Is Mars in retrograde? I know Mercury WAS last month. When all my Internet woes began. So I have recently developed a belief in these things. Mercury in retrograde means poor communications. Of course, it went OUT of retrograde weeks ago and I still struggle to access my email. Note to self: call Tech Support AGAIN this morning. But which planet controls household appliances and electronic devices? One by one, my appliances are going belly-up. First, the external hard drive I bought quit after three days. I returned it to the store, got my money back and decided I didn’t really need something else to create stress in my life. The TV is virtually on its last leg. It shuts itself off several times before finally staying on. One day very soon (possible today) it isn’t going to come back on. Saturday, my vacuum cleaner started emitting a burnt-rubbery odor and then stopped. Hubby may have fixed it, but I have my doubts that the repair will last through the holidays. Yesterday morning, the ...

I confess. I am addicted to stuff. New stuff. More stuff. Lots and lots of stuff. That’s why my house is bursting at the seams. Too much stuff. When I was little, my mom had a name for it. She said I had the gimmes . When we went to the store, I would say gimme this or gimme that . I don’t seem to recall that I got everything I wanted. But I’ve been told that I was a spoiled child, so maybe I got more than I remember. Anyway, impulse buying has long been an issue for me. Not only don’t I have room for more stuff. I can’t afford to buy more stuff. But I lust after things. Currently, I’m lusting after a saddle. Not even a new one. A good used one is what I dream of. But things get in the way. Like the fact that I don’t actually own a horse. No, I don’t lust after a horse. I’m happy to borrow Admiral. In recent days, for some reason I started lusting after a new printer for my office. Specifically, one of those four-in-one printer/scanner/copier/fax things. I have no idea why this has su...