By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor

Last year Amazon launched a Lending Library for Kindle and Kindle app with over 11,000 libraries across the US. This means that if you have a library card you can check out ebooks from your local library and instantly start reading them on your Kindle device.

Now, most people think that these free books include only the classics or terribly written books that authors have offered for free because they could not get published. Those were the bad old days. Currently Amazon offers over 100,000 titles, including what is on Best Seller Lists. Never read Dan Brown’s latest? You can now!

I am currently reading The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and just finished The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon. I have read the Hunger Games and Matched Trilogies all from the Kindle Lending Library. Quite frankly I have read more since last fall when Amazon launched its Kindle Lending Library than I ever have.

It is so easy to get a book. I simply registered my Kindle app on my iPad with Amazon and any book I check out goes directly to it. I can check out up to 10 books at a time and can have the book for up to 21 days (although some libraries may vary). There are no late fees and I never have to worry about returning the book. And the best part is that this is all free!

Personally I think this is a great move on Amazon’s part. If the book is popular, there will be a wait list and it can exceed 50 people. Some people may not want to wait this long to read the next great title and may decide to purchase it instead. Also, when you do get a book and for some reason are unable to complete it by the time it expires you may not want to wait again to finish it. Amazon has a tab that shows up when your book rental expires, give you the option to purchase the title.

Amazon has also allowed readers to make notes and highlights in the book that you check out from the library. If you check the book out again your notes will still be there but are not visible to other patrons who check out the same book. How cool is that! This is a great tool that I use for my Book Club books.

If you do not have a library card, most libraries offer to apply for one on line. If you do not have a Kindle, Amazon’s Lending Library can be accessed though OverDrive, the leading provider of digital content to libraries in the United States that can be downloaded on a computer.

Happy reading!

No. Not that kind of swinging. We’re talking about the most beautiful (and clever) porch swings ever designed. Actually, these are the first improvement in porch swings since they were first developed in Ancient Greece some 2400 years ago.

The Weather…Or Not™ Swings (WON) are designed by Becky Irvine who came up with the concept after she wondered whether the swing she wanted for her porch should face towards the wooded area where she might watch a delightful family of foxes, or back across the terrace to visit with family and friends. She wanted BOTH and that’s what the Weather…Or Not swings deliver with backs that pivot and lifts out so  homeowners can enjoy the view -­‐or face the other way to talk with friends. Or take a nap when the back is removed. And, the WON swing can also come with furniture legs to transform the WON into a bench with all the features of the swing, except for the swinging.

Besides being so cleverly convertible, the WON swings are also beautifully handmade in Kentucky by furniture carpenters and woodworking artist who hand-carve the backs. Solid mahogany is used which makes the swings suitable for either indoor or outdoor use.

As Duke Ellington says, “It don’t mean a thing if you ain’t got that swing“. I’m heartbroken that I don’t have a porch on which to install Becky’s beautiful swing at the moment, but I know that the requirements for my next home will be to have a spot dedicated to a Weather…Or Not Swing.

Each swing is made to order (and signed). Select from four furniture styles and five paint colors and hand-carved designs on the swing back. Prices start at $2,800 and Weather…Or Not swings can be ordered from PushBackTime.com.

By Susan Keats, Contributor &  Seize-the-Day Propagandist

It was a dark and stormy night.

No it wasn’t. It was a fine night as far as the weather goes, but as we sat our two daughters down in the living room to tell them that I had breast cancer, the storm raging inside my brain was pretty harrowing. I attempted a brave face while my husband told the girls what was happening with me and I watched their faces fall and shock cloud their eyes. And then he said it….through the turbulent whirlwind of anxiety in my head, I heard my husband say it. “Girls, mom may be too sick to do the laundry or clean the house, so we will really need your help to pitch in. You will need to start doing your own laundry.”

What? I might be too sick to clean and do laundry? Really? AWESOME!! YIPPEE!!!!! Yes, that is exactly where my mind went. You know, there’s that part of your brain that we usually tell to hush up, or simmer down? Well, my little unedited thought bubble was doing a gleeful dance and telling it like it is. I didn’t realize it at that moment, but in this particular ordeal, this was my first of many silver linings.

