she is running in her sleep.  She is such a happy little dog.

In the past month I have found the coolest thing if you are a Safeway shopper.  (I must add that in no way am I affiliated with Safeway.)  It is that new Savings Just 4 U internet based savings that are added to your Safeway Club Card.  You get an email once a week with "coupons" that are tailored to your shopping history.  You pick which ones you want to add and it automatically puts the "coupons" on your Safeway Club Card.  When you check out and use your card or phone number, the deductions on those items you pre-chose automatically come off the total.  They sometimes even have free items. The savings can be significant.  Today I had to go in to Safeway to pick up a prescription in their pharmacy.  While I was there I picked up a few essentials, like milk.  My grocery bill was originally $35.  With my discounts it came to $20.22.  I saved over $15.  The savings were on stuff that I buy like milk, fruits and veggies.  I feel kinda cool that I saved so much.

The other cool thing I found.  We are very fortunate here.  We have four separate library systems.  I love the library.  Generally, I use the one in Carmel, which is a stand alone library system.  It is a cozy library and has good support.  Therefore, it has the extras like Overdrive, which is the system used to loan Kindle books and books for Ipod.  There are a couple of drawbacks to this library.  They do not always have what I am looking for.  The biggest drawback is that during tourist season I can not park anywhere near this library.  I sometimes have to circle the block 4-5 times.  It is so frustrating.

Recently, I noticed online that the county system has quite a few of he books that I have been looking for.  I went into one of the local branches to update my extremely old library card, which is about 20 years old.  Since I have been using the Carmel City library I have not used the county card in about five years.  I figured that I had fallen of the  grid, but, no, my card was ready to go.  The librarians were extra super and a lot of fun.  One of them said, that since I had not been there for a while, that she wanted to show me what was available to their patrons.  I was totally surprised. 

They are now networked and can get books from any library, including the city libraries.  They have a full time reference librarian,  They have a sweet program called "Book Club to Go."  It has ten copies of the same book in a bag, with questions for discussion in book clubs.  They are current titles and best sellers and they have a huge list of options.  My BFF and I are trying to think of people to form a book club.  My library card also gives me access to free tickets to the Monterey Bay Aquarium on days that are not blacked out.  They also have Overdrive so I am all set.  Plus they have a parking lot and longer hours.

I was so impressed with how the library has really networked and are addressing the trend of book clubs.  It looks like I have a new hangout!  I shall have to look at their collection of craft books.  :)