They are always there, those silver linings. You just have to be paying attention. So consider this your heads up. No matter what bad stuff happens in your life, there is always one to find. A friend of mine, who has also struggled with cancer, told me that the only good she could figure that came from her experience was that she now wants

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By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor

With myself turning 50 this year, many of my friends are also doing the same. Surprise parties are being secretly organized for some and for others, they are taking the bull by the horns, so to speak, and organizing their own getaways with their gal pals. Always in search for the perfect gift I wonder if the My Baby Boomer Baby Book would be a great novelty gift to help bring light to the otherwise potentially somber prospect of aging. Although I personally am embracing turning 50 I am not excited about the physical side effects of the aging process.

As my husband’s Nana always used to say, “Once an adult, twice a child.” Although the My Baby Boomer Baby Book is a parody on the traditional baby book, middle age is another developmental stage filled with many memorable firsts, such as, my first colonoscopy, my first grey hair and my first pair of reading glasses. And let us not forget first words (is it hot in here?) and bedtime rituals (no fluids after 6 pm). Plus it keeps track of our growth spurts like the circumference of our abdomen and growing liver spots and chin hairs. As in a baby book there is a place to keep track of primary care givers—herbalist, psychopharmacologist, and vital statistics – married name(s). There is also a place for a lock of hair (if you can spare it) along with the Seven Stages of Hair Loss. This book guarantees to be the life of the party!

Come to think of it – maybe I should get one for myself. Buy on Amazon for $11.99.

By Kristin Fast, Lifestyle Editor and In-House Wit-Cracker

The only way to really get into this post is to request that you follow this link and watch the below video on Fox Fur and Feather Carnivale Merkins, the latest ridiculous way to decorate your bikini zone, and then come back so we can chat…

Good, you’ve returned. Everyone okay? I can wait a moment if you need water or an Advil…

Now, I have mentioned before that I place an inordinate amount of faith in advertising and have fallen prey to far too many Miracle Infomercials… This weakness has been curbed a bit over the years simply because I fall asleep before 10 pm and everyone knows the really excellent commercials for hair/work-out/skin/riches don’t run until after midnight.

I did recently succumb to a surprisingly outrageous bait and switch operation involving a Slushee machine and “magic” ice cubes but that was sorted out for the low restocking cost of $30.00.

Hey, I want to feel beautiful. I want my skin to be luminescent and my hair to be thick and shiny and I want to look as young as I feel (which today, thanks to my overly enthusiastic participation in a stretching class, is 87) and sometimes the work involved with those things, healthy eating habits and regular workouts, just seem like such a snooze that I am occasionally willing to fork over three low payments of $19.99 and in just minutes a day achieve the backside of a teenager samba queen.

The question at hand is this: Does a line in the sand exist? Is there a product that I will not buy into

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By Amie Valpone, Culinary Marketing Consultant & CEO of the gluten-free blog, The Healthy Apple.

Ready for a sweet treat on ‘Love Day’ but not ready for the sugar overload and empty calories? Look no further than this healthy and fiber-rich chocolate bread that will wow your Valentine with one bite! Try this Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free recipe:

GLUTEN-FREE CHOCOLATE SUNFLOWER BREAD

Ingredients

2 cups white rice flour
1/4 cup gluten-free cereal, crushed (rice crispies or any puffed rice cereal)
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 large eggs, beaten
4 large bananas, mashed
1 Tbsp. almond extract
1 ripe avocado, peeled
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup pistachios, chopped
1/4 cup pecans, chopped
1/2 cup dried cranberries, chopped
1 Tbsp. cacao nibs
1/2 cup oil

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F.
Spray a bread pan with nonstick cooking spray set aside.
Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl and then make a well in the center.
Add eggs, bananas, avocado and oil to the center and combine them before folding into the rest of the dry ingredients.  Mix well to combine; stir in sunflower seeds, pistachios, pecans, dried cranberries and cacao nibs.
Transfer batter into prepared bread pan.
Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Set aside to cool before serving.

Enjoy.

By now, you have undoubtedly seen some of the many iterations, permutations and variations of the Shit Girls Say video, the brilliant piece of pop culture that started it all (still, in the avalanche of Shit…Says videos, my favorite remains the Shit Yogis Say). This meme seems unstoppable. And of course, since we also wanted to be represented, we had to make our own age-appropriate Sh!t video.

Is it hot in here? Where are my glasses? These represent just a couple of the very erudite and enlightened everyday epigrams of midlife women:

Yeah. We talk like that all. the. time.

Thanks to Marjie Killeen of FortyFabulous (and our contributor of Midlife Wisdom) for her instrumental participation in this fun exercise!